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Turban cover
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This exceptionally fine, diaphanous silk turban cover represents the highest quality professional embroidery. Shiny gilt- and silver-metal thread and at least ten colors of silk thread—including newly fashionable pastel tones—create three-dimensional blossoms in the central roundel and multicolored cornucopias on the lavender silk ground. In Turkey, square cloths embroidered with one or two concentric circles in the center of floral fields were generally used to cover stored turbans, a function well served by this elegant cover with weighted golden borders.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineTurban cover, 1700s-early 1800s. Turkey. Plain weave: silk; embroidery, double-running stitch: silk, gilt- and silver-metal thread; average: 109.3 x 109.3 cm (43 1/16 x 43 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade, 1916.1481