Khayamiya:
More Than Canvas
Egyptian Tent Hangings
By: Erin Sugg

What is a tent hanging?

A tent hanging, or khayamiya, is an Egyptian textile used as the walls of a tent or as a curtain. The word khayamiya describes the action of making a tent, specifically the act of adorning canvas with hand-sewn needle-turned cotton appliqué. Khayamiya date back to the eleventh century and have kept the same construction techniques all the way to today. Up until the mid-twentieth century, special events such as weddings, graduation ceremonies, funerals, and many different festivals used these tents. Now, the primary viewing arena for khayamiya is an indoor art gallery setting. In the traditional setting, these textiles acted as free-hanging curtain-like panels (sitara), wall-like screens (bilma), circular camping tents (fustat), and more rectangular structures called suradiq or siwan. 

Construction and Stitches

Traditionally, khayamiya feature two or three layers of fabric. The base fabric is always plain canvas called tark made of linen and sometimes hemp. When the khayamiya were still being created primarily to function as part of a tent, the canvas layer faced outwards to protect the intricate applique from the dust and sun. The canvas base is four panels of roughly 40 cm wide woven strips sewn together by hand. Today, tentmakers continue using the canvas backing fabric as it offers a stable base for the applique and is traditional. On top of the canvas is a layer of cotton appliqué. Many khayamiya feature two nearly identical, symmetrical square designs.

In the nineteenth century, tentmakers used white threads to stitch down all the appliqué regardless of what color the appliqué fabric was. At that point, khayamiya functioned as architecture instead of artwork, so the stitches were still uniform and clean, but it was not essential to hide the stitches. In an effort to hide the stitches, modern and contemporary khayamiya feature thread matched to the cotton appliqué. 

The appliqué is made from solid color cotton. Before the 1920s, white, indigo blue, and red were the most accessible dye colors, so most early khayamiya featured this color palette. However, the 1920s brought purple, orange, and pink dye resulting in a broader color palette. Today, cotton is available for the tentmakers in any color resulting in khayamiya with an extensive selection of colors. Some tentmakers have even made a goal to include as many colors as possible.

Textile Resource Center

The Textile Resource Center (TRC) recently acquired a khayamiya that is eleven feet long (333 cm) by five and a half feet wide (165 cm), featuring purple, orange, white, and tan cotton appliqué on a linen base fabric. It has two squares created through appliqué on top of four strips of tan plain weave linen sewn together with the selvage edges of the long edges visible on the back. The squares feature a border, heart, and filigree designs outside a central circle or medallion. The four panel's widths are from left to right: 25 cm, 47.5 cm, 48.5 cm, and 49.5 cm. The backing linen fabric's shorter top and bottom edges are folded over and hemmed, ending about 1 cm wide.

The textile comprises one square with a central tan circle medallion and one square with a central orange circle medallion. The squares are near symmetrical with an opposite color scheme. All the appliqué uses the cut-out pieces from the near-symmetrical design on the other square design, so all parts of the fabrics are used and leave no waste. Inside the circles, there is a geometric flower shape with a smaller flower in the very center of each square. The center of the flower shape on the half of the textile with the orange circle has a button-like shape; the half with the tan circle only has stitches but no button-like cover. The button likely fell off.

The khayamiya was created sometime between 1920 and 1950. Since it has orange and purple fabrics, it can be concluded it was made after the start of the 1920s because that is when orange and purple dye became accessible to the Egyptian tentmakers. Today, cotton is available for the tentmakers in any color resulting in khayamiya with an extensive selection of colors. It can also be concluded that the khayamiya is from earlier than the 1950s because it does not feature any design elements that became dominant in the 1950s, such as the Egyptian Coat of Arms.

Textile Conservation

My interest in this khayamiya sprouted from a lifelong excitement about everything related to Egypt, both ancient and contemporary, and an interest in textile conservation. The first time I saw this textile, I was immediately enchanted. I was quickly very fascinated by the history and stories of khayamiya and the tentmakers as I researched. As a quilter myself, it was great to hear the history of a similar artistic practice and how it developed over time. This khayamiya was also a wonderful choice for the conservation side of my interests because it has a fair amount of minor to moderate damage which allowed me to complete a conditions assessment. In order to complete a conditions assessment of this textile, I researched textile conservation practices and read the American, Canadian, and Australian codes of ethics for conservators. It was important to get a solid understanding of how conservators classify different damages, how they determine the course of treatment, and when treatment is necessary. For this semester, I was only looking at the khayamiya’s condition and not actually treating any damage. I created diagrams for each category of damage; broadly, we have staining and physical damage. Within staining, there is surface grime, aqueous-like stains, oil-like stains, and discoloration due to different color warp and weft. Within physical damage, there is creasing, losses in the layers of appliqué, holes through all layers of appliqué and the base canvas, a staple, and an adhesive-like substance. None of the damages were tested for solubility or content.

TRC_Examination Report_MicroMacro 2022

Staining Diagrams

My hand-drawn diagrams show the aqueous-like staining on the front and back of the khayamiya (TRCO 2.53)

My hand-drawn diagrams show the areas with surface grime on the front and back (TRCO 2.53)

Two hand-drawn diagrams show the oil-like staining and the areas of discoloration due to different color warp and weft  (TRCO 2.53)

Physical Damages Diagrams

My hand-drawn diagrams show the creases from folding and the top layer of appliqué falling into the seams (TRCO 2.53)

My hand-drawn diagrams show the holes through all the layers of appliqué and the base fabric (TRCO 2.53)

My hand-drawn diagram showing an area with possible adhesive (TRCO 2.53)

The half of the textile with the central tan circle appears much dirtier than the half with the central orange circle. The half of the textile with the orange center circle has much more damage. Three losses go through all layers of appliqué and the linen base fabric: one is two and a half centimeters by three centimeters, and the other two are about one centimeter by one centimeter. There are fifty to sixty more minor losses in the top layer of appliqué that are less than one centimeter by one centimeter. There is an adhesive-like rectangle inside the center circle, possibly from a sticker from the seller. There is also a two-centimeter rusted staple on the left side of the textile that has left rust stains. The purple and orange fabrics of the appliqué appear to have been more vibrant at one point since, below the losses of the first layer of appliqué, the fabric is darker. There are less than a dozen small holes in the top layer of appliqué on the half with the central tan medallion. Perhaps hot oil burned some places as there are holes within stains; some of the stains look like burned fabric. Some areas in the orange fabric of the appliqué have areas of red staining from different color warps and wefts.  

Handling and Storage

The current storage space for the TRC's khayamiya is an aluminum drawer. It is the D6 drawer. The textile should have an unbleached muslin or acid-free paper sling to assist with lifting the textile. The muslin or paper will help prevent damage and protect from light and dust. You should fold the textile in the configuration that the handler thinks is best. Follow seam lines and utilize padding from a tissue paper bundle or fiberfill sock to soften any folds to prevent heavy creasing. When handling the textile in the Textile Resource Center, the handler will need two or more people to help maneuver and open the textile. The table in the TRC needs to be empty with the chairs pulled away from the table to prevent damaging the textile. As the corners are exceptionally delicate, the handler will need to avoid pulling on them when maneuvering and opening the textile. When the handler places the textile back into the drawer, they should try to maximize the space in the drawer to minimize folds.

Graduate School

As a part of my project this semester, I researched art conservation graduate programs and put together a spreadsheet. I want to share my research with anyone interested and invite you to contribute any research you complete!

Conservation Graduate Programs

Main Resources

Bowker, Sam, and Seif El Rashidi. 2018. The Tentmakers of Cairo: Egypt's Medieval and Modern Appliqué Craft. N.p.: American University in Cairo Press.

Flury-Lemberg, Mechthild. 1988. Textile Conservation and Research: A Documentation of the Textile Department on the Occasion of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Abegg Foundation. N.p.: Abegg-Stiftung Bern.

Landi, Sheila. 1998. The Textile Conservator's Manual. N.p.: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Landrey, Gregory J. 2000. The Winterthur Guide to Caring for Your Collection. Edited by Gregory J. Landrey. N.p.: Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.

Lennard, Frances, and Patricia Ewer, eds. 2010. Textile Conservation: Advances in Practice. N.p.: Butterworth-Heinemann.

“Tentmakers of Cairo : Religion.” 2022. Durham University. https://www.dur.ac.uk/tentmakers/religious/.