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Lot Essay
This magnificent silk robe is a remarkably well-preserved survival from an early period of Islamic textile production. By the time of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, the wearing of silk was seen as a desirable luxury, suitable as a reward in the next world for those who live a righteous life in the present (Jon Thompson, Silk. 13th to 18th centuries. Treasures from the Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar, Doha, 2004, p. 10). As mentioned in the Qur'an XXII, sura al-hajj, v. 23, Allah will cause those who believe and do good works to enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will be allowed armlets of gold, and pearls, and their raiment therein will be silk. Whilst oral tradition condemns the wearing of pure silk by men, although not by women, it has frequently been ignored and the conscientious believer could still wear silk whilst avoiding the prohibition by using one of the various types of silken cloth that were not pure silk but a mixture of silk and cotton.
The strength of the colours of this robe is particularly remarkable. The dark brown colour used in the background lattice and for the outline of the design, when combined with the silky sheen of the fabric gives the robe a luxuriant metallic lustre. This gives the fish-scale lattice the impression of being like chain mail, suggesting the splendours of court. The colourful highlights are extremely well preserved and subtly draw the eye to the heads of the birds and the palmettes, the focus of the pattern.
The motif of confronted birds is one frequently encountered throughout the Islamic world in a variety of media. It is the combination of the confronted birds with the dense concentrically arranged lattice - be it of fish-scale motif or more angular lozenges - that is more unusual. A similar combination is found on a robe that was recently with Simon Ray (Simon Ray, November 2009, pp. 134-137, no. 39). Although the confronted birds on that example were contained within 8-pointed stars, the combination of motifs and the general aesthetic, is very similar. The scrolls that surround the birds in both robes are also very close. The Simon Ray robe was attributed to Central Asia, 11/12th century and like ours had a carbon date test confirming that proposed date. The combination is also found on two fragments published in Pope (Arthur Upham Pope (ed.), A Survey of Persian Art, Vol. XI, no. 992 C and D). The birds are again similarly drawn, although those of the present example are more finely executed. Another textile fragment with similar motifs, this time with the birds contained within roundels is in the Abegg-Stiftung Riggisberg and is attributed to Byzantium or the Eastern Mediterranean, 11th century (Karel Otavsky and Muhammad Abbas Muhammad Salim, Mittelaterliche Textilien I, Switzerland, 1995, pp.137-38, no. 81). Of all of the comparables, ours is unusual in that it is the only example where the birds are not contained within cartouches.
On the basis of the carbon date test and the comparables above, the proposed date of the robe is substantiated. However, because of the nomadic nature of the owners of these robes and the diverse ethnic spectrum from which the craftsmen who created the weaves came, it is difficult to pinpoint a precise place of origin. Robes such as ours were worn over many layers as defence against the cold, but as they were the sumptuous clothes and textiles of the nomadic tribesmen of Central Asia, they also represented their great wealth and they thus travelled far and wide with their owners. Various cross-cultural features are found in the robe. The lotus flower palmette, of which a complex and simplified example alternate with each bird, is a Sassanian motif in origin. The structure of the robe is typically Mongol in that both front and back of the body are made from single length of fabric, which is why the design on the back of the robe is upside down. This is described as an originally Mongol feature which derives from the wearing of animal pellets, cut with only a hole at the head. An unusual feature of the birds of the present robe is the sickle-shaped masks that surround each of their eyes, possibly identifying the species as falcons. A hood in the Inner Mongolia Museum and attributed to the early 13th century, also features birds with similar sickle-shape outlines to the eye. That was excavated from Mingshui, Damaoqi in Inner Mongolia (Feng Zhao, Treasures in Silk. An Illustrated History of Chinese Textiles, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 194-95, no. 06.05).
Such textiles were items of immense value, and accessible only to the very wealthy. They thus made desirable gifts. In the Islamic world the giving of costly robes by the ruler was an instrument for the maintenance of social order, since in these communities the type of cloth a person wore signalled their rank and status (Jon Thompson, op. cit., p. 16). Textiles such as the present would have been scarce even at the time at of production, and its survival makes it a remarkable and important discovery.
The strength of the colours of this robe is particularly remarkable. The dark brown colour used in the background lattice and for the outline of the design, when combined with the silky sheen of the fabric gives the robe a luxuriant metallic lustre. This gives the fish-scale lattice the impression of being like chain mail, suggesting the splendours of court. The colourful highlights are extremely well preserved and subtly draw the eye to the heads of the birds and the palmettes, the focus of the pattern.
The motif of confronted birds is one frequently encountered throughout the Islamic world in a variety of media. It is the combination of the confronted birds with the dense concentrically arranged lattice - be it of fish-scale motif or more angular lozenges - that is more unusual. A similar combination is found on a robe that was recently with Simon Ray (Simon Ray, November 2009, pp. 134-137, no. 39). Although the confronted birds on that example were contained within 8-pointed stars, the combination of motifs and the general aesthetic, is very similar. The scrolls that surround the birds in both robes are also very close. The Simon Ray robe was attributed to Central Asia, 11/12th century and like ours had a carbon date test confirming that proposed date. The combination is also found on two fragments published in Pope (Arthur Upham Pope (ed.), A Survey of Persian Art, Vol. XI, no. 992 C and D). The birds are again similarly drawn, although those of the present example are more finely executed. Another textile fragment with similar motifs, this time with the birds contained within roundels is in the Abegg-Stiftung Riggisberg and is attributed to Byzantium or the Eastern Mediterranean, 11th century (Karel Otavsky and Muhammad Abbas Muhammad Salim, Mittelaterliche Textilien I, Switzerland, 1995, pp.137-38, no. 81). Of all of the comparables, ours is unusual in that it is the only example where the birds are not contained within cartouches.
On the basis of the carbon date test and the comparables above, the proposed date of the robe is substantiated. However, because of the nomadic nature of the owners of these robes and the diverse ethnic spectrum from which the craftsmen who created the weaves came, it is difficult to pinpoint a precise place of origin. Robes such as ours were worn over many layers as defence against the cold, but as they were the sumptuous clothes and textiles of the nomadic tribesmen of Central Asia, they also represented their great wealth and they thus travelled far and wide with their owners. Various cross-cultural features are found in the robe. The lotus flower palmette, of which a complex and simplified example alternate with each bird, is a Sassanian motif in origin. The structure of the robe is typically Mongol in that both front and back of the body are made from single length of fabric, which is why the design on the back of the robe is upside down. This is described as an originally Mongol feature which derives from the wearing of animal pellets, cut with only a hole at the head. An unusual feature of the birds of the present robe is the sickle-shaped masks that surround each of their eyes, possibly identifying the species as falcons. A hood in the Inner Mongolia Museum and attributed to the early 13th century, also features birds with similar sickle-shape outlines to the eye. That was excavated from Mingshui, Damaoqi in Inner Mongolia (Feng Zhao, Treasures in Silk. An Illustrated History of Chinese Textiles, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 194-95, no. 06.05).
Such textiles were items of immense value, and accessible only to the very wealthy. They thus made desirable gifts. In the Islamic world the giving of costly robes by the ruler was an instrument for the maintenance of social order, since in these communities the type of cloth a person wore signalled their rank and status (Jon Thompson, op. cit., p. 16). Textiles such as the present would have been scarce even at the time at of production, and its survival makes it a remarkable and important discovery.