Fragment of a furnishing textile
Unknown Artist
possibly 1700s or 1800s
Medium
Linen, silk, and dye
Dimensions
27.9 × 80.6 cm
Classification
Embroidery
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade
Accession Number
1916.1244
About this artwork
Small bands like this decorated furnishings. They are distinctive to Azemmour, Morocco, where Jewish women embroidered them at home. This band’s red designs are floral and geometric; the scrolls may be abstracted dragons. Its Renaissance-era motifs reflect centuries of cross-Mediterranean exchange (especially with Portugal, which ruled Azemmour from 1513 to 1541). Such designs traveled to North Africa via printed pattern books. Patterns were transferred onto fabric, then the backgrounds were cov...