Name of Object:

Tiraz textile fragment from an ikat shawl

Location:

New York, United States of America

Holding Museum:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Date:

Hegira second half 3rd–early 4th century / AD late 9th–early 10th century

Type of object:

Textile

Museum Inventory Number:

29.179.9

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Cotton, ink, and gold; plain weave, resist-dyed (ikat), painted. Inscription: black ink and gold leaf; painted.

Period / Dynasty:

Ziyadid

Provenance:

Yemen

Description:

Striped textiles from Yemen were famous in medieval times throughout the Islamic world. They were made in the ikat technique, in which cotton warp threads were bundled together and resist-dyed before being arranged on the loom to form striped lozenge patterns. The regularity of the weave and the fineness of the cotton threads of this tiraz attest to its status as a luxury object. The gilded inscription in a highly stylised floriated and interlaced kufic script includes the line “Dominion belongs to Him [God].”

Additional Copyright Information:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of George D. Pratt, 1929

Citation of this web page:

 "Tiraz textile fragment from an ikat shawl" in Explore Islamic Art Collections , Museum With No Frontiers, 2019. http://www.museumwnf.org/thematicgallery/thg_galleries/database_item.php?itemId=objects;EPM;us;Mus23;14;en&id=clothing_and_costume

MWNF Working Number: US3 14