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.

Iranian and Afghani textiles

This textile is split stitched silk on plain weave, made in the 7th century in either Iran, Afghanistan or China. Detail of the boar’s head roundel- The textile is 56cm by 48cm. The textile has boars heads and peacocks embroidered on it. The textile is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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This textile is from the 14th century. It is cotton embroidered with birds, floral scrolls and calligraphy in brown thread. It has a height of 130cm and is 47cm wide at the waist. It is in the Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah Museum, but the site doesn’t have much more information.

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This chemise is also 14th century, from Afghanistan. It is also plain weave cotton, embroidered in black cotton. The design of the embroidery are rosettes, with an indigo band around the neck. It was sold at Christies for £11,950 ($17,292).

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 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!

Different but similar embroideries

This is thought to be a fragment of a garment, made between the 13th and 14th century in al -A’zam in Upper Egypt. At this time the rulers would have been Mamluk. This is a linen even weave, with silk blackwork, pulled thread and openwork. The openwork is kloster blocks with doves’ eye stitch. The detail- The pattern has been charted by Mathilde Eschenbach which she also used in a project. The textile is in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

This embroidery is very similar to the previous textile with some small differences- This textile is unfortunately in pieces, but the design is on linen out of blue and yellow silk. There is blackwork, pulled thread and openwork like the first textile but this embroidery also has silk satin stitching. The pattern is also repeated like the first textile, which can be seen in this piece- The main piece is 17.3 x 11 cm and can be found in the Ashmolean. The other pieces can be found in the Ashmolean Museum.

A few Ottoman hangings

This embroidered hanging is 202 cm by 136.5 cm and made of linen embroidered with silk. It was thought to have been made between 1570-1699 C.E. The stitches used are atma, closed herringbone, double running, chain with Romanian couching used later. The hanging is made of three separate pieces sewn together after the embroidery on each piece was completed. The main design is tulips, surrounded in a cell formation with an oval medallion and blue leaves on a diagonal. The textile is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
This is a piece of a hanging, also thought to have been made between 1540-1699 C.E. This textile is 42 cm by 55 cm, also made of linen with silk embroidery. The stitches used are surface darning on the diagonal. The design is tulips surrounded by blue hyacinths, within a hexagonal cell design of small flowers and green stems with leaves. This textile is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
This textile is thought to be part of a hanging constructed like the first textile. The size is 119 cm by39 cm, made out of linen with silk. The stitched used are chain stitch and regular surface darning over five threads. The design is a heart medallion with a tulip and pomegranates in reserve (or voided). The medallions are surrounded by white flowers and blue leaves on the diagonal. The border (as seen around the top and the very left) is a leaf motif in blue, red, white and green. The piece of hanging is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

These embroideries are mentioned in the book Ottoman Embroidery by Marianne Ellis and Jennifer Mary Wearden. While the book doesn’t have many close up pictures of the embroideries, there is a section in the back that gives many detailed descriptions of the different stitches and how to do them.

For those interested in Ottoman embroidery and happen to be in Washington, the Textile Museum will be having an exhibition in September about Ottoman embroidery. The Sultan’s Garden: The Blossoming of Ottoman Art will run from September 21st, 2012 through to March 10th, 2013.

Recommended reading
A Book of Old Embroidery by Albert Frank Kendrick and Charles Geoffrey Holme. This is available to download from the Internet Archive.

Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese de Dillmont. Through Project Gutenberg.

Abbasid tunic

This tunic is from the 9th-10th century Ifriqiya, or modern day Tunisia. At the time, Ifriqiya was ruled by the Aghlabids under the Abbasids. The tunic is dyed black with different designs on each shoulder. Both are embroidered with wool, with animal designs above and geometric designs on the other sleeve. Although the dimensions are not included, it is thought the tunic was for a child. Taken from Museum With No Frontiers.