The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Square cotton white cloth with patchwork samples of embroidery in mustard yellow, dark blue, dark pink, and light grey-green colors. The left of three columns of patchwork contains densely embroidered geometric shapes. The central column contains vaguely floral patterns, almost like rows of abstracted trees. The right column contains neat rows of outlined tree-like shapes as well as thin, simpler bands with repeated "x," clover, and beyond shapes.

Embroidery Sampler (Chelliga/Shelliga)

1800s

Africa, North Africa, Morocco, Salé, Moroccan embroiderer

Cotton, silk, dye
Average: 81.9 x 79.4 cm (32 1/4 x 31 1/4 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1929.841
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.
  • 1929
    (Sotheby's London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1929–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Mackie, Louise W., and Cleveland Museum of Art. Symbols of Power : Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015: p. 453.
    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
    "Exhibitions Through November 2025.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 65, no. 3 (2025): 16-17. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 16 archive.org
  • Arts of the Maghreb: North African Textiles and Jewelry. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 2024-October 12, 2025).
  • {{cite web|title=Embroidery Sampler (Chelliga/Shelliga)|url=false|author=|year=1800s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1929.841