Amanda Phillips (DPhil, Oxon) is Associate Professor of Art History, specialising in the art and material culture of the Islamic World. She researches and writes on the Ottoman Empire and its craft traditions, as well on the histories of consumption and technology. She recently spent a year in Turkey as a Fulbright Senior Researcher, based at Koç University's Department of Archaeology and History of Art. In the Unıversity of Virginia's Department of Art, Amanda teaches at both graduate and undergraduate levels -- her survey, Arts of the Islamic World is offered every spring on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She is currently Director of Graduate Studies in Art and Architectural History.
Featured Object. Depending on your perspective, the stamp right in the middle of this embroidered linen towel either adds to its historical interest, detracts from its aesthetic appeal, or both. The embroiderer stitched the towel in a way that motifs looked the same on the front and the back--so the textile was double-faced. This type of technique was found around the eastern Mediterranean and Ottoman world starting probably in the eighteenth century and was well suited to towels, napkins, and wrappers, in which both front and back might be visible at the same time--when folded or hung from a rack or rail. In Greek, the technique is called Tsevres. This one was apparently made on the island of Lesvos in the late 19th century, which was under Ottoman control. And it was also apparently sold or exported beyond the embroiderer's immediate family: the stamp tells us that it passed an inspection point, whether for local taxation or for export to another place.
Athens, Museum of Modern Greek Culture. Gift of Penelopi Ragavi.