Fragment of a Garment

Description This fragment from a robe or other garment is the kind of cloth, called tiraz, woven in official factories and decorated with bands of Arabic inscriptions. Its inscription combines pious invocations to God and verses from the Qur'an and concludes with the phrase "May God bless Muhammad, seal of the prophets, and his entire family." Similar benedictions appear on textiles made for Caliph al-Muqtadir, the ruler of the Abbasid dynasty from 908 to 932.

Provenance Maurice Nahman, Cairo [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1928 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Translation] May God bless Muhammad, seal of the prophets, and his entire family.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1928