The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Embroidery sampler (chelliga/shelliga)

c. 1700s

Africa, North Africa, Morocco, Moroccan embroiderer

Cotton, silk, dye
Overall: 58.4 x 59.1 cm (23 x 23 1/4 in.)
Educational Purchase Fund 1929.831
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Upon completing their training, professionally-trained young women would produce a sampler as a "diploma" testifying to their embroidery skills.

Description

These detailed samplers demonstrate the artist's technical range. Here, floral designs, protective open-palm hand motifs (khamsa) and various patterns are embroidered using double-running stitches, straight stitches, and long-armed cross stitches with dyed silk thread. Young women from all social classes would learn these skills from a master craftswoman (mu'allima), who taught within her home.
  • Purchased from Sotheby & Co, London.
  • Stone, Caroline. The Embroideries of North Africa. Burnt Mill, Harlow, Essex: Longman, 1985. p. 69, 90
    Paydar, Niloo Imami, and Ivo Grammet. The Fabric of Moroccan Life. Indianapolis, Ind: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 2002. p. 72, 79
    Denamur, Isabelle, Pierre Ferbos, and Louise Rogers Lalaurie. Moroccan textile embroidery. Paris: Flammarion, 2003. p. 179, 185, 187-189
    Alaoui, Rachida. Florilège de la broderie marocaine. [Milan]: Skira, 2011. p. 86-87
  • {{cite web|title=Embroidery sampler (chelliga/shelliga)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1700s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1929.831