Tapestry ?

[The Crofter]

Had this piece in recently, customer described it as a tapestry but looking at the stitching I am not so sure. Anyway as you can see it has been lovingly preserved with gaffer tape to stop it fraying



The holes where it had been nailed to a wall (honest)



Rightly or wrongly I left the tape in place. My theory is that the damage had already been done and the most of the adhesive would have stayed in place. Not enough border to lace it so it was stiched directly to 5mm foamcore. Took a while to get everything straight. Foamcore reduced in size after determining where the border would be.



Trial fitting, I was pretty happy with the gold fillet used to cover the stitches and it came out well. About 1400mm long.

[prospero]

I think you were very wise not to try 'improving' it. The whole lot might have unravelled.
At least the way you have secured it will not make it any worse.

[Not your average framer]

The holes where it had been nailed to a wall (honest)

Ah! Genuine Egyptian craftmanship!

Rightly or wrongly I left the tape in place.

And genuine Egyptian carpet tape! Obviously purchased from one of those authentic dealers in the Bazzar!

All joking apart, even if you could safely remove the offending tape, the adhesive residue would still remain. I also think you took the right course and produced a superb finished job.

A small note inside explaining that it was framed as supplied would have been included if such a job had to have my label on the back.

[JFeig]

From what I can see in that image..... It appears to be a machine made (Jacquard loom) product, from the first half of the 20th century and of European origin.

[The Crofter]

JFeig, you are probably correct about the origin. My customer is Egyptian and when he brought in this piece (and another smaller one) I assumed it was something special he purchased in Egypt. It turns out they came from a bazzar - in Glasgow...

[griff buch]

Talking of things Egyptian a few years ago I used to frame for another gallery which sent me a carved head of 'Tutenkamun' in sandstone about the size and weight of a cricket ball. Aparently it had been a business gift to the gallery's customer from Eqypt and he had been told that it was 2000 years old. It only required putting on a backing with a frame surround so I secured it in some velvet covered foamcor and then turned it over to staple it into the frame. As the head was proud of the frame I hung it over the edge of the bench.....yes, you guessed it -the head fell 3' onto the concrete floor . The nose chipped , the beard broke and his hat looked decidedly lop sided . What to do? This 2000 year old carving now looked 2000 years old. I was scrabbling on the floor sweeping up grains of sand and the likelyhood of repair was negligable. My immediate thought was to get a valuation of this artifact before I was sued. Luckily one of my customers appears on a well known Sunday evening antiques programme and he was at home at the time; I was able to rush round to get his opinion. Happily it turned out to be a genuine Egyptian souvenir from the 20th century and cost about 1 pound (Egyptian) (about 10p) and I was able to apologize to the gallery. Of course I didnt charge for the framing!
I've been to Egypt since (diving) and have looked out for these small artifacts without success- so perhaps it was 2000 years old after all!