TULUNID AND FATIMID EGYPT, 9TH-11TH CENTURY

Details

A GROUP OF SIX FLATWOVEN TEXTILE FRAGMENTS
TULUNID AND FATIMID EGYPT, 9TH-11TH CENTURY
The first wool fragment woven with a very bold blue palm tree with dark brown flower at the tip on brown ground; the second wool fragment woven with three rows of stylized trees in red and blue against a light brown background; the third wool and linen fragment with a strong central band with alternating cartouches in green and red surrounded by floral motifs on gold; the fourth composed of two related wool and linen fragments with animal forms on geometric ground; the fifth wool and linen medallion in the form of a bird; the sixth wool and linen fragment woven in shades of brown and blue with foliate motifs and interlaced medallions, each mounted, framed and glazed except for fourth which is mounted
Largest textile: 9 x 26in. (22.8 x 66cm.) (6)

Provenance

Formerly in collection of Nicholas and Jean Tano 1930s-1950s, sold Sotheby's 6 April 1998, lot 244

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

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Lot Essay

A fragment in the Haifa Museum dated to the circa 9th-10th Century also has interlaced medallions very similar to the sixth fragment in this lot, (Inv. 6797; Alisa Baginski and Amalia Tidhar, Textiles from Egypt 4th-13th Centuries C.E., Jerusalem, 1980, no. 209. P. 139).

The distinctive roundel containing a bird is part of a group of wool and linen roundels which were probably originally intended to be stitched onto other textiles to serve as decorative medallions. The wool and the iconography of these medallions point to the textile weaving workshops of Upper Egypt. For similar medallion see a fragment in the Musée Historique des Tissus des Lyon, (inv.41.819).

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