This textile piece, which has been folded over and stitched, is of pattern woven silk. Its original purpose is unclear although it is likely to have been used as a pouch. It was recovered from the site of Miran Fort on the eastern verge of the Taklamakan desert. Many textile fragments were discovered here in the remains of a fort held by the Tibetans during their domination of the southern Taklamakan in the 8th century AD.
The site is part of an area now referred to as the Silk Road, a series of overland trade routes that crossed Asia, from China to Europe. The most notable item traded was silk. Camels and horses were used as pack animals and merchants passed their goods from oasis to oasis. The Silk Road was also important for the exchange of ideas – while silk textiles travelled west from China, Buddhism entered China from India in this way.
This object was 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 twentieth century. The textiles range in date from the second century BC to the twelfth century AD. Some are silk while others are made from the wool of a variety of different animals.