EGYPT, 11TH CENTURY

Details

TWO FATIMID TIRAZ FRAGMENTS
EGYPT, 11TH CENTURY
Of plainwoven linen woven in coloured silks, one with main section of geometric panels containing confronted birds or palmettes flanked by white kufic bands on light blue floral ground, a separate band above of meandering palmettes, the other fragment with larger bands of similar decoration including white repeated kufic and palmette designs, attached plainwoven fragments at sides and below on both, fragmentary at the edges, mounted, glazed and framed
Approx. 8 7/8 x 10½in. (22.5 x 26.6cm.) and 7¼ x 5in. (18.4 x 12.7cm.) (2)

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Lot Essay

The smaller Tiraz has the name of the Fatimid ruler al-Mustansir [Ma'ad Abu Tamim], (r.AH 427-87/1036-94 AD).

In the larger Tiraz the inscriptions are more ornamental. Such examples illustrate the transition between simple legible Tiraz bands containing only calligraphy, and some later examples in which animal and medallion motifs are far more prominent. A comparable example from the same period is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and discussed in Contadini, A., Fatimid Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1998, pl.22, p.66.

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