Ticket Tika Chaap: The Art of the Trademark in the Indo-British Textile Trade

From the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, mill cloth sold in Indian markets often carried a glossy, colourful paper label, called ‘textile ticket,’ ‘tika,’ or ‘chaap.’ As one of the earliest forms of print advertisements in India, these rich images brought multi-coloured, mass produced visuals to a wide cross-section of customers. They stand at the confluence of the political, socio-cultural, commercial and artistic worlds of their time.

For the first time, this book and the exhibition it accompanies, bring together a selection of over 300 textile tickets, from one of the largest collections of tickets for the Indian market, at the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bengaluru, India.