Textile fragment with band of pseudo-inscription, leaves, and vines
Details
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Title
Textile fragment with band of pseudo-inscription, leaves, and vines
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Associated place
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Date
12th century (1101 - 1200)
Fatimid Period (AD 909 - 1171) -
Material and technique
linen, embroidered with red, green, and black silk
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Material index
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Technique index
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Object type
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Dimensions
33 x 19.5 cm max. (length x width)
along length/width 15 / 17 threads/cm (thread count)
ground fabric 0.06 cm max. (thread diameter)
ground fabric 0.04 cm min. (thread diameter)
additional fibre, embroidery 0.05 cm (thread diameter) -
No. of items
1
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Credit line
Presented by Professor Percy Newberry, 1941.
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Museum location
Museum department
Eastern Art
Accession no.
EA1984.523
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Catalogue text
A band containing an inscription embroidered green and red, with leaf and vine ornaments as background filler, as well as interlacing in black embroidery. The inscription has a border with black spiral design, as well as leaves or birds along the lower border. Technique and design are similar to EA1984.110.
The textile probably was a pseudo-tiraz.In: Ellis, Marianne, Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, in association with Greenville: Curious Works Press, 2001)
The detail shown here is taken from part of a band that is very similar to No.6 [EA1984.110] in style and materials, as well as in the way the elements of the design relate to kufic letters. Short inscriptions repeating generalised phrases such as "Victory comes from God" and "What God wiIls" are common on fine quality garments and scarves in the 12th century. Here embroidery follows the trend but the simulated writing is illegible. The stilted appearance of the scrolls also suggests that tapestry-woven textiles served as models; curves distorted by the constraints imposed by tapestry weaving have been copied by the embroiderers who had no such limitations. The fragment was probably part of a cloth that served as a towel or cover.
In: Barnes, Ruth and Marianne Ellis, ‘The Newberry Collection of Islamic Embroideries’, 4 vols, 2001, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
Further reading
Barnes, Ruth and Marianne Ellis, ‘The Newberry Collection of Islamic Embroideries’, 4 vols, 2001, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, vol. iii, vol. i
Ellis, Marianne, Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, in association with Greenville: Curious Works Press, 2001), no. 7 on p. 19, p. 8, illus. p. 19
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