Tiraz with gold, 1094-1101 (plain weave with inwoven tapestry weave: linen, silk, and gold filé)

Egypt, Fatimid period, reign of Caliph al-Musta‘lī, 1094–1101 Mounted: 55.2 x 106.7 cm (21 3/4 x 42 in.); Overall: 42.9 x 90.8 cm (16 7/8 x 35 3/4 in.) This essentially gold-on-gold fragment represents an artistic and technical pinnacle of tiraz woven with silk tapestry decoration around 1100. Expensive gold thread dominates in the decorative tapestry-woven bands in the open plain-weave linen ground. The bands with small roundels alternating with falcons attacking small birds required exceptional skill since they are more densely woven than the surrounding ground. Popular birds and animals of the hunt abound including heraldic eagles and hares. The elegant kufic script is mostly indecipherable.