The earliest Rabat embroideries appear to date from the late seventeenth century, employing a white or even undyed cotton ground, embroidered with locally dyed silks, often deep blue, golden yellow, or occasionally red (Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood (ed.), Encyclopedia of Embroidery from the Arab World, 2010, p. 202). The floral motif on our hanging, known as jarda (“garden”), allows it to be dated to the nineteenth century.

For four hangings of the same type formerly in the collection of Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent, see the sale of their collection at Artcurial, Marrakech, 31 October 2015, lots 107, 113, 114, and 115, as well as a fifth example sold at the Hôtel Drouot, Paris, on 25 June 2018, lot 123. See also the example in the Musée des Oudayas, Rabat (uninv. no.; Mounia Chekhab-Abudaya, Splendours of the Atlas: A Voyage Through Morocco’s Heritage, Doha and Milan, 2024, cat. 48, p. 103).