Textile Panel thumbnail 1
Textile Panel thumbnail 2
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Not currently on display at the V&A

Textile Panel

1700-1750 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Fringed and backed cover of loosely woven cotton embroidered silk. There is a large star-shaped medallion with a cypres tree in the centre. To the left of the tree is the kneeling figure of a man wearing a Safavid taj, playing a lute-like instrument. To the right is the slighly smaller figure of a man holding a bowl. A long-tailed blue bird is perched on the tree. The field of the faded pink medallion is filled with floral stems which begin at the base of the tree. The medallion is surrounded first by a narrow light blue border, and then by a broader border of pale green containing animals and scattered leaves including a leopard. A fringe was added in crimson, yellow, white and green.
There are remains of an inked sketch/drawing underneath the embroidery.
Colours: (Embroidery threads, 2S silk): coral pink [faded], white, yellow, mid-blue, light green, black [later largely lost]; (Backing): deep pink satin silk warp, beige weft.


Object details

Category
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Textile Panel
  • Cover
Materials and techniques
Plainweave cotton embroidered with floss silk in surface darning on the diagonal and runing stitch, to create a twill effect
Brief description
Middle East, Textile; Panel, silk-embroidered cotton, cut down from larger textile and mounted with border fringe, Safavid-style design of kneeling musician and standing woman within star medallion, against blue background with animals, possibly Azerbaijan or Iran, 1700-1750
Physical description
Fringed and backed cover of loosely woven cotton embroidered silk. There is a large star-shaped medallion with a cypres tree in the centre. To the left of the tree is the kneeling figure of a man wearing a Safavid taj, playing a lute-like instrument. To the right is the slighly smaller figure of a man holding a bowl. A long-tailed blue bird is perched on the tree. The field of the faded pink medallion is filled with floral stems which begin at the base of the tree. The medallion is surrounded first by a narrow light blue border, and then by a broader border of pale green containing animals and scattered leaves including a leopard. A fringe was added in crimson, yellow, white and green.
There are remains of an inked sketch/drawing underneath the embroidery.
Colours: (Embroidery threads, 2S silk): coral pink [faded], white, yellow, mid-blue, light green, black [later largely lost]; (Backing): deep pink satin silk warp, beige weft.
Dimensions
  • Height: 570mm
  • Width: 620mm
Style
Object history
Purchased for £2 10s. from Mrs Conyers Morrell, Field House, Summertown, Oxford on 25 August 1899.
Production
This embroidery belongs to Group 3 as defined by Jennifer Wearden, 'Azerbaijan Embroideries: A Synthesis of Contrasts', Hali 59 (October 1991) pp. 102-111. Group 3 textiles are characterised by surface darning on the diagonal and date from the middle of the 18th century into the early part of the 19th century.
Bibliographic reference
Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Textiles, Brief Guide to the Persian Embroideries (London: Board of Education, 1929) Pl.X.
Collection
Accession number
794-1899

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Record createdMay 17, 1999
Record URL
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