Lampas silk with weaver's signature and pattern of playing lions, moons and cloud scrolls

Fragment of lampas silk (pannus tartaricus), from a vestment at Regensburg, vertical warp stripes where pattern formed by a continuous pattern weft of gold, with details in compound weave formed by dark brown ground wefts bound in tabby by the binding warps. Design includes lions playing with balls, geometric interlace, paired running animals, a crescent moon containing cloud scrolls and a circle with radiating petals containing the signature of the weaver, 'Abd al-Aziz'.
Flat strip cut from double-sided metal coated, vegetable tanned leather. One side of the strip is covered with metal leaves hammered from gold alloyed with a small amount of silver, the reverse side with silver leaves hammered from pure silver. The silver was probably covered with a protecting lacquer layer.

This panel comes from a tunicle, part of a set of High Mass vestments, formerly in the Alte Kapelle, Regensburg, now in the Diozesanmuseum, Regensburg.
The signature of the master Abd al-Aziz identifies this textile as the work of a Moslem rather than a Chinese master. The design, based upon a fusion of sino-islamic motifs.
Technical analysis of metal thread by Dr. Marta Jaro of Hungarian National Museum, 15/08/2004.

Tentatively attributed to Greater Iran

This fragment of lampas silk comes from a tunicle, part of a set of High Mass vestments, formely in the Alte Kapelle in Regensburg, Germany. The design, based upon a fusion of sino-islamic motifs, includes lions playing with balls, geometric interlace, paired running animals, a crescent moon containing cloud scrolls and a circle with radiating petals containing the signature of the weaver, 'Abd al-Aziz'.

The signature of the master identifies this textile as the work of a Muslim rather than a Chinese master.

8639-1863