The chintzes made for export to Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are now well known, but for over a thousand years these trade cloths were exchanged by merchants of all nations for the spices and valuables of the East. They were a key element in the formation of colonial maritime empires and, in the countries that sought to possess them, they clothed kings, served as prestigious diplomatic gifts, and even preserved wearers from death.

John Guy explains the weaving techniques involved and describes the history of the trade in the Malay world, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, China, and Vietnam. He draws on a vivid range of contemporary sources, including the records of visitors, merchants, and trading companies; on paintings and engravings; on modern ethnographical studies; on his own firsthand research; and above all on the textiles themselves.