It is not known exactly what purpose this textile may have served. The woven silk shows an all over diamond pattern. The piece was originally dyed blue but has now dramatically faded to a brownish colour. It was recovered from the Buddhist site of Kharakoto, which dates from the 11th to the 13th century. The name Kharakhoto means 'The Black Town', which probably refers to the massive walls and bastions that were still visible above ground when excavation of the site began.

The site is part of an area of Central Asia we now call the Silk Road, a series of overland trade routes that crossed Asia from China to Europe. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas. While silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India along this route.

These textiles were brought back from Central Asia by the explorer and archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943). The Victoria and Albert Museum has around 700 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Stein at the beginning of the 20th century. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of animals. Most of the pieces are fragmentary and it is not easy to see what they would originally have been used for. Occasionally, whole items survive such as shoes, purses and religious banners.