Chasuble Fragment

This fragment is likely from a lavish textile either a chasuble or a reliquary cloth used in the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Chur, Switzerland where its sister fragment is preserved in the Cathedral’s treasury. It is a highly luxurious fabric woven with fine silk and silver-gild metallic thread. Calligraphic golden bands with scrolling vine-leaves in the back – some of which end in animal heads – are woven against a purple-blue satin ground. They alternate with bands decorated by quatrefoil medallions in crimson red surrounded by fantastic beasts, such as dragons and griffins. While the repeated inscribed words in Arabic of ‘al-Sultan al-Malik [al-Nasir] suggest an attribution to Mamluk Egypt under Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun (r. ca. 1293–1342), the animals and script also resemble those found in the eastern Islamic Lands, where under the Il-Khanids sophisticated textiles were woven as gifts for their Mamluk rivals. However, the inner architecture and technique of this textile reveals structural affinities with European, particularly Italian textile manufacture. This is further supported by a peculiar stylistic rendering of the vegetal details in this textile, which does not compare with examples from the Islamic world. An Italian production also would explain the misspelling of the Mamluk honorific titles.


Through the centuries, Islamic textiles and carpets were very common in church contexts. From the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, striped luxurious textiles with Arabic inscriptions, such as this one, enjoyed popularity in Christian and Muslim elite contexts across the Mediterranean and beyond. In the fourteenth century and fifteenth century the development of an ‘international style’ and similar taste lead to the production of similar looking weavings with a shared decorative repertoire in different regions, complicating their attribution. This textile fragment is one of them. Its structure attests that Italian textile production imitated Islamic patterns in their weavings, as Islamic textiles were considered prestigious and highly esteemed by churches and the clergy in Europe.