{
"data": {
"id": 130598,
"accession_number": "1953.320",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Panel from a Head Covering (\u2018Ajar), probably 1800s or early 1900s. Africa, North Africa, Tunisia, probably Testour or Tunis, Tunisian weaver. Silk, metal, dye; overall: 117.2 x 53.4 cm (46 1/8 x 21 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1953.320",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Panel from a Head Covering (\u2018Ajar)",
"creation_date": "probably 1800s or early 1900s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1800,
"creation_date_latest": 1925,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Africa, North Africa, Tunisia, probably Testour or Tunis, Tunisian weaver"
],
"technique": "Silk, metal, dye",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Textiles",
"collection": "T - Islamic",
"type": "Textile",
"measurements": "Overall: 117.2 x 53.4 cm (46 1/8 x 21 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 1.172,
"height_inch": 46,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.125,
"width": 0.534,
"width_inch": 21,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 383281,
"title": "Stories from Storage",
"description": "Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).",
"opening_date": "2021-02-06T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 669620,
"title": "Arts of the Maghreb: North African Textiles and Jewelry",
"description": "Arts of the Maghreb: North African Textiles and Jewelry. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 3, 2024-October 12, 2025).",
"opening_date": "2024-11-03T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "(Jose Vi\u00f1as, Barcelona, Spain, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1953",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1953-",
"sortorder": 2
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The khamsah (\u062e\u0645\u0633\u0629), an open five-fingered hand, is a protective motif. It is woven in red in multiple ways on this panel.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "This panel was part of an urban Tunisian woman\u2019s head-covering (\u2018ajar). Two such panels flanked a face-obscuring black panel. Such luxurious garments of seclusion were once reserved for elites. The decorative panels draped down when worn, showing off the finely woven motifs and demonstrating the wearer\u2019s family wealth. Arranged in bands, motifs include stylized trees (or protective hands), flowers, eight-pointed stars, and geometric designs. The mirrored Kufic (squared Arabic script) lettering in teal is likely the name of the weaver or panel owner. Weavers with Muslim Andalusian (southern Spanish) heritage originally made these, drawing from Andalusian and Turkish motifs; later, workshops in Tunis produced them.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79912524"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1953.320-panel-from-a-head-co"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Chakerian, Peter. \u201c'Maghreb' sews artistic traditions of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.\u201d The Plain Dealer (Friday, November 1, 2024): D1, D5.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Gebremedhen, Helina. \u201cArts of the Maghreb: North African Textiles and Jewelry \u2013 Curatorial Reflections.\u201d Journal 18, Issue #19 (Spring 2025).",
"page_number": "",
"url": "https://www.journal18.org/19-africa/arts-of-the-maghreb-north-african-textiles-and-jewelry-curatorial-reflections/"
},
{
"citation": "Gillow, John. African Textiles: Colour and Creativity Across a Continent. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003.",
"page_number": "p. 232",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Windmuller-Luna, Kristen. \"Textile stories from North Africa.\" HALI 224 (Summer 2025): 54-61.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 57, fig. 6",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1953.320",
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"creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 130598,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1953-07-17T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1800,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "probably 1800s or early 1900s",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
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"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Length of Textile"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 06:45:18.968000"
}
}