T iraz: Textiles and Dress with Inscriptions in Central and Southwest Asia

Arabic Script as Ornament Materials and Methods Social Context Private Tiraz Public or Commercial Tiraz Ornamental Tiraz Nonscript Tiraz Surviving Artifacts Modern Tiraz
specic proportions with less variation from factory to factory, and increased trade made a variety of materials available throughout the region. Simple inscriptions were made on textiles during the period when Islamic lands were under the rule of dynasties led by successors to Mohammed known as caliphs. The earliest tiraz fragments in museums date from the mid-eighth century c.e., though literature from the period reports that inscribed textiles and garments were gifted at court much earlier. The practice of inscribing tiraz with the name of the caliph fell out of favor during the twelfth century, when a series of short-lived rulers in Egypt signaled the end of a unied dynasty. Although the name of the ruler was no longer used, textiles were still inscribed with tiraz ornamentation. Inscriptions with plain lettering, such as the inscriptions on ocial tiraz, were usually legible, though highly stylized genuine lettering may not be readable. Fake lettering and abbreviated script motifs using real letter forms were also used on unocial tiraz. Tiraz with nonsense inscriptions imitated the script seen on genuine tiraz made by order of the ruling caliph and bearing his name. Counterfeit inscriptions using the caliphs name were probably made during those periods as well, because the style of lettering and methods of embroidery on at least one surviving fragment are not consistent with the methods used in the royal factory at the time. Errors are also present in both genuine and fake tiraz inscriptions. Unlike calligraphers, who were carefully trained, weavers or embroiderers were often unfamiliar with script forms and occasionally were illiterate. They worked the script designs by copying prototypes or drawn samples. Three classic forms of Arabic calligraphy are common to tiraz embellishment: kuc, naskh, and thuluth. In its basic form, kuc consists of simple letter forms, well suited for counted-thread embroidery, because angular or block-style letters can be easily rendered in linear motifs. Stylized kuc letters with foliate appendages were favored by Yemeni tiraz painters. Naskh is a gently rounded calligraphy style that lends itself to legibility, with moderate proportions. Thuluth is a owing, curvilinear style with tall, vertical letters. Both naskh and thuluth lettering can be appliqud, embroidered, or drawn using a variety of techniques. These beautiful scripts are commonly used for illuminated religious texts, and many ornamental variants of script evolved. One of the most elaborate script forms is the calligram, in which words and letter forms are guided into the shapes of animals and objects. Weavers in al Andalus, as Muslim Spain was known, also produced beautiful inscribed textiles, many of which were purchased by non-Muslims and exported to northern Europe as luxury goods. Tiraz textiles brought to Europe following the Crusades were highly prized, and many were used in the construction of church vestments and reliquaries. The Shroud of St. Josse from the tenth century c.e., inscribed with kuc lettering and gures of elephants, is believed to be from Iran and to have been taken to France during the rst Crusade. A Christian relic was discovered swathed inside the Veil of Hisham, a tiraz textile from early-eleventh-century Spain, with tapestry-woven script bearing

he term tiraz comes from the Farsi word for embroider. In Arabic, the word tiraz means embellishment and, by extension, fashion. Tiraz describes the ornate Arabic script and associated designs on garments and other textile goods, as well as items adorned with them. Although inscribing the rulers name on textiles dates back thousands of years to pharaonic Egypt, tiraz is a distinctly Islamic form of decoration. Beautiful lettering was considered to be among the highest art forms in many cultures, but, in the early Islamic world, ne calligraphy honored verses of the Quran and served as the principal vehicle for the dissemination of both the political and artistic ideals that shaped the early Muslim dynasties. Tiraz designs may be woven into a textile as it is made, or they may be embroidered, appliqud, painted, or printed onto a length of fabric or garment after its construction. Historically, the term tiraz also refers to state-run workshops where tiraz textiles were made and to the social and political circumstances under which inscribed textiles were commissioned and the ways they were distributed as royal patronage.

ARABIC SCRIPT AS ORNAMENT

Arabic is the most common language used for tiraz textiles, because Quranic verses and Sunni religious text are typically written in the Arabic language. In countries under Muslim rule, both Muslims and non-Muslims also used textiles with nonreligious inscriptions such as tributes, poetry, or blessings. These kinds of sayings are sometimes written in Arabic, Turkish, or Farsi, all of which were historically written using Arabic letter forms. Early in the Islamic period, the height and shapes of letters varied from factory to factory, which makes it easier for scholars to determine where and when pieces were made, and who ordered the work done. The materials used are also a clue to where a tiraz textile was made. Later, styles of calligraphy were standardized so that letters within a certain style were drawn to

T IRAZ: TEXTILES AND DRESS WITH INSCRIPTIONS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ASIA

105

Abayeh with script ornament, ca. 2007. This Islamic womans modesty dress ensemble consists of an overgarment and head covering ornamented with machine-embroidered Arabic letter forms. Abayeh courtesy of Sandra Shore. Photograph by Margaret Anne Deppe.

the name of the Umayyad ruler Hisham II of Cordoba. Italian weavers soon copied and modied the ornate Arabic borders into stylized Latin and imitation Arabic lettering. This inuence on fashion endured, as demonstrated in medieval and Renaissance Christian religious art. Arabic-style lettering is depicted on the garments and the halos of holy gures in Gentile da Fabrianos painting Adoration of the Magi in the fteenth century c.e.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In the early years of tiraz manufacture, natural-colored ax, cotton, and wool were the main bers used for weaving yarns, with the addition of dyed wool or silk for colored embellishment via

weaving or embroidery. Fine linen was imported from Egypt, and cotton was imported from India. Cotton takes dye better than ax and could be made into strong, less-expensive weaving yarn, and it was thus frequently used as a stable ground fabric to which ornament was applied. A type of cloth called mulhama half-silk fabric with silk warp yarns and cotton weft yarnswas often used for tiraz textiles. Precious materials, such as silk or gold thread, were applied as the weft in tapestry-woven designs, or they were worked onto the cloth as embroidery. Tapestry weaving was the prominent technique used to produce early tiraz from the Umayyad and early Abbasid and Fatimid periods, during the eighth to tenth centuries c.e. Tapestry is a method for weaving colored patterns into cloth by using

106

TEXTILES OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ASIA patterns, as well as inscriptions sanctioned by the royal court, marked an individual as socially well connected or having earned the respect of a military or administrative ocial of higher rank. In addition to the private tiraz produced at the directive of the caliph or his representatives, state-run public factories also produced tiraz textiles for sale to members of the population who could aord them. These were luxury goods and also served as investments, because they could later be sold or used to pay debts or taxes. If not made into garments, tiraz textiles were stored away to be used as burial shrouds. Other textiles bearing ornamental writing include ags, standards, and tent panels. Remnants of this type from the Mamluk period in Egypt occasionally bear script in conjunction with heraldic devices indicating the owners oce or rank. Unsanctioned factories produced a number of tiraz textiles, and inscribed garments and textiles were undoubtedly produced at home by those with the skills and means to purchase the materials. The distinction between these textiles lies mainly in their origins and the context surrounding their acquisition.

dierent-colored weft yarns and weaving them into place to make a design during the weaving process. The tiraz factories of Egypt were especially well known for this technique. Using the tapestry weaving method, which is time consuming and requires a great deal of skill, dedicates the work from its inception and does not allow for a change to the design midway through the process. The use of simpler techniques, such as applied calligraphy or embroidery, speeds the production time and allows for modication of the inscription during its creation. Colors found in early woven tiraz include red, blue, and black. Such textiles often feature white lettering on a dark-colored ground. Tiraz textiles from ninth- and tenth-century Yemen were ne cotton fabrics dyed using a tied-resist technique known as ikat. Yemeni tiraz from that period were embroidered in simple kuc letters and geometric patterns with natural-colored cotton yarn, or they bore lavish kuc lettering applied to the surface. Inscriptions were inked onto the fabric and outlined with gold, or lettering and designs were traced onto the fabric in black with gold leaf applied over the body of the lettering. Embroidered tiraz made use of silk yarns dyed in many colors, including red, yellow, green, blue, and black. Counted chain stitch and double running stitch were used for early embroidered script, as well as variations of tent stitch, backstitch, and surface couching. Gilt yarns, created by applying gold, silver, or metal alloys to cording, thread, or sinew, were couched to the cloth because they are less exible, and surface couching exposes all of the beautifuland expensivegold work. Embroidery techniques such as double running stitch, close-worked herringbone, and chain stitch worked in silk yarn were favored for later Abbasid tiraz, which bore a nely wrought line of text worked weftwise, from selvage to selvage. Inscribed textiles from the Ottoman period often bore the stylized signature of the sultan, known as the tughra. As with Abbasid tiraz, the display of the sultans insignia implied that the owner was in good favor with the ruling class, and stylized motifs imitating the ocial tughra were popular.

PRIVATE TIRAZ
Continuing a tradition already practiced in the region east of the Mediterranean by Byzantine emperors, state-run tiraz workshops were established under the Umayyad caliphs during the eighth century c.e. to produce ne woven textiles with Arabic inscriptions. Early tiraz often situated script within design elements such as oral motifs and geometric patterns or between stylized animal gures, drawing on the textile traditions of Sassanian Persia. With the ascendance of the Abbasid caliphate, tiraz styles changed and formulaic inscriptions embroidered onto ne plain-woven ground fabric became the standard. Inscriptions began with the bismillahIn the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionateor a similar devotional phrase and went on to name the ruler or patron who commissioned the piece. The name of the supervising ocial, artist, and place and date of manufacture are also sometimes included. A cotton tiraz fragment from the tenth century c.e., held in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, is inscribed using kuc letters worked in silk splitstitch embroidery: In the name of God the Compassionate the Merciful. My support is in God alone, and in Him I trust. The permanent Blessing from God and peace and beatitude and glory to the caliph, the Servant of God, Hamd el Muqtadir billah, Commander of the Faithful. May God strengthen him. Made in the royal workshop in Medinat as-Salam by the hands of Abu (the freedman of ) the Commander of the Faithful. In the year 320 (932 c.e.). Factories produced ocial tiraz across the Islamic Empire, from Persia westward, across the Mediterranean and North Africa to Andalusian Spain. When the Fatimids wrested governance of Egypt away from the Abbasid capital at Baghdad, tiraz styles again changed. While Sunni practice proscribed the depiction of living beings in the context of religious art, Shiite artisans in Egypt included animals in tiraz compositions. Ottomaninscribed textiles follow a variety of traditions, ranging from bands of script to stylized tughra forms to more elaborate calligrams of both inanimate objects and animals. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries c.e., special undergarments covered in Quranic verses, astrological tables, and numerological formulas were prepared for Turkish and Persian

SOCIAL CONTEXT
The use of religious inscriptions as medicinal or protective devices is ancient, and the giving of honoric garments or textiles inscribed with the name of a ruler was a well-established practice prior to the advent of Islam. Furthermore, textiles played a signicant role in accounts of the earliest days of Islam; Mohammed gifted his own garments to individuals for their benet, as shelter for the living or to be used as shrouds for the dead. In this way, the recipient was enveloped in the protection of God, by the cloths association with the Prophet, bringing the individual closer to divine grace. In the medieval Islamic world, as elsewhere, individuals also displayed wealth and social status through ne clothing and textiles. The color, style, and ornamentation of an individuals garments were dictated by scal standing, social convention, and, at times, sumptuary law. Individuals possessing ne textiles, especially tiraz, earned a great deal of prestige through their display, worn as clothing, exhibited on special occasions, or in evidence as livery or parade-ground standards. Tiraz made a strong impact on fashion due to the high status conferred on those wearing inscribed garments or textiles granted as gifts by the ruling elite. The inherent value of the materials, including yarns of silk and gold leaf, intricately dyed or woven

T IRAZ: TEXTILES AND DRESS WITH INSCRIPTIONS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ASIA

107

Tiraz textile fragment from the Abbasid caliphate, Iraq, tenth century. It has an embroidered formulaic inscription and geometric ornament in silk on a linen ground. The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., 73.15. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1931. Photograph by Margaret Anne Deppe.

rulers. Court astrologers painstakingly inscribed the garments with protective invocations to guard the wearer in battle.

PUBLIC OR COMMERCIAL TIRAZ

Much like the tiraz produced in private factories, public tiraz were often inscribed with the name of the caliph, usually the name of the ocial in charge of the workshop in which the garment or textile was made, and sometimes the place and date of its manufacture in a state-run public factory. A linen fragment embroidered in couched silk with kuc lettering in the Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., names the local governor of Egypt as well: Abul-Abbas, the Imam al-Mutadid billah, Commander of the Faithful, may God strengthen him, and the Amir Abu Musa bin Khumarawayh, client of the Commander of the Faithful. To be made in the public factory at Tinnis, under the direction of Umar bin Muhammad bin Shahin. Year 284 (897 c.e.). Other public tiraz, not labeled as such, substituted portions of religious text, poetry, mottoes, and blessings for the ocial inscriptions. Auspicious words such as health, glory, and prosperity were repeated in rows. Classical poetry indicates that personal items such as handkerchiefs and drawstrings for trousers may have been inscribed with erotic verses and love poems, especially as part of a womans wedding trousseau. Tiraz workshops depended on the support of the rulers who founded them, because imported silk, gold, and other expensive materials were purchased using funds allocated from royal treasuries. Ocials who supervised the manufacture of tiraz enjoyed great prestige, and tiraz inscriptions often contained the supervisory ocials name along with the name of the commissioning ruler. During the height of royal tiraz production, whole cities were employed, working thousands of looms or embroidering lengths of plain fabric. Tapestry and brocade weaves and satin, twill, and tabby or plain weave were used to create tiraz textiles. Tablet weaving was used to make inscribed bands, often commemorative

straps for bags or canteens carried by pilgrims to Mecca. Script and other designs could be woven into a length of fabric during its manufacture. Tiraz ornamentation could also be made separately, either as a self-contained nished band, as in tablet weaving; as part of a larger textile, woven in rows that could be cut apart later; or added to a textile after its manufacture, as in embroidery or surface calligraphy. Early decorated garments were woven as a single piece and sewn down the sides to nish the garment. Later garments and larger tiraz items were pieced, and surviving fragments show that at least some embroidery was worked before the garment was assembled, because the embroidery is sewn into the seam instead of over it. Embroidery sewn into the seam also occurs in the economical practice of reusing fabric, as when the good parts of an adults garment are salvaged to make clothing for a child.

ORNAMENTAL TIRAZ
Long after the decline of the caliphal tiraz factories, tiraz ornamentation remained popular. Religious inscriptions and Quranic verses, such as the opening chapter or fatiha, were often repeated over and over in a border or in rows. These kinds of tiraz were often displayed on armor and garments, both outer and under, to protect the wearer. A shirt from Lombok, Indonesia, probably from the nineteenth century c.e., is inscribed all over with the Muslim profession of faith, the shahada, embroidered in vertical stripes. Other inscriptions, not specically religious in nature, praised a benefactor, such as a patron or administrator. Frequently, these pieces were a gift from that person or given at his request. Some tiraz textiles bore contracted forms of a standardized wording of the tribute or acknowledgment or a stylized representation of a well-known inscription, such as the bismillah, instead of the intact phrase. Likewise, sometimes only the names of religious gures such as Mohammed, Abu Bakr, Fatima, and Ali were inscribed on garments. A remarkable example of this type is not cloth but rather a chain-mail armor shirt housed at the

108

TEXTILES OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ASIA may have originally represented palm leaves. Animals commonly found on tiraz include birds, considered to be traditional messengers to heaven; rabbits, which represent virility and fertility; and sh, representative of great wealth and prosperity. Simple and ornate geometric patterns were also common; images of living things have at times been proscribed by Sunni religious authorities. At other times, human or zoomorphic images were allowed if they were highly stylized or headless. Calligrams are a notable exception, as birds are a very popular motif for religious inscriptions. Lamps are popular shapes for calligrams of the Sura of Light, and the Sura of Purity is often worked as a calligram of a water vessel, alluding to the practice of making ablutions before prayer. Mosques and mihrabs, the prayer niches located in the direction of Mecca, are also common calligram motifs. In the earliest days of Islam, it was customary to avoid placing decorative lettering anywhere it might be sat on or stepped on,

Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in which the names of martyrs were worked in contrasting brass rings to provide protection for a warrior in battle. Block-printed cotton textiles made in India were exported to the West and form a large portion of tiraz textiles with nonreligious texts such as Blessing and success to its owner and other generic inscriptions. These were most likely used as curtains, tablecloths, and bed linens. Stockings knitted from dyed cotton, found in Egypt but possibly made in India, are also decorated with strips of ornamental lettering.

NONSCRIPT TIRAZ
Other nonscript decorative elements included oral patterns, arabesque work, geometric patterns, and fantastic animals. Arabesque work is a highly stylized interwoven oral motif that

Palestinian ag dress, to be worn as a political protest, Gaza, Palestine, ca. 1970. The dress is embroidered with Palestinian ag motifs and inscribed with the words Palestine and Gaza in English and Arabic as a symbol of nationalism and ethnic identity. Goldstein Museum of Design, University of Minnesota. Photograph by Margaret Anne Deppe.

T IRAZ: TEXTILES AND DRESS WITH INSCRIPTIONS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ASIA lest one inadvertently tread on the word or name of God. Later, ornamental script was used on many kinds of textiles, including reed mats and rugs for prayer, as well as on hemlines and as allover patterns on talismanic undergarments worn for protection. Illuminated manuscripts show that tiraz ornamentation was typically placed on hemlines, across the sleeve on the upper arm, and on the ends of belts, veils, and turbans. Small square motifs are also depicted in a fold of the turban; these were probably makers marks bearing the date and name of the place the tiraz was produced and the name of the patron who commissioned the work. Some may also be blessing squares, small blocks that repeat fortuitous words such as health or blessing, again in fashionable imitation of genuine tiraz. Later Persian manuscripts show script ornamentation on the shoulder yoke of garments, around the back, along the neckline, and across the chest of the wearernot unlike the placement of Syrian embroidery in the early twentieth century. Household textiles, curtains, and serving linens also carried inscriptions.

109

SURVIVING ARTIFACTS
Age, unfortunate events, and poor conservation by early collectors have left most medieval tiraz fragments in fragile condition, and a very small number of whole garments have survived. Although dry conditions preserved a number of tiraz fragments in good condition, textiles containing wool and silk were often damaged by insects that ate the bers for their protein. Tiraz textiles used as burial shrouds were often folded around the deceased with the band of script over the face, presumably for symbolic protection, so the central portion of the inscription was damaged during the decomposition of the eyes. The corrosive effects of metals used in some dye processes as well as metal-alloy threads later oxidized and disintegrated the supporting fabric. Textiles bearing gold leaf as a surface design or in gilt yarns are rare because gilded fabrics were sometimes burned to reclaim the precious metal. Deliberate damage to tiraz items, cut away from funerary garments or shrouds by collectors, makes the original placement of tiraz ornamentation dicult to verify, although a few surviving garments or identiable portions of clothing have tiraz embellishment. For example, the clothing of Bishop Timotheos, whose tomb from the fourteenth century c.e. was discovered in the cathedral at Qasr Ibrim, Egypt, includes a traveling cloak with tiraz fabric appliqud to the back. A tenth-century shirt in the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., made from a length of linen fabric with an embroidered silk inscription, has the line of script running along the sleeve in the same location indicated in contemporary illustrated texts.

ruler of Egypt had Quranic verses embroidered onto the cloth. In the early twenty-rst century, a band of embroidery thirty-seven inches (ninety-ve centimeters) high is worked across the panels on each side of the Kaaba, running approximately fty-one yards (forty-seven meters) around the structure. The installation of the new Kiswa each year is very important. World War I delayed delivery of the Kiswa from Egypt, and, in the following years, political tension developed between Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The king of Saudi Arabia decided to build a factory in 1926 to produce the Kiswa locally. This reduced the risk to the Kiswa as it was transported to Mecca. As relations improved and peace was restored in the region following World War II, Egypt resumed production. In 1961, the king of Saudi Arabia reestablished the Umm al-Joud factory in Mecca to prepare the new Kiswa. In 1977, the factory was updated, and in the early twenty-rst century approximately two hundred workers use both traditional methods and the latest computer technology to design and manufacture the Kiswa. Following the investiture of the new Kiswa, by tradition the old one is cut into segments, which are in turn given as gifts. Small pieces of the Kiswa were originally distributed to pilgrims as a keepsake of the hajj, and many believe they bring good luck. In the early twenty-rst century, large portions, especially the sitara or door covering, are gifted to foreign dignitaries, international organizations, and museums of Islamic art from around the world. The tradition of embellishing textiles with religious text continues in the early twenty-rst century. In Iran, Su masters create felt hats embroidered with poetry and devotional verses for their disciples. The inscription depends on the order to which the Su belongs. Quranic verses and calligrams are hand embroidered onto silk velvet with gold and silver or are embossed on leather in Turkey and Muslim countries in North Africa, and they are sold over the Internet, to be framed and displayed in private homes worldwide. In Egypt, as in Mamluk times, appliqu is painstakingly worked to produce tent panels and wall hangings, again with Quranic verses and calligrams, for weddings and household display. The availability of electronic embroidery machines and digital patterns means that inscriptions stitched in precise calligraphic lettering can be produced by home sewers as well. The use of clothing and domestic textiles as a vehicle for political statements has led to another example of modern tiraz among Palestinian refugees. Dresses and household items embroidered using red, white, black, and green, the Palestinian ag, or the word Palestine and other political slogans are displayed as a symbol of nationalism and ethnic identity. Thus, modern tiraz also serve as a form of nonverbal and nonviolent protest.

References and Further Reading MODERN TIRAZ

The most remarkable example of modern tiraz is the Kiswa, the textile covering for the Kaaba in Mecca. Since medieval times, a new Kiswa has been sent to Mecca each year from the rulers of the Islamic provinces, including Yemen, Iraq, and Egypt. During the earliest centuries of Islam, the Kiswa was made of ne cloth, such as white ax linen from Egypt or dyed cotton from Yemen. Green was a favored color for many years, although in the early twenty-rst century, white or green are used only for the lining cloth. Eventually, black silk became the traditional fabric for the Kiswa. The Kiswa was not inscribed until 1340 c.e., when the
Allenby, Jeni. Portraits without Names: Palestinian Costume. Canberra, Australia: Palestinian Costume Archive, 1995. Atil, Esin. Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mameluks. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981. Bier, Carol, ed. Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart. Washington, DC: Textile Museum, 1987. Blair, Sheila. Inscriptions on Medieval Islamic Textiles. Riggisberger Berichte 5: Islamische Textilkunst des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Probleme, edited by Carol Bier. Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung, 1997. Britton, Nancy. A Study of Some Early Islamic Textiles in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1938.

110

TEXTILES OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ASIA

Thomas, Thelma. Textiles from Medieval Egypt, a.d. 3001300. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 1990. Welch, Anthony. Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979.

Golombek, Lisa, and Veronica Gervers. Tiraz Fabrics in the Royal Ontario Museum. In Studies in Textile History, edited by V. Gervers, 82125. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1977. Khnel, Ernst, and Louisa Bellinger. Catalogue of Dated Tiraz Fabrics. Washington, DC: National Publishing Company, 1952. Mackie, Louise. Increase the Prestige: Islamic Textiles. Arts of Asia 26, no. 1 (1996): 8293.

Margaret Anne Deppe