Woven Inscription

Multi-colored wools and silks, tapestry-woven in a reddish wool plain-weave background

Said to be from Fayyum, Egypt

5th c AH (11th c CE) Fatimid period

KM 26740

Elsberg Purchase, 1940

 

Provisional Translation for KM 26740:

...the Merciful and Compassionate. There is no God but the One God. Aid from God the Merciful and Compassionate to...

The Faithful ... El Aziz bilah ... there is no God but the One God and prosperity ...

The Kingdom is God's. [This is repeated.]

 

Although in fragmentary condition, enough of this inscribed textile is preserved to discern devotional phrases, including quotations from the Koran, and part of the name of the recipient. The larger of the two inscriptions, in a spectacularly ornamental script, is placed in two lines, creating a mirror-image composition.