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| Department of Eastern Art |
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| Newberry Textile Collection |
In 1941 the Egyptologist Percy E. Newberry (1869-1949) offered his large
collection of Islamic, Indian, and Coptic textiles to the Ashmolean Museum,
to be available for study purposes. He had collected the material while
working in Egypt between 1890 and 1932, at a time when historical textiles
were for sale in Cairo and Alexandria. No archaeological context is known
for the mainly fragmentary material, but many of the pieces will have
come from Fustat, the urban centre that predates the founding of Cairo
in 969 AD.
Although similar textiles are found in other museums, Newberry brought together the largest and most varied collection, providing an unrivalled resource for the study of textiles and design. The Department of Eastern Art has more than 1200 Indian cotton textiles traded to Egypt and just over 1000 Islamic embroideries, mostly of medieval date. A small collection of 36 Coptic tapestry woven textiles are held in the Museum's Department of Antiquities. |
Photo: P.E. Newberry. Passport photo. c. 1925. Griffith Institute, Oxford |
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Newberry Collection of Indian Textiles | ||
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Newberry Collection of Islamic Textiles | ||
| Catalogues & Handbooks of the Collections |
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University of Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 2005 The Ashmolean Museum retains the copyright of all materials used here and in its Museum Web pages. Last updated: 25/11/2005 |