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A piece of printed cotton fabric
(قطعة من نسيج القطن المطبوع)

Title	A piece of printed cotton fabric
Title Original	قطعة من نسيج القطن المطبوع
Publication Date:	8th century AH / 14th century AD
Publication Place	- Museum of Islamic Art
Subject	Plain 1/1 woven cotton with die-cut embossing.
Type	Other
Language	Undetermined
Digital	Yes
Manuscript	No
Physical Dimensions	الطول: 41 سم ؛ العرض: 36 سم
Library:	Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID	8204
Record ID	object;ISL;eg;Mus01;12;ar
Library Location	Museum of Islamic Art
Date	8th century AH / 14th century AD
Notes	This piece is made of cotton fabric and is decorated with printed motifs distributed over two strips. The upper band is narrow and includes a repeated inscription in Mamluk third script, which reads: “Patience is the best helper of everything else.” The writing is executed in a style in which the letters overlap together, and their legs rise to create equal spaces between them. It is decorated with a decorative unit consisting of braided lines in the form of a braid. This is an ornament that the Mamluk craftsman used to decorate various pieces, whether they were made of metal, fabric, wood, or anything else. The word Al-Nasir, which appears in the written text, may refer to the Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun, who ruled three times in the years 693 - 694 AH / 1294 - 1295 AD, 698 - 708 AH / 1299 - 1309 AD, and 709 - 741 AH / 1309 - 1340 AD. As for the lower bar, it is more Wider than the upper band, it is decorated with decorations distributed in four rows consisting of two alternating repeating decorative units: the first is an eight-pointed star, and the second is a circular shape consisting of two concentric circles. The stars and circles are arranged in each row in contrast to their order in the previous row. Each star is decorated with circular floral designs, while the outer circle of the circular shape is decorated with a pattern of a braid, followed on the inside by adjacent dots, followed by a decorative shape called the “swirl,” which is a decorative unit that was commonly used in Mamluk art, especially to decorate metal pieces. Egypt was famous for printing cotton textiles in the Mamluk era, influenced by trade with India, from which it imported printed cotton clothes and raw cotton. The Mamluks were known for printing using molds with decorations executed in relief or intaglio. They were also known for dyeing and retaining decorations using wax. This piece of fabric may be part of a robe or a curtain, and it may be part of a quilt cover by analogy to a Mamluk quilt cover found in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo.
Sample Text	Muhammad Abbas Muhammad Selim “A piece of printed cotton fabric” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;eg;Mus01;12;ar

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Museum With No Frontiers

A piece of printed cotton fabric

(قطعة من نسيج القطن المطبوع)

Publication Date 8th century AH / 14th century AD

Publication Place - Museum of Islamic Art

Subject Plain 1/1 woven cotton with die-cut embossing.

Type Other

Language Undetermined

Digital Yes

Manuscript No

Physical Dimensions الطول: 41 سم ؛ العرض: 36 سم

Library Museum With No Frontiers

Library Asset ID 8204

Record ID object;ISL;eg;Mus01;12;ar

Library Location Museum of Islamic Art

Date 8th century AH / 14th century AD

Notes This piece is made of cotton fabric and is decorated with printed motifs distributed over two strips. The upper band is narrow and includes a repeated inscription in Mamluk third script, which reads: “Patience is the best helper of everything else.” The writing is executed in a style in which the letters overlap together, and their legs rise to create equal spaces between them. It is decorated with a decorative unit consisting of braided lines in the form of a braid. This is an ornament that the Mamluk craftsman used to decorate various pieces, whether they were made of metal, fabric, wood, or anything else. The word Al-Nasir, which appears in the written text, may refer to the Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun, who ruled three times in the years 693 - 694 AH / 1294 - 1295 AD, 698 - 708 AH / 1299 - 1309 AD, and 709 - 741 AH / 1309 - 1340 AD. As for the lower bar, it is more Wider than the upper band, it is decorated with decorations distributed in four rows consisting of two alternating repeating decorative units: the first is an eight-pointed star, and the second is a circular shape consisting of two concentric circles. The stars and circles are arranged in each row in contrast to their order in the previous row. Each star is decorated with circular floral designs, while the outer circle of the circular shape is decorated with a pattern of a braid, followed on the inside by adjacent dots, followed by a decorative shape called the “swirl,” which is a decorative unit that was commonly used in Mamluk art, especially to decorate metal pieces. Egypt was famous for printing cotton textiles in the Mamluk era, influenced by trade with India, from which it imported printed cotton clothes and raw cotton. The Mamluks were known for printing using molds with decorations executed in relief or intaglio. They were also known for dyeing and retaining decorations using wax. This piece of fabric may be part of a robe or a curtain, and it may be part of a quilt cover by analogy to a Mamluk quilt cover found in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo.

Sample Text Muhammad Abbas Muhammad Selim “A piece of printed cotton fabric” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;eg;Mus01;12;ar