Art Institute of Chicago

Towel

Date: 1800–1850
Medium: Cotton, plain weave; embroidered with silk, metal strip, and metal-strip-wrapped silk
Culture: Republic of Türkiye
Department: Textiles
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago

The lustrous silk threads in this embroidered towel evoke the light and color of a garden in summer. The Ottomans were known for their love of flowers. Roses, carnations , hyacinths, irises, and tulips bloomed in magnificant gardens along the Bosporus. Flowers adorned luxury objects and were a popular subject for embroidery. Embroiderers--both men and women--worked from designs drawn onto the ground (or base) fabrics, creating endless variety in the patterns by carefully choosing different threads and stitches.

View at Art Institute of Chicago ↗

The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Art Institute of Chicago

Linked open data

Authority identifiers that link this record into the wider web of cultural data — stable references you can follow to the source.

Object type: AAT300014063

Related across collections

Semantically similar works from Art Institute of Chicago and other institutions.