And so to Bed

Janet shared this with me and I want to help spread the word. If you plan to be in Boston during the holidays, try and make time to enjoy an excursion to the MFA. Currently on view is an exhibition that highlights the influence of India and Southeast Asia upon British interior design during the late 17th-/early 18th-century.

Indian textiles were particularly coveted by Europeans, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) owns two rare examples of bed hangings from Ashburnham Place in Sussex, England. One is Indian embroidered cotton, and the other is hand-painted Indian chintz. These pieces serve as the focal point for And So to Bed: Indian Bed Curtains from a Stately English Home, on view through June 21, 2009. The show draws its name from the famous diarist Samuel Pepys, who often ended his entries with the phrase “and so to bed.”

Related past post: The Garrick Bed.