Textile Fragment
Unknown Artist
5th–6th century
Medium
Wool, linen; plain weave, tapestry weave
Dimensions
Max. H. 9 15/16 in. (25.2 cm) Max. W. 9 1/16 in. (23 cm)
Classification
Textiles
Department
Islamic Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of George F. Baker, 1890
Accession Number
90.5.241
Art Historical Context
This delicate Textile Fragment, dating to the 5th–6th, offers a rare glimpse into the sophisticated textile traditions of the early Islamic world—or its immediate precursors—in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Islamic Art Department. Crafted wool and linen, it just under 10 inches square, a modest survivor from an era when such fabrics adorned clothing, furnishings, and ritual objects across the Near East and North Africa. Gifted to the Museum in 1890 by F. Baker, it exemplifies the fragility and allure of ancient textiles, which rarely endure due to their organic materials. The fragment show...