id: 127913 accession number: 1950.549 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1950.549 updated: 2021-03-27 12:14:38.236000 Tiraz with gold, probably from a wide sleeve, 1013-1020. Egypt, Fatimid period, reign of Caliph al-Hakim, 1013–20. Plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave: linen, silk, and gold filé; overall: 23.5 x 62.3 cm (9 1/4 x 24 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1950.549 title: Tiraz with gold, probably from a wide sleeve title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1013-1020 creation date earliest: 1013 creation date latest: 1020 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: Egypt, Fatimid period, reign of Caliph al-Hakim, 1013–20 technique: plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave: linen, silk, and gold filé department: Textiles collection: T - Islamic type: Textile find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 23.5 x 62.3 cm (9 1/4 x 24 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Islamic art rotation opening date: 2013-12-16T05:00:00 Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 2013-December 15, 2014). title: Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Egyptian Tombs, 9th - 12th Century opening date: 2022-01-22T05:00:00 Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Egyptian Tombs, 9th - 12th Century. Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA (organizer) (January 22-May 8, 2022). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * 2000 Years of Tapestry Weaving. Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT (December 7, 1951-January 27, 1952); Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (February 27-March 25, 1952). --- PROVENANCE (Dr. Emil Delmar [1876-1959], Budapest, Hungary, and New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1950 footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: This textile with expensive gold foil is among the rarest surviving examples among thousands of medieval textiles with historic or generic inscriptions in Arabic, known as tiraz. Tiraz were "emblems of dignity," the prerogative of sovereigns and those they wished to honor. This inscription is masterful. The tall letters are woven with silk thread on only two warps in slit-tapestry weave while the ground was woven with pure gold foil wrapped around a silk core that was not beaten in—to show off its brilliance. The text begins with a prayer and provides the name of Imam al-Hakim, but lacks the place and date of manufacture. The decorative bands feature brilliant gold birds facing simplified trees alternating with popular palmette-decorated hearts. This tiraz fragment may have been part of a wide sleeve that functioned as a receptacle because clothing didn’t have pockets. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Institut français d'archéologie orientale du Caire, Etienne Combe, Jean Sauvaget, and Gaston Wiet. Répertoire chronologique d'épigraphie arabe. Le Caire: Impr. de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1931. page number: no. 2214 url: Wadsworth Atheneum, Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, and Charles Crehore Cunningham. 2000 Years of Tapestry Weaving: A Loan Exhibition : Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Dec. 7, 1951 to Jan. 27, 1952 ; the Baltimore Museum of Art, Feb. 27, 1952 to Mar. 25, 1952. Hartford, Conn: Wardsworth Atheneum], 1951. page number: no. 56 url: Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. page number: Reproduced: p. 99; Mentioned: p. 99, 215 url: O'Kane, Bernard. "The Egyptian Art of the Tiraz in Fatimid Times." In The World of the Fatimids. Melikian-Chirvani, Assadullah Souren, ed. Toronto: Aga Khan Museum in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies and Hirmer, 2018. page number: Mentioned: pp. 182-183; Reproduced: p. 183 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.549/1950.549_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.549/1950.549_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.549/1950.549_full.tif