The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Rectangular kerchief of white linen embroidered with stylized floral patterns in primarily glinting gold and silver, dark red and blue threads. Black thread outlines each shape. A narrow, rectangular band at the center features plain linen interrupted only by four-petaled shapes in gold outlined with black. On either side, two vertically running rectangular bands of gold geometric designs break up the floral patterns.

Kerchief (tensifa)

1700–1899

Africa, North Africa, Algeria, Algerian embroiderer

Linen, silk, gold, silver, dye
Overall: 241.9 x 39.4 cm (95 1/4 x 15 1/2 in.)
Gift of J. H. Wade 1916.1238
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Tiny traces of graphite on this textile show us how the artist carefully outlined the design to be embroidered.

Description

This beautiful kerchief, worn wrapped around the head, was part of elegant bathing equipment that well-to-do women wore while relaxing in a hammam after bathing. The floral and foliate embroidery reflect a fashion that lasted for more than a century. This example is dominated by lavish, radiating gold and silver thread.
  • ?–1916
    Mr. Jeptha Homer Wade II [1857–1926] and Mrs. Ellen Garretson Wade [1859–1917], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1916–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, and A. J. B. Wace. Catalogue of Algerian Embroideries. London: Published under the authority of the Board of Education, 1935. plate 1, no. 16
  • Arts of the Maghreb: North African Textiles and Jewelry. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 2024-October 12, 2025).
    Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 2015-December 19, 2016).
    Embroideries from the J.H. Wade Collection, November 1–December 5, 1928. Cleveland Museum of Art
  • {{cite web|title=Kerchief (tensifa)|url=false|author=|year=1700–1899|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.1238