A LARGE MOROCCAN WALL HANGING WITH ELEVEN MIHRABS (HAITI)
Fez, Morocco, North Africa, ca. 1980 - 2000

Of long rectangular shape, following the typical compositional arrangement of haiti wall hangings produced in Fez for special ceremonies and celebrations, featuring eleven alternating red and green synthetic velvet round arches (mihrabs) within stitched yellow frames, with two rows of muqarnas design silhouettes, lined in white cotton with a modern polyester trim in pink, green, black, white and gold around the edges, 118cm x 750cm.

A very elaborate example of Fez haiti with elegant embroidery can be seen in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (inv. no. 1983.66). Textiles of this kind were only owned by the wealthiest Moroccan families, who would commission professional male needleworkers to make them for very special occasions such as wedding celebrations or important family gatherings (http://collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/79592/, last accessed 13/10/2021). Haiti hangings were once the most prestigious and complicated form of textile, men worked under close supervision of the leatherworkers' guild since the work required custom-made leather templates. They stitched around the templates with a special technique known as 'underside couching', which kept the precious gold thread from being wasted on the unseen underside.

Our late 20th-century example can be considered an homage to the 19th-century production, testifying to the popularity and long-lasting impact these textiles had on Morrocan society as well as foreign travellers.