Early period embroidered Egyptian textiles

This is a 6th century textile found in Egypt. It is a plain weave linen embroidered in a regular pattern. The textile is 10 cm by 8 cm. It is currently in the Metroplitan Museum of Art.

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This textile is also from the 6th century & Egypt. It is made from wool & plain woven linen. The Metropolitan Museum of Art says the textile is tapestry woven, but it does look like a style of pattern darning. It is 10.6 cm by 6 cm.

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This textile was made between the 6th-7th century. It is made of plain woven linen with wool embroidery and is 14.6 cm by 10 cm. Possibly in running and stem stitch. It is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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This textile is from the 7th-9th century. It is a tapestry woven textile of linen and wool with embroidery. The back of the textile- The textile is 8.3 cm by 10.2 cm. It is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A blackwork border

This is a piece of blackwork embroidery from Egypt or Arabia. Made between the 13th to 16th centuries, it is linen embroidered with red and blue silk. The size is 15 cm by 6 cm, with the fabric selvage visible at the top of the picture.

I have charted up the design-
mfaborderfragment (pdf)

The item is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Two Mamluk Egyptian bags

This is an embroidered drawstring bag from between the 13th-16th centuries. It is tabby woven linen embroidered with pink, green, blue, yellow and ochre silk in an eyelet (or possibly a double faggot) stitch. The size of the bag is 15.8 cm by 13.5 cm. It is in the Museum of Fine Arts.

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This is also a round embroidered bag made between the 13th & 16th century. It is tabby woven linen embroidered with blue and brown silk in chain and darning stitches (or possibly another type of stitch). This bag has a linen tassel attached with three knots at the end of the drawstring. The bag is in the Museum of Fine Arts.

Pattern darning chart

This textile is 9.7cm by 10.2cm. Made in Egypt between the 13th and 14th century, it is plain weave linen embroidered in red silk floss in running stitch and pattern darning. The textile is currently in the Art Institute of Chicago.

I have charted up the design and it is available for download in pdf format-

artinstitutepatterndarning (PDF)

Please let me know how it goes.

Technicalities- there are 66 threads between the top pattern darning and main pattern. The straight lines are the running stitch.

A new embroidery chart

This embroidery is in the University of Manchester. There is very little information on the website about the textile, except that it is from Egypt, made from linen and was made between the years 1100-1499 C.E. It resembles Mamluk embroidery to my eye, which is from the early 13th century. Just for a challenge, I have charted it up! It has both double running and pattern darning.

manchesterembroidery (pdf)

Please let me know how it works for you.

A child’s dress from the 7th-9th century

This is a child’s dress, found in Akhmim, Egypt. Thought to have been made between the 7th and 9th centuries. The reverse-
The dress is made from madder dyed plain-woven wool, with applied woven border made from blue and red wool with undyed linen. The neckline is a keyhole, but the straight part runs along the shoulder. It is closed tight by a fabric button. The hems seem to have been done in double running stitch. The dress is 52.1 cm high and 64.9 cm wide. It is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Some Coptic shawls

This shawl is from between the 3rd and 4th century C.E. The Egyptian shawl is plain weave linen, with a tapestry weave decoration sewn on. The size of the shawl is 70 cm by 45 cm. It is currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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This shawl has been tapestry woven with wool and linen between the 8th and 9th century. It is 21.9 cm by 33 cm. It is also has Coptic script on it, as opposed to tiraz bands with Arabic. It is currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Also made between the 8th and 9th century, this particular shawl is wool, tapestry woven with linen decorations. There is also Coptic script. It is 33 cm high by 79.4 cm wide. It is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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This shawl is much like the others- wool and linen tapestry woven with Coptic script. However by this stage there were also Arabic tiraz becoming the fashion from the Abbasid and Fatimid Empires. The shawl is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A 10th century Egyptian textile

This textile is linen with a red woolen tapestry woven band (dyed with madder) with linen detail. The band has designs of hearts with a goat or a Sagittary in the middle. The dimensions are 30.5 cm by 31.5 cm. The item is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is the detail of the tapestry band. The Museum’s page says the textile is a sleeve remnant. However, the reverse of the textile is unusual- This fringing is more expected in a shawl. The reverse details- Please let me know what you think the textile could be.

A 12th-14th century Egyptian tunic

This tunic was thought to have been made between 1100-1399 C.E. which covers the Fatimid and Ayyubid rulers of Egypt. The shirt is embroidered linen. Unfortunately there is no other information on the Victoria & Albert Museum website. The item is currently not being shown. Scrolling in it is possible to see that the motifs look like fish and “lollywrappers”. Both of those motifs look to be done in pattern darning with a little running stitch highlighting the seams.

The construction of the shirt is the same as the shirt previously mentioned in the post “An Egyptian Child’s tunic from the Mamluk Period”. That shirt can be found in the Ashmolean Museum.

A pattern darning chart

This embroidered textile is linen embroidered with blue cotton. It is 31 x 14.5 cm. The main design is similar to the pattern darning sampler from the post “A Mamluk pattern darning sampler”, specifically pattern 1. It is larger and more complete. There are two narrow bands that highlight the main band, one with an s shape and the other is reversed, with a z shape. The textile is in the Ashmolean Museum.

patterndarning1

This is a one page pdf document. Let me know how your embroidery goes!