Roundel with curvilinear palmette tree, from a tunic (600–850): Art, History and Details

Roundel with curvilinear palmette tree, from a tunic (600–850) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Originally, roundels like this were cut and sewn onto the front and back of a tunic, probably linen, in Egypt. They belong to a sizeable group of comparable silk decorations found in Akhmim, Egypt. In each roundel, a stylized palmette tree is enclosed within a simplified lotus border that evolved from an ancient Egyptian lotus motif.

Object facts

• Title: Roundel with curvilinear palmette tree, from a tunic
• Date: 600–850
• Culture: Egypt or Syria(?)
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Silk; complementary weft-faced twill weave with inner warps (samite)
• Dimensions: Overall: 20.6 x 19 cm (8 1/8 x 7 1/2 in.); Mounted: 27.9 x 26.7 cm (11 x 10 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1952.102

A detail from the museum

This elaborate pattern was woven on a large, early loom known as a drawloom that automatically repeated designs across the width of the fabric.

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.