© The Metropolitan Museum of Art


This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Fragment

Location:

New York, United States of America

Holding Museum:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

About The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Date of Object:

Hegira late 4th–5th century / AD 11th century

Museum Inventory Number:

27.170.67

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Linen and silk

Dimensions:

Textile: L: 24.8cm, W: 23.5cm; Mount: L: 40.6cm, W: 38.9cm

Period / Dynasty:

Fatimid

Provenance:

Fustat, Egypt

Description:

This linen tiraz textile is enlivened with vibrantly coloured red, blue, and yellow animals and medallions. Unlike most tiraz, in which the primary decoration is an embroidered inscription, this textile depicts a hare and confronted peacocks. While the decorative motif refers to pre-Islamic Coptic and Sasanian textiles, the textile’s late date of the eleventh century reflects a trend toward classical revival in Fatimid artistic production. Two bands of kufic text repeat the word God in Arabic.

How Object was obtained:

Rogers Fund, 1927

Vendor: Joseph Abemayor, Cairo

Former owner [dealer]: [Joseph Abemayor, Cairo, until 1927; sold to H.E. Winlock for MMA]

Selected bibliography:

Walker, Daniel S. and Froom, Aimee, Tiraz: Inscribed Textiles from Islamic Workshops. Exhibition Notebook, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992: 15-16, no. 4.

Additional Copyright Information:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1927

Citation of this web page:

 "Fragment" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;us;Mus23;12;en

MWNF Working Number: US3 12

RELATED CONTENT

 Artistic Introduction

Islamic Dynasties / Period

Fatimids


On display in

MWNF Galleries

Calligraphy Textiles

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