Indian Textile Printing Block

Paisleys line up in two rows like commuters, each carved with a ridged outline.

This carved wood textile printing block is from Varanasi, India, and dates to the 20th century. Printing blocks are usually carved from a dense, fine-grained wood, because the design must hold sharp edges through many repeated impressions. A chunky, nearly square slab seen from a slight angle, its face crowded with teardrop shapes in alternating rows. Fine hatching fills the spaces between them. The surface is dark and a little frosty, with pale flecks in the recesses. It is 5.25 inches wide, 2.5 deep and 3.75 high.

Orderly in rows, wild in the details.