Textile with falconers and desert creatures
Type:
Textiles
Date:
Late eleventh–early twelfth century
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Egypt
Dimensions:
W 57.5 cm
Description:
This linen textile fragment was embroidered with colorful silk figures and patterns in Fatimid Egypt. The edges are defined by multicolored almond shapes and a continuous row of birds flanking stylized palmettes. The circular medallions depict men holding falcons. In the triangular areas between them are desert creatures, including scorpions and camels that support a rider in a howdaj (howdah). The textile was reportedly found in the Fayyum, an oasis in the desert west of the Nile River.
Falconry was a princely activity in many medieval cultures, and even though the textile was produced in an Islamicate context, nothing on it indicates the faith of its maker or users. Its fragmentary condition also makes it impossible to determine its original function, but it was most likely a hanging or cushion in someone's home.
Falconry was a princely activity in many medieval cultures, and even though the textile was produced in an Islamicate context, nothing on it indicates the faith of its maker or users. Its fragmentary condition also makes it impossible to determine its original function, but it was most likely a hanging or cushion in someone's home.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
7
Repository and Online Resources:
• The piece, at the Musée de Cluny–Musée national du Moyen Âge in Paris, is on long-term loan from the Louvre Museum; see it here, with an additional fragment.
• An additional piece of the same textile can be seen on the Louvre website.
Image Credits:
Linda Safran
