Middle East, Textile. Silk lampas with a geometric pattern, south-east Spain (perhaps Granada), 1330-1450.

Silk cloth with inscriptions and floral arabesques in stripes, lampas weave with satin ground and weft-faced tabby pattern.

The inscription is in broad blue bands on a background of scrolling stems; between these are narrower bands with floral stems on a red ground and interlaced oranment on a green ground.

Given by Dudley B. Myers, esq.

This textile was part of a gift, presented to the museum by Dudley B. Meyers.

This piece is typical of classic Nasrid textiles produced at the beginning of the fifteenth century, coinciding with the reign of Muhammad V. They were decorated with stripes containing inscriptions, repeating along its length and alternating with narrower bands containing a lotus-like flower, between thin borders of interlaced knotwork designs. They existed in several variations and colour-ways, but the most usual inscription is the expression 'izz li-mawlana al-sultan', 'Glory to our Lord the Sultan'. (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).

1105-1900