Embroidered tray cover (1800s): Art, History and Details

Embroidered tray cover (1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Elaborately embellished round embroideries often covered the metal trays that accompanied traditionally gracious Turkish hospitality and cuisine. Here, exuberant floral displays and garlands bearing large blossoms with shaded petals enrich the circular designs that feature extravagant gilt-metal thread and many lush colors of silk thread. The embroidered stitches almost conceal the linen ground in a spectacular tour-de-force.

Object facts

• Title: Embroidered tray cover
• Date: 1800s
• Culture: Turkey
• Type: Embroidery
• Technique: plain weave: linen; embroidery, chain stitch: silk and gilt-metal thread
• Dimensions: Overall: 148.5 x 157 cm (58 7/16 x 61 13/16 in.)
• Collection: T - Islamic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1916.1276

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.