1230-1270, Spanish; Lampas, Hispano Moresque, inscription and rosettes. From the tomb of Don Felipe (d.1271/1274) at the Villalcázar de Sirga, Palencia

woven silk & gold, rows of floral rosettes in blue & gold on cream & gold patterned background, broad band of Kufic characters in cream & red on gold.

Purchased from the collection of Mon. Stanislas Baron. 103 specimens received on 23 June 1893. Collection purchased for 2400 francs including four additional fragments, one piece Hispano-Moresque and the other from the mantle of Don Felipe, The Wise.

William Morris writes to recommend the purchase, 14 July 1893: 'This collection includes a great number of pieces of various dates and countries, ranging from the 10th to the 16th centuries, but the greater number of the 13th and 14th probably woven in Syria, Sicily and some few at Lucca. They are all of high excellence as works of art; the designs being very inventive, and of great beauty and thoroughly adapted to the material in which they are executed'.

Collection registered nos. 759 to 798-1893.

Price: £10-10-4 (from Registers).

Neg. 52330. M.1627.

This fragment formed part of the robes of Felipe, brother of Alfonso X ('The Sage') and was found in his tomb at the Villalcázar de Sirga, Palencia (dated 1274 although Don Felipe died 1271 according to some sources.) Other fragments of Don Felipe's robe are preserved in the Art Institute of Chicago (1951.254 & 1950.1150), the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (46.156.8), the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Museo Arquelogico Nacional de Madrid (several pieces), the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York, the Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis Brussels (2 pieces) and the Musee National du Moyen Age in Paris (2 pieces). The fragments may be viewed on their websites. Felipes cap, also found in his grave, belongs to the Museo Arquelogico Nacional de Madrid.

Samples of coloured threads from this object have been taken and are being analysed as part of a collaboration between the V&A and the Spanish Research project "Caracterización de als producciones textiles de la Antigüedad Tardía y Edad Media temprana: tejidos coptos, sasánidas, bizantinos e hispanomusulmanes en las colecciones públicas españolas" ("Characterization of Late Antique and Early Medieval textile production: Coptic, Sasanian, Byzantine and Spanish Muslim textiles in Spanish national collections") (HAR2008-04161) directed by Dr Laura Rodríguez Peinado, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Dpt. de Historia del Arte I (Medieval).

Found in the tomb of Felipe (died 1271/1274), brother of Alfonso X of Castile, at Villarcazar de Sirza, the province of Palencia

This fragment formed part of the burial robes of Felipe (d.1274), brother of Alfonso X of Castile. Along with other rich vestments it dressed his body in his tomb at Villalcázar de Sirga, in the province of Palencia in northern Spain.

796-1893