As a horse instinctively and blindly runs to his stable, our eyes invariably travel to the textile and pattern seen in a work of art—be it the Indus Valley priest dressed in the trefoil pattern garment, or a Chola bronze with a floral meander on the lower garment, or in Mughal, Deccani, Rajasthani or Pahadi miniatures," says veteran collector Shilpa Shah about the love for textiles she shares with husband Praful Shah. "We immediately ask ourselves, 'Could this pattern depict an embroidery? Or is it kalamkari or block print? Does the emperor's striped pyjama in a Mughal painting, represent a mashru?'"

This curiosity for textiles led the Mumbai-based couple to discover miniature paintings, which, Shilpa says, reflect the plethora of textiles used in costumes, and as tents, canopies and floorspreads in pre-colonial and colonial India. This made the paintings perhaps the only literary and visual record that existed prior to the British documenting the textile crafts of India. "It is an invaluable resource for visual evidence of textiles," she adds.