Embroidered Inscription

Red silk embroidery, in cross-stitch, on a polished linen ground

Found in Egypt

4th c AH (10th c CE), Abbasid period

KM 26741

Elsberg Purchase, 1940

 

Provisional translation for KM 26741:

In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate much glory to God and honor to God and praise to God, enduring as he endures and remaining as he remains. Favor from God and blessing and success and long life be to the blessed caliph, the servant of God, El Mugtadir billa, Commander of the faithful, God make him mighty. Year 313.

Tiraz and other finely inscribed, high-quality cloths were re-used in burials, when the inscriptions were placed over the heads, especially the eyes, of the deceased. Most examples in museum collections today were found early in this century by archaeologists and antiquities hunters who detached the inscriptions for later study. The Kelsey collections, purchased from antiquities dealers during the first half of this century, often show traces of deterioration from the burial context and crisply cut edges made by the collectors scissors.