While I was in San Diego for JMM, I went to Balboa Park to visit the Mingei Museum. The museum is currently presenting a beautiful exhibit of vintage kantha, embroidered textiles from Bengal.
I was taken by the interesting uses of symmetry in some of the work.
Baytan Kantha – late 19th or early 20th century – Bengal
This particular Baytan Kantha is from the late 19th or early 20th century. It features lotus flower and star patterns. All of these from possess order-8 rotational symmetry if you disregard coloring. The corner lotuses and the stars have order-4 rotational symmetry when color is taken into account. Although lotuses and stars are very traditional forms of patterning, to me this textile has a very modern abstract quality.
Susan Happersett
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