Artwork Page for Tomb Cover

Details / Information for Tomb Cover

Tomb Cover

1640–1950 (radiocarbon date, 95% probability)

Iraq or Iran, in the style of the Buyid period

(945–1055)
Medium
compound tabby; silk
Measurements
Overall: 210.2 x 102.5 cm (82 3/4 x 40 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1954.780
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

This complete loom piece was woven to cover a human corpse: at the top, a circle to cover the head; below, a long tapering shape for the body. The only decoration on the dark brown ground consists of Kufic inscriptions reserved in beige on bands. The text which was undoubtedly composed for the decoration of a funeral pall gives the name of the deceased in the circle around the top. Other inscriptions refer to the part of the body over which the decoration lies.
A vertically long human-shaped textile fragment of dark brown silk features a column of light tan Arabic script. At the top, a circular panel encloses radiating lines of text, with smaller script blocks flanking the center. Numerous thin dark threads extend horizontally from the frayed, irregular edges of the fabric. The textile tapers toward the bottom, its tan inscriptions possessing a faded quality against the worn, dark ground.

Tomb Cover

1640–1950 (radiocarbon date, 95% probability)

Iraq or Iran, in the style of the Buyid period (945–1055)

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