islamic art-textile fragment-cotton plain weave with gold painted decoration-inv.n.14470-Yemen 10th century-IMG_6190

the distinctive lozenge pattern of this fabric was made by tying the bundles of white yellow and blue cotton threads together so that the dye only colored the thread where it was uncovered. the colored warp threads were combined with uncolored wefts to give a continuous pattern that was usually accompanied by an inscription either woven or as here painted in gold and outlined in black ink. many of these textiles were exported to Egypt where they were imitated in linen-textile fragment-cotton plain weave with gold painted decoration-inv.n.14470-Yemen 10th century-IMG_6190