Khilʿa

Meredyth Winter

Related Terms:

• Baraka (blessing / sacred essence)

• Tiraz (inscribed textile)

• Qabaʼ (caftan or robe)

• Tashrif (honoring textile/gift)

• Ikat (a dyeing technique)

• Suzani (a type of embroidered textile)

Related Khamseen Videos:

Sam Bowker, “The Egyptian Tentmakers and the Art of Khayamiya,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 28 August 2020.

Sumru Belger Krody, “Prayer Carpets,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 11 May 2021.

References:

Gordon, Stewart, ed. Robes and Honor: The Medieval World of Investiture. New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2001.

Mayer, Leo A. Mamluk Costume: A Survey. Geneva: Albert Kundig, 1952.

Stillmann, Norman A. “Khilʿa.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 1 August 2021. First published online: 2012.

Worksheet:

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Citation:

Meredyth Winter, “Khilʿa,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 9 December 2021.

Meredyth Lynn Winter (Ph.D., Harvard University, 2020), is a specialist of medieval Islamic material culture and craft. She is currently Mellon Curatorial Post-Doctoral Fellow in Costume & Textiles at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2021-2024, and has been appointed Lecturer in Early Islamic Arts at the Courtauld Institute. Recent publications include her collaboration on the Harvard Art Museums exhibition catalog of Islamic tiraz textiles, Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Medieval Egyptian Tombs, eds. M. McWilliams and J. Sokoly (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Art Museums, 2021).