Moroccan Embroidered Panel

These distinctive embroideries were used in Chechaouen as chest or bedding covers as well as hangings. The chest covers had two bands of embroidery, such as this one, at either end of a large piece of plain cotton. Bedding in Moroccan homes of the time was folded up each morning, stacked along the walls and then covered with decorative silks and embroideries. The star shapes in the center of the embroidery were once covered by leather stars covered in gold embroidery. The stars would have been made by Jews as gold embroidery was not made at that time by Muslims.

The designs and the type of embroidery are descended from Hispano-Mooresque embroideries, Chechaouen was one of the towns in Morocco where groups of Muslims and Jews settled when Queen Isabella expelled the last group from Grenada in 1492. The expelled craftsmen continued to produce silks, embroideries and wood carving based on the style of their homeland.