The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Fragment

Fragment

1200s–1300s
Overall: 20.5 x 11.9 cm (8 1/16 x 4 11/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

The design of this woodblock-printed textile was probably copied from a patterned silk. The Arabic inscription ("the sultan") in the center of each rosette was an abbreviation of an official Mamluk formula. The Buddhist knots in the petals of the rosettes and between the stars as well as the Chinese lotus flowers in the petals of the rosettes are indictive of how strong Mongol influence was in Egypt during the Mamluk period.
  • Fiber microscopy was performed on this object and on 1929.845, a very similar fragment that is also from the Mamluk period of Egypt. This object's fiber type has previously been identified as linen through visual analysis, but fiber microscopy provides confirmation of this identification. 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 a bast fiber, likely linen, because they have striations perpendicular to the length of the fiber that are characteristic of bast fibers.
  • –1929
    (Paul Mallon [1884–1975], Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1929–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Pfister, Rudoph. Les toiles imprimées de Fostat et l'Hindoustan. Paris: Les Éditions d'art et d'histoire, 1938. Reproduced: p. 75, pl. XXIXd
  • 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=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1929.907