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).
Publications online: 66 objects
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Textile fragment with interlace and diamond-shapes
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Literature notes
This detail is both a record and a practice piece: the embroiderer has made a mistake on one of the three slightly different crimson patterns and lost the twisted ribbon effect. He or she then broke off the sequence completely and restarted. The three narrow bands show the way the designers of the Mamluk period turned a guilloche pattern, dating back into antiquity, into a geometric one and then developed two more variations on the theme. The seemingly endless number of different geometric patterns worked on Mamluk embroidery can only be described as amazing. -
Details
- Associated place
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Near East (place of creation)
- Material and technique
- linen, woven with silk warp at selvedge, and embroidered with red and dark-blue silk
- Dimensions
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6.5 x 37.5 cm (warp x weft)
24 / 24 threads/cm (thread count)
red embroidery bands 1.4 cm (width)
blue embroidery rectangle 9.5 x 4.5 cm (length x width)
ground fabric (flax) 0.05 cm max. (thread diameter)
ground fabric (flax) 0.02 cm min. (thread diameter)
ground fabric (silk) 0.08 cm (thread diameter)
additional fibre, embroidery 0.05 cm (thread diameter)
- Material index
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organic › animal › animal product › silk
- Technique index
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assembled › woven › plain woven,woven › plain woven,
- Object type index
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Presented by Professor Percy Newberry, 1941.
- Accession no.
- EA1984.184
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Further reading
Ellis, Marianne, Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, in association with Greenville: Curious Works Press, 2001), no. 14 on p. 27, illus. p. 27
Barnes, Ruth and Marianne Ellis, ‘The Newberry Collection of Islamic Embroideries’, 4 vols, 2001, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, cat. vol. ii, illus. vol. i
Location
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- 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
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Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt
This detail is both a record and a practice piece: the embroiderer has made a mistake on one of the three slightly different crimson patterns and lost the twisted ribbon effect. He or she then broke off the sequence completely and restarted. The three narrow bands show the way the designers of the Mamluk period turned a guilloche pattern, dating back into antiquity, into a geometric one and then developed two more variations on the theme. The seemingly endless number of different geometric patterns worked on Mamluk embroidery can only be described as amazing. -
The Newberry Collection of Islamic Embroideries
One long band of red interlacing has two short bands attached at right angles at either end, also filled with interlacing. The interlace design changes slightly in the long band. The band is also interrupted by a dark blue embroidered rectangle, filled with diamonds and comb shapes, and with a narrow blue border of S-shapes.
The red bands are 1.4 cm wide and 34 cm and twice 2.5 cm long. The dark blue rectangle has a length of 9.5 cm and width of 4.5 cm. There is a selvedge, with warp threads of silk to a width of 0.8 cm.
Notice
Object information may not accurately reflect the actual contents of the original publication, since our online objects contain current information held in our collections database. Click on 'buy this publication' to purchase printed versions of our online publications, where available, or contact the Jameel Study Centre to arrange access to books on our collections that are now out of print.
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