Textile Fragment

Textile Fragment

The Shi'a profession of faith and the name of the Fatimid Caliph al-Zahir are inscribed in this textile fragment. The Fatimids, Shi'a Muslims, were minority rulers of the Sunni majority in Egypt. Ceremonial display of wealth and power therefore played an especially important role during Fatimid rule.

The caliphal inscription of this textile would indicate royal use, but the quality of the script and the ornamentation do not reflect the high standards associated with court production. The kufic script is tightly compacted with neatly coiled letters, but the uneven baseline and haphazard arabesque decorations in the upper zone detract from a neat presentation. Furthermore, the animals, which run in the opposite direction of the script, appear quite simplified, as though an inexperienced weaver created them by copying another design.

The format of this textile fragment, with its birds and stylized rabbits or griffins in roundels, recalls Coptic and earlier motifs.

[Walker and Froom 1992]

Inscription: Arabic inscription in kufic script on two identical lines:
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. There is no God but God. Muhammad is the prophet of God, the peace of God be upon him. 'Ali is the friend of God, the peace of God be upon him. Victory is from God upon the servant of God and his friend, 'Ali Abu al-Hasan the imam al-Zahir li-i'zaz Din Allah

Said Samaan, Mellawi (until 1927; sold to Tano); [ Nicolas Tano, Cairo, 1927–1929; sold to MMA]

New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Tiraz: Inscribed Textiles from Islamic Workshops," December 15, 1992–March 14, 1993, no. 17.

Dimand, Maurice S. A Handbook of Mohammedan Decorative Arts. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1930. pp. 205–6, ill. fig. 126 (b/w).

Dimand, Maurice S. A Handbook of Muhammadan Art. 2nd rev. and enl. ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944. p. 252, ill. fig. 163 (b/w).

Schimmel, Annemarie. "Islamic Calligraphy." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., vol. 50, no. 1 (Summer 1992). p. 13, ill. fig. 15a (b/w).

Walker, Daniel S., and Aimee Froom. "Exhibition Notebook." In Tiraz: Inscribed Textiles from Islamic Workshops.. New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992. no. 17, p. 28.