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Embroidered Cover (Azerbaijan)

Cotton cover with silk embroidery, perhaps for a cushion. Azerbaijan, late-17th century. Cotton cover with silk embroidery, perhaps for a cushion. Azerbaijan, late-17th century. Copyright Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, acc. no. 401-1906.

The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, houses a piece of cloth, perhaps the cover for a cushion, which is made of cotton embroidered with silk worked in cross stitch. It measures 130 x 70 cm and is dated to the late seventeenth century. Formerly this style of work was regarded as copying knotted carpets, but some scholars now regard the embroideries as providing the original motifs.

The centre of the cover is embroidered with three star-shaped motifs filled with floral designs. Around these are four rectangular shaped motifs; there is a narrow border. Three (!) of the corners are decorated with a tree-like motif. The embroideries are worked upon a black ground material.

Detail of the cover, V&A , 401-1906.

 

V&A online catalogue (retrieved 22 February 2017).

WV

 

Detail of cover from Azerbaijan, V&A 401-1906.

Last modified on Thursday, 13 May 2021 17:34