This fragmentary textile has visual potency belying its modest dimensions. Probably originally one of a confronted pair, a horned ram with cameloid mouth and spotted coat stands in the lobed field of a circular roundel. It is likely that the roundel was one of many arranged in rows against the dark blue ground embellished with off-white scrolling vines.

Several features of this fragment are reminiscent of the art of Sasanian Iran produced during the centuries preceding the Arab conquest of 641, including the representation of an animal in a roundel, its fluttering scarf, and the crescent attached to its collar. But the presence of S-spun linen (named for the direction of the twist, imparted in the process of forming a continuous thread from the fiber) virtually ensures that the textile is of Egyptian manufacture.

A repeat pattern such as the one we speculate existed on this piece was developed for drawloom weaving of luxury silks perhaps in the seventh century. Its appearance here in tapestry weave, in which repetition saves no time or labor, suggests that a Sasanian-style patterned silk served as a model for this early Islamic product of Egypt.