The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 6, 2024

Turban or shawl end with tiraz and gold

Turban or shawl end with tiraz and gold

1094
plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave: linen, silk, and gold filé
Overall: 62.3 x 54.6 cm (24 1/2 x 21 1/2 in.)
Gift of The Textile Arts Club to commemorate its 30th Anniversary 1965.313
Location: not on view

Description

Woven with consummate skill, this very fine linen fabric enriched with silk and gold thread displays small birds amid interlacing bands flanked by Arabic inscriptions. It represents the final artistic and technical height of imperial textiles called tiraz, a Persian word meaning embroidery or decorative work. Here, tiraz refers to textiles with Arabic inscriptions; it can also identify court workshops and their production. The historical Arabic inscription, written in angular Kufic script with decorative letter bowls and palmette scrolls between shafts, reads: “proximate victory to the servant of God and his close friend Ma‘add Abū Tamīm, the imam Ahmad [Abū] al-Qāsim al-Musta‘lī bi-Allāh and his so[ns]” (upper line), and “Commander of the believers bin [a] l-Qāsim Shā[han] shah . . . the believers . . . the Muslims[?] and the believers[?]” (lower line).
  • (Mrs. Paul Mallon, Paris).
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 213 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 213 archive.org
    Wardwell, Anne E. Material Matters: Fifty Years of Gifts from the Textile Arts Club, 1934-1984 : [Exhibition] 21 November-30 December 1984, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Museum, 1984. p. 18
    Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. Reproduced: P. 108, fig. 3.25; Mentioned: P. 109, 117, 215
    McWilliams, Mary, and Jochen A. Sokoly. Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Medieval Egyptian Tombs. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard Art Museums, 2021. Mentioned: p. 99; Reproduced: p. 98 and 142
  • Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Egyptian Tombs, 9th - 12th Century. Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA (organizer) (January 22-May 8, 2022) https://harvardartmuseums.org/exhibitions/5836/social-fabrics-inscribed-textiles-from-medieval-egyptian-tombs.
    Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 2015-December 19, 2016).
    Textiles from Egypt, Syria and Spain: 7th through 15th centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 26-June 6, 1991).
    Material Matters: Fifty Years of Gifts from the Textile Arts Club. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 21-December 30, 1984).
    Year in Review: 1965. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27-November 14, 1965).
  • {{cite web|title=Turban or shawl end with tiraz and gold|url=false|author=|year=1094|access-date=06 October 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1965.313