By: Tayida Phanich
Edited by: Jordan Shaevitz
Everyone has heard of Aladdin’s magic carpet, but that’s not the only famous carpet on the Arabian peninsula. Ever since ancient times, the Middle East has been known for its colorful and elaborate textiles ranging from materials like silk or cotton used to create a variety of items, most notably carpets and clothing. Even common terminology we associate with fabric nowadays such as damask, muslin, cotton, or mohair has been coined from the Persian, Turkish, or Arabic language. With the region being located in the middle of Europe and Eastern Asia, it, like Central Asia, was also a buzzing axis on the silk road for textile production and trade.
In the Islamic world, textiles were very highly valued and costly goods. Occasionally, instead of money, citizens could pay off their taxes with textiles. Ambassadors and high-status visitors were gifted with textiles and the floors, walls, cushions, and furniture of all kinds were often lined or covered with these fabrics. Many early designs included human and animal forms as well as languages and calligraphy, however, after the death of Muhammad in 600 AD, representations of living creatures on such pieces were banned, causing artists to develop a variety of new designs like metaphorical languages, geometry, and architectural forms. Nevertheless, these representations still appear more commonly on Persian and Central Asian silks.
Besides its general beauty, textiles hold power, the symbols, and engravings on them determine the person’s standing. One example of this was the role they played in the Islamic empire. After the passing of Muhammad, the Muslim state experienced many shifts in its political sense, with many changes in allegiance and factions. Hence, many people would indicate new allegiances with inscriptions on bands in their garments. Later on, the tradition developed, with people during the Sasanian period in Iran wearing outfits with the image of their rulers embedded in them. This soon spiraled into the tradition of honorific garments, called khil’a in Arabic. These robes were made of fine silk and gold thread, weaved together to form inscriptions. The outfit symbolized declaring one’s allegiance and those who donned the outfit received a ruler’s mark of honor.
One of the most popular materials used was silk. Despite the many intricate weaves such as compound twills and lampas, simpler patterns like tafta and satin were as common and even more important. There were also combination pieces, where silk and cotton were used together. An example of this was a silk weave named kutnu where the silk showed on the front but the cotton was displayed on the back. Due to the tradition that men were not allowed to wear silk against their skin, this technique became favorable for them as it had the look of silk on the outside, but was pure cotton inside. Each of these woven pieces had different motifs and symbol decorations depending on its region of origin and the time period in which it was from. The most famous silk textile was the tiraz, which garnered popularity during the tenth to the fourteenth century. Often done with gold thread, these fabrics had inscriptions of the current ruler or religious quotes decorating the borders which included bands on the upper sleeve and on the edges of the garment itself. Baghdad was the buzzing source for these garments, and they were often honorific robes worn by higher-class people.
With the Moorish conquest of Spain in the eighth century, silk textiles traveled even further, and not long after, Spanish textile factories were producing pieces with similar Islamic motifs. However, a difference in style registered with the inclusion of more geometric designs and flowers as well as the use of more contrasting colors. During the Ottoman Empire, which spanned from the 14th to the early 20th century, Bursa was the center of silk production. With some influences from Italy, these Turkish fabrics soon became their own distinctions like the paintings and tile designs of the period. It featured bright colors, designs of flowers and vines, and silk embroidery was often done on other silk, velvet, or linen.
Meanwhile, in Iran, the Safavid dynasty had raised the bar for silk production, creating garments and textiles that were the finest in the Islamic world. Additionally, they also evolved the occupation for nomads and merchants into a high-end industry. With the introduction of the most unique Persian technique, Arbil, at the same time, Iran produced one of the finest carpets in the world and still does, as Persian carpets still garner high prices and remain a luxury for many. On these carpets, artists depicted Iranian tradition and history, especially those produced in the Safavid period are known for their artistic designs and vibrant colors. Even today, these works are kept in museums or in private collections.
Besides silk, there are many fabrics that the Middle East was well known for, including mohair and goat hair, which were referred to as cashmere and were used to weave patterns in shawls, becoming a staple feature in dresses in the region. Moreover, many common fabrics and materials today have origins in the Middle East despite name changes, such as the thin silk characteristic of gauze, whose name comes from the word gazzatum, and muslin, a plain weave cotton fabric that comes from the word Mosul, in Iraq.
Although there is much more that could be said about textiles in the Middle East, one thing that cannot be argued with is how much its prevalence and its techniques that have been carefully cultivated over time have influenced the fabrics we use all over the world today. And that influence along with the Middle Eastern culture and traditions that it holds will surely carry forward into the future as well.
Works Cited
Jirousek, Charlotte. “Middle Eastern Textiles.” LoveToKnow, fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/fabrics-fibers/middle-eastern-textiles
Munroe, Nazanin Hedayat. “Early Islamic Textiles: Inscribed Garments.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2 July 2012, www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2012/byzantium-and-islam/blog/topical-essays/posts/inscribed-garments.
Quteesh, Lama. “Textiles in Middle Eastern Art – The Gorgeous Designs of Carpet Weaving.” Kaleela, 15 Mar. 2021, kaleela.com/textiles-in-middle-eastern-art-the-gorgeous-designs-of-carpet-weaving
Stone, Caroline. “Saudi Aramco World : Fabrics from the Middle East.” ARAMCO World, June 1987, archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/198703/fabrics.from.the.middle.east.htm.
TEXTILE VALUE CHAIN. “MIDDLE EAST TEXTILES.” TEXTILE VALUE CHAIN, 15 July 2020, textilevaluechain.in/in-depth-analysis/articles/textile-articles/middle-east-textiles.
Wikipedia contributors. “Persian Carpet.” Wikipedia, 28 Feb. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_carpet.
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