1400s, Hispano-Moresque; Lampas, black and gold, inscriptions

Textile fragment with blue ground and Arabic inscription woven in gold thread.

Received from the stores: 19 Nov 1892.
Received from Messrs. J. Sasson & Co. 179 Wardour St.
Purchased for £11.10s.
Part of a collection of three pieces.
Neg. 54680

The horizontal arrangement of the design recalls the plaster friezes of the Alhambra's walls. This example was clearly made at the high end of luxury production: its ground silk is finely woven and of deep, indigo blue. The gold thread is used ostentatiously, with most ending up on the reverse. Such expensively produced cloth bearing messages of Nasrid kingship shows that textiles were an important element in expressing dynastic power.
(M. Rosser-Owen, 2010).

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).

881A-1892