# Towel

- By: Republic of Türkiye
- Date: 1750–1850
- Medium: Cotton, plain weave with supplementary brocading wefts; embroidered with silk and metal-strip-wrapped silk
- Classification: Textile
- Dimensions: 161.9 × 56.3 cm (63 3/4 × 22 1/4 in.)
- Culture: Turkey
- Credit line: Gift of Burton Y. Berry
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/77177)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/27e62082-9710-1107-d1c3-9fa82e4d946f/full/!1763,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

During the 17th century, Ottoman artists in Turkey developed a taste for flowers presented in clusters and in profile—a trend also seen in works made by the Safavids, in Iran, and the Mughals, in India. The motif can be traced to the introduction of European herbals, books that illustrated flowers in this fashion. This particularly sumptuous example has a ground fabric, usually plain in Turkish production, which was woven with a subtle and beautiful repeat pattern of diamonds.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0