One of the finest private collections
of Indian historic textiles and art
Our Latest Exhibition
Discover exquisite pieces from the TAPI Collection at the
exhibition, Textiles from Bengal: A Shared Legacy,
on display in
Kolkata from January 30th to March 31st, 2025.
Discover exquisite pieces from the TAPI Collection at the
exhibition, Textiles from Bengal: A Shared Legacy, on display in
Kolkata from January 30th to March 31st, 2025.
WHEN INDIAN FLOWERS BLOOMED IN EUROPE: Masterworks of Indian Trade Textiles, 1600-1780, in the TAPI Collection
By: Ebeltje Hartkamp-Jonxis (Author)
This groundbreaking exhibition places hand-woven and hand-patterned textiles from India and Bangladesh at the forefront, showcasing the region’s unique historical significance on a global scale. It explores the legacy of an undivided Bengal, through its fibres, craftsmanship, and trade, highlighting their enduring influence on art, design, and fashion today.
On display are seventeen exceptional pieces from the TAPI Collection, presented alongside notable private and public collections both in India and abroad. Spanning nearly four centuries — from the 17th century to the present — the exhibition features iconic textiles from the TAPI collection, such as jamdani, Indo-Portuguese embroideries, kantha, haji rumal, Baluchars, namavalis, and patron textiles— pieces once specially commissioned for Bengal’s luxury market from renowned centres like Kashmir and Varanasi.
Our Latest Publication
THE SHOEMAKER’S STITCH: Mochi Embroideries of Gujarat in the TAPI Collection
By Shilpa Shah, Rosemary Crill (Authors)
By Shilpa Shah, Rosemary Crill (Authors)
Published by Niyogi Books, New Delhi ; Text and images TAPI Collection, or individually credited, Surat; 2022
ISBN: 978-93-91125-45-5
Size – 32.5 cm (H) x 25.4 cm (W);
Hardcover with Jacket; 220 pages
This book is the first to delve deeply into the history of chain stitch embroidery in India and the connections to the Mochi or shoemaker community. This catalogue of images displays a wide range of exquisitely embroidered pieces ranging from Jain manuscript covers to portraits, items of clothing, fans, and furnishings. The accompanying essays provide the background history of the Mochis and their work and also shed fresh light on chain-stitch embroideries in museums and private collections previously thought to be from the Mughal period.
Get a glimpse of the different genres of TAPI’s textile and art collection and discover the essence of India.
The TAPI Collection consists of over four thousand textiles of historic value, encompassing a wide range of techniques, materials and motifs.
By Rosemary Crill, Steven Cohen, Ruth Barnes (Authors)
Published by Garden Silk Mills Limited. Mumbai in association with the TAPI Collection, Surat, 2002.
ISBN: 81-7508-354-9
Size – 33.02 cm (H) x 25.7 cm (W);
Hardcover with Jacket; 386 pages
By Deepika Shah (Author)
Published by Garden Silk Mills Limited, Mumbai in association with the TAPI Collection, Surat, 2005.
This catalogue is published in conjunction with the exhibition ‘MASTERS OF THE CLOTH: Indian Textiles Traded to Distant Shores, TAPI collection” at the National Museum, New Delhi, November 10, 2005 to December 18, 2005.
Size – 27.8 cm (H) x 21 cm (W);
Paperback; 56 pages
by Kalyan Krishna, Kay Talwar (Authors)
Published by Garden Silk Mills Limited, Mumbai in association with the TAPI Collection, Surat, 2007.
ISBN: 978-81-905935-0-2
Size – 33 cm (H) x 26.8 cm (W);
Hardcover with Jacket; 200 pages
“What India’s textile artisan was, and still is, able to achieve is awesome and humbling.”
Shilpa Shah – Collector