Cushion Cover
1400-1600 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Cover of green silk velvet, worked in coloured silks and silver gilt thread (very worn) with a circular compartment in the centre containing a geometrical device surrounded by an Arabic inscription. At either end is a cartouche containing another Arabic inscription, and the rest of the surface is occupied by a diaper of octagons and crosses, symmetrically arranged and filled in with floral devices, crosses, birds and a figure. The border is composed of simulated Kufic characters.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | silk, silver gilt; cut velvet and embroidery |
| Brief description | cut silk velvet, embroidered with silk and silver thread; 1400-1600, Spanish |
| Physical description | Cover of green silk velvet, worked in coloured silks and silver gilt thread (very worn) with a circular compartment in the centre containing a geometrical device surrounded by an Arabic inscription. At either end is a cartouche containing another Arabic inscription, and the rest of the surface is occupied by a diaper of octagons and crosses, symmetrically arranged and filled in with floral devices, crosses, birds and a figure. The border is composed of simulated Kufic characters. |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Marks and inscriptions | (Transcription by Mr. A. R. Guest, May 1904.)
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| Gallery label | Cover of green silk velvet, embroidered in various short and crossing stitches with coloured silks and silver-gilt thread (much rubbed) with a circular compartment in the centre, containing a looping geometrical blossom device surrounded by an Arabic inscription, and set within a surrounding geometric interlacing stem framework, beyond which at either end is a small cartouche containing another Arabic inscription set in the midst of a variety of blossom and cross forms, symmetrically arranged and filled in with floral devices, crosses, birds, and a figure. The border is composed of closely-repeated elongated key forms surmounted by groups of small crescents. Tunisian 18th century. L. 2 ft. 11.5 in, W. 21.75 in.
Mr. A. Cole's Revise.(1896) |
| Object history | Purchased for £4. Neg. Z.2414. Two pieces of silk damask (383a and b-1894) formed the lining of the cover. Pale red silk woven with a diaper and repeating design of wavy stems forming lozenge-shaped spaces, filled in with floral devices. Italian, 16th century. |
| Historical context | Samples of coloured threads from this object have been taken and are being analysed as part of a collaboration between the V&A and the Spanish Research project "Caracterización de las producciones textiles de la Antigüedad Tardía y Edad Media temprana: tejidos coptos, sasánidas, bizantinos e hispanomusulmanes en las colecciones públicas españolas" ("Characterization of Late Antique and Early Medieval textile production: Coptic, Sasanian, Byzantine and Spanish Muslim textiles in Spanish national collections") (HAR2008-04161) directed by Dr Laura Rodríguez Peinado, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Dpt. de Historia del Arte I (Medieval). |
| Bibliographic reference | Silk: Fibre, Fabric and Fashion, edited by Lesley Ellis Miller and Ana Cabrera Lafuente with Claire Allen-Johnstone, Thames and Hudson Ltd. in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom, 2021, pp. 404-405 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 383-1894 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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