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Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt

A selection of 10th to 16th century embroideries from the Newberry collection at the Ashmolean by Marianne Ellis (published Oxford, 2001).

Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt by Marianne Ellis

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Textile fragment with peacocks and heart-shaped trees

  • Literature notes

    Here pairs of small lively peacocks stand facing each other underneath trees stylised in similar fashion to those on the previous fragment [EA1984.508]. Again, there are two bands placed so that one is a mirror-image of the other. The stitch is the same as No.3 [EA1984.508], but on this piece split stitch is used both for outlining and filling in the shapes of the little peacocks with red, blue and yellow silk, which has now faded. Birds were not the only creatures chosen to decorate this category of early Fatimid embroidery. On another piece in the collection, four-footed creatures with raised left front paws, possibly lions, stand against a blue background. On yet another there is an elephant that must have once looked splendid with its pink head and legs, yellow body and large eye. These embroideries are most probably from furnishings. From documents recovered from the Cairo Genizah, a collection of medieval Jewish traders' documents found in the synagogue in Old Cairo, we learn that ten linen cushions were part of the dowry of a bride recorded about A.D. 1020. Although some of the Newberry fragments are sadly worn, enough have survived to give us some idea of the colourful embroidery that once brightened Fatimid homes.
  • Details

    Associated place
    Africa Egypt (find spot)
    AfricaEgyptCairoCairo Fustat (possible find spot)
    Near East (place of creation)
    Date
    Fatimid Period (AD 909 - 1171)
    Material and technique
    linen, embroidered with coloured silk
    Dimensions
    27 x 24.5 cm max. (length x width)
    along length/width 15 / 16 threads/cm (thread count)
    ground fabric 0.05 cm (thread diameter)
    additional fibre, embroidery 0.04 cm (thread diameter)
    Material index
    organicvegetalfibreflax linen,
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Professor Percy Newberry, 1941.
    Accession no.
    EA1993.248
  • Further reading

    Ellis, Marianne, Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, in association with Greenville: Curious Works Press, 2001), no. 4 on p. 15, illus. p. 15

    Kühnel, Ernst, Islamische Stoffe aus ägyptischen Gräbern in der islamischen Kunstabteilung und in der Stoffsammlung des Schlossmuseums (Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth, 1927), cat. 52, pl. 29

    Barnes, Ruth and Marianne Ellis, ‘The Newberry Collection of Islamic Embroideries’, 4 vols, 2001, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, cat. p. 209 (vol. iv), illus. vol. iv p. 209

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt by Marianne Ellis

    Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt

    Here pairs of small lively peacocks stand facing each other underneath trees stylised in similar fashion to those on the previous fragment [EA1984.508]. Again, there are two bands placed so that one is a mirror-image of the other. The stitch is the same as No.3 [EA1984.508], but on this piece split stitch is used both for outlining and filling in the shapes of the little peacocks with red, blue and yellow silk, which has now faded. Birds were not the only creatures chosen to decorate this category of early Fatimid embroidery. On another piece in the collection, four-footed creatures with raised left front paws, possibly lions, stand against a blue background. On yet another there is an elephant that must have once looked splendid with its pink head and legs, yellow body and large eye. These embroideries are most probably from furnishings. From documents recovered from the Cairo Genizah, a collection of medieval Jewish traders' documents found in the synagogue in Old Cairo, we learn that ten linen cushions were part of the dowry of a bride recorded about A.D. 1020. Although some of the Newberry fragments are sadly worn, enough have survived to give us some idea of the colourful embroidery that once brightened Fatimid homes.
  • The Newberry Collection of Islamic Embroideries by Ruth Barnes and Marianne Ellis

    The Newberry Collection of Islamic Embroideries

    A double band with a repeating design of tall plants alternating with pairs of confronting birds standing at the foot of a heart-shaped tree; remains of narrow band of hexagons.

    Kuhnel dates a similar embroidery to the 12th/13th century.
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