An Abbasid woven linen Fragment (tiraz) Mesopotamia, Period of Caliph Al-Muti AH 334-63/ AD 946-74(2)
£7,000 - £9,000
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Mesopotamia, Period of Caliph Al-Muti AH 334-63/ AD 946-74
Mesopotamia, Period of Caliph Al-Muti AH 334-63/ AD 946-74
27 x 89 cm.(2)
Footnotes
The inscription on the smaller panel includes the name of the Abbasid Caliph al-Muti (AH 334-63/ 946-74) and the Basmala followed by: "al-Muti'li'llah may God make [his...] long".
This tiraz fragment is the end piece of a much larger sheet of gauzy linen fabric which preserves its untwisted fringe. It was once manufactured in Egypt, probably a workshop in the Nile Delta. Importantly the yellow band of plain Kufic silk tapestry woven inscription mentions the name of the Abbasid Caliph al-Muti' li'llah (AH 334-363/ AD 946-974). It conforms with a number of similar inscriptions of more monumental dimensions from his reign. Selected examples are in the Pfister Collection (G. Cornu, Tissus Islamiques de la Collection Pfister, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Citta del Vaticano, 1992, pp. 150-151); The Detroit Institute of Art (inv.no. 32.31); the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, inv. No. 38.42; and inv. no. 31.58 (N.P. Britton, A Study of Some Early Islamic Textiles in The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, 1938, pp. 48-49, no. 31.58, fig. 29).
The inscription on the second panel with inscription in blue is undeciphered. This fragment belongs to a group of tiraz textiles that can be dated to the reign of the Abbasid Caliph al-Radhi bi'llah (AH 322-329/ AD 934-940). They comprise a distinct style of rather bold silk tapestry woven inscription with thick and even letter stems. A similar related example is, amongst others, in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (inv. no. 978.76.77, Sokoly, J.A., "Between Life and Death: The Funerary Context of Tiraz Textiles", Islamische Textilkunst des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Probleme,Bern, 1997, p. 76, fig. 37). Like the present piece this one represents the
end or the beginning of a much larger sheet with its fringe preserved.