Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Our curators have highlighted 9 objects that are related to Textile, 16th–17th century.

Fragment of woven silk with alternating horizontal bands of red and blue, with narrower guard stripes between. The red bands contain patterns of eight-pointed stars and flowers; the blue bands contain lines of kufic script, translated as "Glory to our master the Sultan." In red, blue, yellow, green, and white.

Fragment (Spain), 15th century
silk.
Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
1902-1-225

This object is part of the Textiles collection.
There are 2 images of this object.

Shield-shaped cope hood, striped vertically with broad stripes of dark blue containing Arabic inscriptions in white, red and yellow, alternating with narrower stripes of red with conventionalized floral and foliate motifs in dark blue, yellow, green and white. The blue and red stripes are separated from each other by narrow stripes of green with a geometric knot-like design in red and yellow. These stripes are bordered with very narrow stripes of white, yellow, red and dark blue.
The Arabic inscription is translated as "Glory to our master the Sultan."

Cope Hood Fragment (Spain), late 14th or early 15th century
silk.
Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
1902-1-302

This object is part of the Textiles collection.
There are 2 images of this object.

Satin ground vertically striped in rose-red, orange-red, dark blue, green and white. A broad rosy-red stripe at left has a large-scale Arabic inscription in yellow (the fabric must be turned 90 degrees in order to read the Islamic inscription). The central white stripe has geometric knot-like design in red (so badly worn that design is almost indistinguishable); the dark blue stripe on the right has arabesques in yellow and red. Narrow white, green, and orange-red stripes border the wider stripes described above. No selvedge present.

Fragment (Spain), 15th–16th century
silk.
Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
1902-1-300

This object is part of the Textiles collection.
There are 4 images of this object.

Strap motif with crescents and lotus buds in metallic and red.

Fragment, 17th century
silk, metallic.
Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
1902-1-384

This object is part of the Textiles collection.
There are 3 images of this object.

Bell tower with palm fronds on either side with text.

Fragment (Spain), 17th–18th century
silk (red warp, white weft).
Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
1902-1-897

This object is part of the Textiles collection.
There are 3 images of this object.

Fragment of woven silk with Zigzag bands of kufic script in cream and red on a yellow-green ground.

Fragment Of A Tomb Cover (Iran), 17th–18th century
silk.
Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
1902-1-912

This object is part of the Textiles collection.
There are 2 images of this object.

Curtain panel woven in off-white silk with gold metallic wefts which form open vertical stripes. With brocaded squares of yellow, pink, orange and purple densely applied at the top and more sparsely in the lower two-thirds.

Textile, Temple Rodef Shalom ark curtain trial, 1963–64
silk, metalized plastic film wrapped around a viscose rayon core, and flat....
Gift of Mr. Eric and Mrs. Sylvia Elsesser, The Trude Guermonprez Archives.
1993-121-5

This object is part of the Textiles collection.
There are 4 images of this object.

White curtain with Hebrew inscription in gray, running horizontally across the lower third of curtain. Interspersed through inscription are colored objects including a six-pointed star, menorah, and [possibly] a breast-plate. [Hebrew inscription to be translated.]

Drawing, Design for Ark Curtain, Beth Am Synagogue, Los Altos, CA, 1968
brush and gouache, graphite on cream cardboard.
Gift of Mr. Eric and Mrs. Sylvia Elsesser, The Trude Guermonprez Archives.
1993-121-72

This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
There are 2 images of this object.

Eight-pointed star tile set in modern silver mounting with pierced gallery. Tile has blue border containing calligraphy surrounding floral design on brownish ground.

Tile, 1301–50
glazed, lustered and painted stonepaste, rolled and pierced silver (later mount).
Gift of Ruth Friedman in memory of Harry G. Friedman.
1966-3-5-a/c

This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
There are 3 images of this object.