Islamic fabrics in the collection of the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire

• Thu 04/12/08 - Sun 19/04/09
• Musée d'art et d'histoire| Rue Charles-Galland 2

In 2004, the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire was able to acquire a few dozen Islamic fabrics from Egypt and thereby complete its existing collection. This group is now the subject of a study, to be followed by a publication and an exhibition. The Département des Arts Appliqués (Applied Arts Department) wishes to display this collection which for reasons of preservation cannot be exhibited permanently.
Although modest in terms of quantity, this Islamic collection holds some exceptional items such as a Mameluke tunic that is undoubtedly the finest specimen known to date and, from the same period, a baby tunic of great interest for having been made from small salvaged scraps of embroidered linen. Often reduced to fragments, these textiles nonetheless provide essential information on the clothing, living conditions and funeral rites of Islamic Egypt