This piece has embroidered designs (missing in places) in yellow, red and blue wool on a brushed, felt-like, brown wool background. Parallel friezes of yellow, pink-red and blue lozenges converge towards the lower point of the textile, in function of the use for which it was intended. The upper left, which is almost complete, has retained the lines around the friezes and tends to confirm that the design set out to be in the shape of a V.
Origin:
Egypt
Date:
11th century (?)
Material:
Wool
Dimensions:
33 x 23 cm
Comparisons:
A textile showing a similar technique and design was uncovered in Fustat, in a stratigraphic layer dating from the 11th century. This would nevertheless have originally been produced in Central Asia, showing that there was contact between Egypt and that region of the world, which was by then Fatimid.
Provenance:
Collection Coptic textiles Fill-Trevisiol: donation
Location:
Musée royal de Mariemont
Brushed wool, chain stitch embroidery
The weaving structure can not be analysed because the cloth is brushed and felted and the back is glued.
Embroidery:
chain stitch: yellow, red and nuances of blue wool Z