Striped tiraz (1049–50): Art, History and Details

Striped tiraz (1049–50) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This rare striped, lightweight linen cloth was probably worn wrapped as a turban with the decorated end shown off in the front. The small birds in roundels appear to be mythological harpies with human faces. The Arabic text written with letters ending in fancy trefoils contains historical data, known as tiraz. The complete text generally includes Muslim blessings, the name of the ruler, and the place and date of manufacture. The lower line reads, "Help from Allah to the servant and friend of Allah, Ma’add Abu Tamin the Imam a[l-Mustansir bi-Allah]. . . ." The upper line reads, ". . . al-barakat al-Husayn bin al-Shaykh(?) ‘Imam al-Dawlah Muhammad bin [Ahmad]. . . ."

Object facts

• Title: Striped tiraz
• Date: 1049–50
• Culture: Egypt, Fatimid period, reign of al-Mustansir
• Type: Textile
• Technique: plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave: linen and silk
• Dimensions: Overall: 41 x 24.1 cm (16 1/8 x 9 1/2 in.); Mounted: 47 x 30.5 cm (18 1/2 x 12 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1950.528

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Institut français d'archéologie orientale du Caire, Etienne Combe, Jean Sauvaget, and Gaston Wiet. Répertoire chronologique d'épigraphie arabe. Le Caire: Impr. de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale, volume VII, 1936.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

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.