Lot Essay
See Christie's King Street, April 8, 2008, lot 165 for two further fragments of this silk.
As stated on that occasion, a very similar panel was exhibited in London in 1998 (Selvage to Selvage, exhibition catalogue, Spink and Son, London, 1998, no.14). Further examples are one sold by Lefevre, London, 10 October 1978, lot 31, and another, formerly in the Kelekian collection, published in Hali 33, p.92. A very large panel of the same silk is now in the Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar (Jon Thompson, Silk, 13th to 18th Century Treasures from the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Doha, 2004, no.3, pp.26-29). The note to that example suggested, on the basis of an example that survives in Sweden, that these strips of highly decorated cloth might have served as covers for documents.
As stated on that occasion, a very similar panel was exhibited in London in 1998 (Selvage to Selvage, exhibition catalogue, Spink and Son, London, 1998, no.14). Further examples are one sold by Lefevre, London, 10 October 1978, lot 31, and another, formerly in the Kelekian collection, published in Hali 33, p.92. A very large panel of the same silk is now in the Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar (Jon Thompson, Silk, 13th to 18th Century Treasures from the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Doha, 2004, no.3, pp.26-29). The note to that example suggested, on the basis of an example that survives in Sweden, that these strips of highly decorated cloth might have served as covers for documents.