Tiraz, probably Egypt or Yemen, 10th century - Lot 164

Tiraz, probably Egypt or Yemen, 10th century Weave of unbleached silk, block-printed in black ink, the gold-embellished letters in floriated kufic Arabic repeating the formula "Al-Mulku lillah" ("Royalty belongs to God"). 17.3 x 43.5 cm Holes, stains, repairs, folds. Attached is a cotton weave embroidered with colored cotton threads in geometric designs, Egypt, probably Byzantine. Attached to a raffia weave. Max. dimensions: 54 x 44 cm. As is, stains, holes, repairs. Tiraz with black painted inscriptions and gold lettering inside were common in Yemen during the Abbasid period. As on this textile, the calligraphic style adopted is floriated kufic, with letter shafts terminated by palmettes or other leafy motifs. Unlike our piece, the backing is often ikate, as in the examples from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (31.962), the Royal Ontario Museum (970.364.19) or the Metropolitan Museum, New York (MET) (29.179.9). Our textile with its ecru background is very similar to a tiraz fragment preserved at the MET (48.70) in terms of the shape of the letters, the support and even the content of the inscription, which is identical. The latter is attributed to 10th-century Egypt. Bibliography Tissus d'Egypte, témoins du monde arabe, VIIIe - XVe siècle, Collection Bouvier, Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, 1993-1994, pp. 124 - 125.