Tabby-woven textile, linen with inlaid pattern wefts of wool and linen, Egypt or Syria, late 7th-early 8th century, H: 106.5: W: 84 cm, Inv. no. 12/1988. © The David Collection.

The simplest form of cloth is made by passing weft threads over and under warp threads. In this case, the textile is made of linen, which was commonly used in Egypt. Wool, which takes dyes well, was inlaid as extra wefts. These pattern wefts, which form the fairly simple geometrical shapes, are the characteristic feature of this textile.

There are contemporary, more complicated textiles with a similar decoration, but the most obvious parallel are the mosaic floors found in the Umayyad desert palaces, for example Khirbat al-Mafjar, near Jericho.

The textile might have made up one half of a curtain.