Isabelle Imbert

Medieval Silks and Textile History with Corinne Muehlemann

Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Corinne Muehlemann, Assistant Professor and Chair of the History of Textile Arts at the Institute of Art History in the University of Bern. Corinne is one of the rare specialists of silks produced during the Middle-Ages in the Islamic lands, especially in Iran and Spain. In the episode, she talks about striped silks produced in Iran under the Ilkhanid dynasty (1256-1335), the transfer of textile knowledge and technique in the Mediaeval Islamic lands and beyond, as well as the contributions of woman textile curators and conservators to the field of Islamic textile history.

Mentioned in the Episode and Further Links

Reproductions of Artworks discussed in the Episode (click on the images to see more information)

Chasuble preserved in Hall in Tirol, in the Damenstift Herz-Jesu-Kloster. The fabric that was used to tailor the chasuble is made of a lampas weave produced around 1300 in the Ilkhanid Empire. Credit: Iona Leroy, 2017
Chasuble preserved in Hall in Tirol, in the Damenstift Herz-Jesu-Kloster. The fabric that was used to tailor the chasuble is made of a lampas weave produced around 1300 in the Ilkhanid Empire. Credit: Iona Leroy, 2017
Isfandiyar before Goshtasb (detail), Great Mongol Shahnama, Iran, ca. 1330. Berenson Collection, Villa I Tatti, Florence Credit: Berenson Collection
Isfandiyar before Goshtasb (detail), Great Mongol Shahnama, Iran, ca. 1330. Berenson Collection, Villa I Tatti, Florence Credit: Berenson Collection
Detail of a silk fragment with a woven signature: Lampas weave with two pattern wefts (gilded leather strip, flat-woven), with a signature that can be read as: Work of Zaki ibn Hajji Ahmad. Region of the Ilkhanid Empire, ca 1300. Copenhagen, National Museum, Inv. Nr. D 663, D663a) Credit C. Muehlemann
Detail of a silk fragment with a woven signature: Lampas weave with two pattern wefts (gilded leather strip, flat-woven), with a signature that can be read as: Work of Zaki ibn Hajji Ahmad. Region of the Ilkhanid Empire, ca 1300. Copenhagen, National Museum, Inv. Nr. D 663, D663a) Credit C. Muehlemann
Ewer, probably Iran, Khorassan, 13th century. Victoria and Albert Museum (592-1898) Credit: VAM
Ewer, probably Iran, Khorassan, 13th century. Victoria and Albert Museum (592-1898) Credit: VAM
Aliabad Tower, Iran, Keshmar, 14th century. Credit: wikimedia
Aliabad Tower, Iran, Keshmar, 14th century. Credit: wikimedia
Inventory of the Shrine of St. Edward with seal bag. 1267. Ink on parchment, 38.2 by 36.6 cm, seal bag: 11.9 by 12 cm. Silk of the seal bag: woven in a samite weave during the 12th century in the Eastern Mediterranean or Spain. Westminster Abbey (WAM 9464) Credit: By kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster
Inventory of the Shrine of St. Edward with seal bag. 1267. Ink on parchment, 38.2 by 36.6 cm, seal bag: 11.9 by 12 cm. Silk of the seal bag: woven in a samite weave during the 12th century in the Eastern Mediterranean or Spain. Westminster Abbey (WAM 9464) Credit: By kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster