Two lampas-woven textile fragments, silk and gilded lamella of animal substrate, both spun around a silk core and woven flat
The Persian historian Rashid al-Din wrote about two tents that the Mongol khan Hülegü received in 1255 and 1256 as gifts when he was near Balkh and Samarkand. The tent material is described as “gold on gold,” and this is precisely the effect that this type of textile with different woven metal threads made when it was new.
There is much indication that “golden” textiles of this kind were made in the eastern part of the Islamic world, but we do not know precisely where. When a textile’s lamella is gilded paper, it suggests a closer link to China, whereas a gilded lamella of animal substrate suggests that the place of manufacture was farther to the west.
There is much indication that “golden” textiles of this kind were made in the eastern part of the Islamic world, but we do not know precisely where. When a textile’s lamella is gilded paper, it suggests a closer link to China, whereas a gilded lamella of animal substrate suggests that the place of manufacture was farther to the west.