Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Textile fragment with lotus vines, medallions, rosettes, and inscription

Location

    • currently in research collection

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  • Indian Block-Printed Textiles in Egypt: The Newberry Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

    Indian Block-Printed Textiles in Egypt: The Newberry Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

    Large, continuous lotus vines are arranged to form medallions, each with an elaborate rosette in the centre. Lotus blossoms and ornate leaves emerge from the vines. In addition there is the beginning of a border with narrow bands of rosettes and script. The resist defines the design, the background is blue.

    Radiocarbon dating has shown this fragment to be of late 10th- or 11th-century date; the result was 1010 CE +/- 55. Two fragments found at Quseir al-Qadim have a similar lotus vine motif (see Vogelsang-Eastwood 1990: Cat. nos. 27 & 28). In her catalogue description, Vogelsang-Eastwood cannot identify the pattern, but the better state of preservation in the Newberry fragment, as well as the textile illustrated by Pfister (pl. XXVa), help to define the design beyond doubt. The inscription reads 'to its owner...'; see Cat. no. 144 [EA1990.152]. The size of the block used was 14.5 cm. x 12.5 cm. Also published in Barnes 1992b: 10.

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