Textile fragment with lions
Details
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Title
Textile fragment with lions
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Associated people
probably Sultan Baibars I (ruled 1260 - 1277) (heraldry on object) -
Associated place
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Date
late 13th century
Mamluk Period (1250 - 1517) -
Material and technique
linen band, embroidered with blue and red silk; linen backing, embroidered with blue and red silk; joined with stitching in cotton and silk
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Material index
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Technique index
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Object type
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Dimensions
26.5 x 10.5 cm (length x width)
ground fabric, along length/width 20 / 20 threads/cm (thread count)
backing, along length/width 20 / 20 threads/cm (thread count)
ground fabric .05 cm (thread diameter)
backing .03 cm (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.
EA1984.63
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Catalogue text
A band of three lion blazons, blue with red outlines, is sewn onto a field of swirling rosettes and intersecting circles. The rosettes are blue, the circles have red chevrons at their intersection with each other.
The fragment is similar to EA1984.60 and EA1984.61, although the direction of the lions is reversed. Laid threads are couched down over surface satin filling stitches. Outlines are worked in stem stitch.In: Ellis, Marianne, Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, in association with Greenville: Curious Works Press, 2001)
This lion is one of three embroidered on a wide border sewn onto the bottom of a large fragment, probably a hanging. The textile is now very worn but he still presents a jaunty appearance with his raised front paw and uplifted tail. The lion in Mamluk heraldry was associated with the blazon of the Mamluk Sultan Baybars, who ruled from 1260-77, so we can assume that the embroidery dates from the early Mamluk period. On this fragment the lion and its circular frame have been worked in the same type of couching as for No.45 [EA1984.76], and its animated appearance has been increased by adding outlines in stem stitch in red silk.
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. ii, vol. i
Ellis, Marianne, Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, in association with Greenville: Curious Works Press, 2001), no. 46 on. p. 67, pp. 68-70, illus. p. 67
Reference URL
