Roundel from a Tunic with Palmette Tree (650–850): Art, History and Details

Roundel from a Tunic with Palmette Tree (650–850) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Four or six squares of this luxurious two-color silk were originally sewn on a linen tunic, two positioned above the hemline in the front and two in the back, and possibly two more at the shoulder. The folded edges are still visible, including a silk sewing thread on the right side. The brittle condition is evident in the numerous crisp breaks.

Object facts

• Title: Roundel from a Tunic with Palmette Tree
• Date: 650–850
• Culture: Egypt or Syria(?)
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Silk; complementary weft-faced twill weave with inner warps (samite)
• Dimensions: Overall: 18.3 x 17.8 cm (7 3/16 x 7 in.); Mounted: 27.9 x 26.7 cm (11 x 10 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1952.101

A detail from the museum

Originally designed in Byzantine Egypt or possibly Syria, patterns like this were woven throughout a period of two to four centuries.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

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.