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Source Description
This rare complete Egyptian pillow cover is a masterpiece of contrasting colors. Crimson and blue-green wool alternate in the ground and bird-inhabited roundels, supported by mustard-colored wool and undyed linen woven in tapestry weave. When folded down the center, based on examples from Egyptian burials, four birds form a unit on each side and are appropriately ascending in flight. <br><br>Above, an Arabic text written in angular Kufic script reads, "In the name of God. Blessing from God to its owner. Of what was made in the tiraz." The word <em>tiraz</em> means factory or an Arabic-inscribed textile. This was probably made in al-Bahnasa, the city renowned for colorful wool textiles with figures, as they claimed, from a "gnat to the elephant."
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
135988
label
Pillow cover with Arabic inscription
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
135988
contentType
object
title
Pillow cover with Arabic inscription
description
This rare complete Egyptian pillow cover is a masterpiece of contrasting colors. Crimson and blue-green wool alternate in the ground and bird-inhabited roundels, supported by mustard-colored wool and undyed linen woven in tapestry weave. When folded down the center, based on examples from Egyptian burials, four birds form a unit on each side and are appropriately ascending in flight. <br><br>Above, an Arabic text written in angular Kufic script reads, "In the name of God. Blessing from God to its owner. Of what was made in the tiraz." The word <em>tiraz</em> means factory or an Arabic-inscribed textile. This was probably made in al-Bahnasa, the city renowned for colorful wool textiles with figures, as they claimed, from a "gnat to the elephant."
date
800s
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60752193
genreSpecific
Textile
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 80 x 83.2 cm (31 1/2 x 32 3/4 in.); Mounted: 93.3 x 95.9 cm (36 3/4 x 37 3/4 in.)
cul
Egypt, al-Bahnasa
accession
1959.48
Source extras
tec
Wool and linen: tapestry weave
tombstone
Pillow cover with Arabic inscription, 800s. Egypt, al-Bahnasa. Wool and linen: tapestry weave; overall: 80 x 83.2 cm (31 1/2 x 32 3/4 in.); mounted: 93.3 x 95.9 cm (36 3/4 x 37 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1959.48
collection
T - Islamic
inscriptions
inscription
"In the name of God. Blessing from God to its owner. Of what was made in the tiraz."
inscription_remark
The Arabic script is written in an early stage of ornamental Kufic. Although the location of the tiraz (royal weaving factory) is not given, a few related tapestries are known from their inscriptions to have been woven in Bahnasá. This city, located in the Faiyum Oasis, is known from contemporary Arab sources to have been an important weaving center that specialized in curtains and furnishings.
citations
citation
Shepherd, Dorothy G. "An Early Tiraz from Egypt." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 47, no. 1 (1960): 7-14.
page_number
p. 7-14
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 213
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 213
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 269
citation
Edwards, Holly. <em>Patterns and Precision, the Arts and Sciences of Islam</em>. Washington, DC: National Committee to Honor the Fourteenth Centennial of Islam, 1982.
page_number
p. 54, no.173
citation
Cornu, Georgette, Odile Valansot, and Hélène Meyer. <em>Tissus islamiques de la collection Pfister</em>. Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 1992.
citation
Baker, Patricia L. <em>Islamic Textiles</em>. London: British Museum Press, 1995.
page_number
p. 55
citation
Paetz, Annette gen. Schieck. “Late Roman cushions and the principles of their decoration.” In Moor, A. de, and Cäcilia Fluck. <em>Clothing the House: Furnishing Textiles of the 1st Millennium AD from Egypt and Neighbouring Countries : Proceedings of the 5th Conference of the Research Group "Textiles from the Nile Valley" Antwerp, 6-7 October 2007</em>. Tielt, Belgium: Lannoo Publishers, 2009.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 115-131; Reproduced: p. 130
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 225
citation
Mackie, Louise W. <em>Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century</em>. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015.
page_number
Reproduced: P. 58-59, fig. 2.20; Mentioned: P. 57, 76,189
citation
McWilliams, Mary, and Jochen A. Sokoly. Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Medieval Egyptian Tombs. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard Art Museums, 2021.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 133; Reproduced: Cover, p. 132, 146,fig. 7.
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:56:37.792000
sourceId
135988
dept
Textiles
coll
T - Islamic
med
Wool and linen: tapestry weave
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
0c6a952ecbe182c1