Words of Indian origin such as calico, chintz, and madras indicate the importance of Indian textiles in the history of Western interior design. Yet the Indians themselves have never been very conscious of this role, their own domestic interiors being of the utmost simplicity, with hardly more than a carpet or a prayer mat to offset stone floors and plain white walls. The impermanence of the materials used for the majority of dwellings may have been a contributory factor. In more palatial buildings, however, and commonly in both Hindu and Buddhist temples, walls were painted, a practice that, according to literary references, may go back to the Maurya period (c. 321–185 bce). Paintings that survive in cave temples of the Gupta period (320–600 ce) usually depict groups of active mythical or human figures and are characterized by their sinuous lines. A late example occurs in the unfinished early 17th-century murals of the Mattancheri palace, in Kochi, Kerala. Inlay of semiprecious stones, carved and bracketed pillars and capitals, and openwork marble panels also adorned the palaces of local rulers. See also South Asian arts: Visual arts.
Reproduction of early 18th-century chintz bedspread and hangings from India; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
George Savage
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Citation Information
Article Title: Interior design
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 17 January 2019
URL: https://www.britannica.com/art/interior-design
Access Date: August 20, 2019
Additional Reading General works
Arnold Friedmann, John F. Pile, and Forrest Wilson, Interior Design: An Introduction to Architectural Interiors (1970), an introduction to the field of interior architecture written for students of design; Sherrill Whiton, Elements of Interior Design and Decoration, 3rd ed. (1963), a scholarly text; Ray and Sarah Faulkner, Inside Today’s Home, 3rd ed. (1968), a thorough and well-illustrated book on the interior design of homes; Diana Rowntree, Interior Design (1964), a brief and personal view of interior design written primarily for British readers; Edgar Kaufman, What Is Modern Interior Design? (1953, reprinted 1969), a very brief but perceptive treatise. A later monograph on home decorating is Mary Gilliat, The Decorating Book (1981), with special photography by Michael Dunne. Special types of interiors
Michael Saphier, Office Planning and Design (1968), a clear overview of the field of business and office interiors; Betty Alswang and Ambur Hiken, The Personal House (1961), a photographic collection of very personal interiors primarily designed by the artist-occupants, rather than professional interior designers. The photographs and comments contained in the following works make them significant sources for the study and understanding of special interiors: William Wilson Atkin and Joan Adler, Interiors Book of Restaurants (1960); Henry End, Interiors Book of Hotels and Motor Hotels (1963); John F. Pile, Interiors Second Book of Offices (1969); Morris Ketchum, Shops and Stores, rev. ed. (1957); George Nelson (ed.), Living Spaces (1952); Mary Gilliatt and Michael Boys, English Style in Interior Decoration (1967). Special subjects
Johannes Itten, Kunst der Farbe (1961; Eng. trans., The Art of Color, 1961); Faber Birren, Color for Interiors, Historical and Modern (1963); Leslie Larson, Lighting and Its Design (1964); John F. Pile (ed.), Drawings of Architectural Interiors (1967); Mario G. Salvadori and Robert Heller, Structure in Architecture (1963), a very readable introduction to structural principles understandable to laymen, but written on a professional level; Mario Dal Fabbro, Modern Furniture, 2nd ed. (1958). Edward Lucie-Smith, The Story of Craft: The Craftsman’s Role in Society (1981), explores the unifying and the distinctive features of craft and fine arts. Historical developments
George Savage, A Concise History of Interior Decoration (1966), is an English-language work that summarizes the history of the subject. Information about the earliest furniture may be found in Hollis S. Baker, Furniture in the Ancient World (1966); and the Natural History (various editions) of Pliny the Elder, which contains much information in the final volumes on the Roman scene. Books about the Middle Ages are not numerous, but the Guide to the Early Christian and Byzantine Antiquities of the British Museum (1921), is a useful work. There are many books dealing with various aspects of the Renaissance, such as Peter and Linda Murray, The Art of the Renaissance (1963); Frida Schottmuller, Furniture and Interior Decoration of the Italian Renaissance (1921); Pierre Du Colombier, Le Style Henri IV–Louis XIII (1941); Germain Bazin, Classique, baroque et rococo (1964; Eng. trans., Baroque and Rococo, 1964); and Victor Tapie, Baroque et classicisme (1957; Eng. trans., The Age of Grandeur, 1960). Pierre Verlet, Le Mobilier royal français (1945; Eng. trans., French Royal Furniture, 1963) and Les Meubles français du XVIII siecle (1956; Eng. trans., French Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1967), are important works by a great authority dealing with 18th-century developments. George Savage, French Decorative Art, 1638–1793 (1969), discusses most of the objects in general use for interior decoration. Fiske Kimball, The Creation of the Rococo (1943), is an important examination of the sources of this style; Terisio Pignatti, Il Rococo (1967; Eng. trans., The Age of Rococo 1967; Eng. trans., The Age of Rococo, 1969), is a scholarly picture book based on an exhibition so titled. Adrien Fauchier-Magnan, Les Petites Cours d’Allemagne au XVIII Siecle (1947; Eng. trans., Small German Courts in the Eighteenth Century, 1958), is valuable for information about the pervasion of French art and culture. The Wallace Collection (London) catalog of Furniture by F.J.B. Watson (1956), and the catalog of Sculpture by James G. Mann (1931), are scholarly works essential to the study of their subject; see also F.J.B. Watson, Louis XVI Furniture (1960).
On English decoration the works of Margaret Jourdain: English Decoration and Furniture of the Early Renaissance (1924), Regency Furniture, 1795–1820 (1934), and The Work of William Kent (1948), are all worth consulting. Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture from the Middle Ages to the Georgian Period, 2nd ed. rev., 3 vol. (1954), is a scholarly and important work. Thomas A. Strange, English Furniture, Decoration, Woodwork, and Allied Arts (1900; reprinted 1950), reproduces many pages from 18th-century English design books, including Chippendale’s Director; and Hugh Honour, Neo-Classicism (1968), discusses the style in its international implications, as well as dealing with that of the brothers Adam. Susan Lasdun, Victorians at Home (1981), discusses domestic interior in the period from 1820 to 1900.