The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of February 8, 2025

Fragment

Fragment

1200s–1300s
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The break in the bodies of two of the fish reveals that two blocks were used to print each fish.

Description

The Indian technique of patterning a textile by printing with carved woodblocks came to the Mamluk world as a result of trade with India. At Fustat, outside of Cairo, numerous fragments of Indian and Mamluk printed textiles have been found. Fish, repeated to form the entire design of this textile, were an indigenous Egyptian motif.
  • Fiber microscopy was performed on this object and on 1929.907, a very similar fragment that is also from the Mamluk period of Egypt. Its fiber type was originally identified as cotton in museum records but was later changed to linen. Polarized light microscopy is a form of testing that requires a very small sample to be removed from the object for the test to be performed. A polarized light microscope can be used to identify fibers because each fiber type has its own unique structure that is visible under magnification. This textile’s fibers were identified as cotton because of their collapsed, helical structure.
  • ?–1929
    (Paul Mallon [1884–1975], Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1929–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Pfister, R. Les toiles imprimées de Fostat et l'Hindoustan. Paris: Les Éditions d'art et d'histoire, 1938. p. 75, pl. XXIXc
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 270 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art., 1991. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 48 archive.org
  • Textiles from Egypt, Syria and Spain: 7th through 15th centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 26-June 6, 1991).
    Design in Printed Textiles. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 7-September 3, 1961).
    Techniques of Textile Printing. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 11, 1948-May 29, 1949).
  • {{cite web|title=Fragment|url=false|author=|year=1200s–1300s|access-date=08 February 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1929.845