Fragments of a linen scarf with tapestry woven bands of silk. Egyptian, Manshiya, Fatimid, ca. 1000-1200. Tiraz.
246-1890: Fragment of a linen scarf with tapestry woven bands of silk (yellow, black, blue, red, white, green). The linen is undyed; approx. 24x24 tpc; 0.5mm thread diameter and slightly stained. Three bands of decoration cross the piece. The top (14mm wide) and bottom (18mm wide) are similar with a row of connected oval shapes with two small circles between each (guilloche-like). The ovals contain bird icons. A thin red line is on either side of these bands. The central band (50mm wide) has a similar row of birds/oval at the centre and is bordered with another line of black and white script-like decoration; then a row of blue, red and black decoration of guilloche; then a thin, red line. About 12mm of linen is between each band.
246A-1890: Very similar to above but in poorer condition. There is a change in the borders of this piece. One starts as a row of guilloche pattern in yellow, red and black but after a slit-tapestry section turns into a row of yellow, white and black script-like decoration. The border below it starts as green, white and black script-like decoration and at the same point of slit-tapestry changes into blue, yellow and black guilloche.

In the Abbasid period (AD750-1258) fabrics, called tiraz, were made in present day Iraq and Egypt. The word came to mean honorific robes with woven or embroidered inscriptions. Text from the Koran was embroidered across the fabric with a line of geometric shapes above that were probably for decoration. Text might also include information such as the name of the reigning caliph, place of production and date.