Description
Middle East, Textile; Panel, silk-embroidered cotton, packed design of lobed medallions and cartouches on cream ground, Azerbaijan or NW Iran, possibly 1750-1800
Plain weave cotton embroidered with silk in surface darning on the diagonal and running stitch, backed with plain weave silk. Pale cream ground with a grid-like pattern of repeated motifs all outlined in black blocks; minor details are outlined in black lines. The three motifs are:
[1] an indented octagon in red or light blue containing a central octagon and eight blossoms.
[2] an indented blue lozenge containing a small pale ground cartouche and two blossoms.
[3] a diagonal green or yellow ground hexagon containing a pink or blue fat S-shape extending into stylised leaves. Angular brackets are attached to the two long sides of the hexagon.
The red indented octagon is in the centre of the cover; above and below are horizontal versions of motif [2] and then partial red octagons. To either side of this central row are light blue indented octagons alternating with vertical versions of [2]. Along either side are partial repeats of the central row.
The border has a blue ground with linked alternating motifs: elongated cartouche in light blue or yellow and roundel with a pale ground. The roundel appears in each corner and appears as a pair in the middle of each side.
Colours (Embroidery threads, 2S silk): black, blue, light blue, light red, greenish-brown, yellow, light green, green, white, light pink, light orange; (Backing): blue silk.