Egyptian Work - Two Panels

Here are two small panels of Egyptian tent work that I bought recently. Like many attending the Festival of Quilts, I was fascinated to see the tentmakers of Cairo at work and admired the larger textiles that they produced. These small items are likely to have been brought back as a small souvenir by a tourist to Egypt. The background is a heavy canvas. They are panels, and have not been made up into cushions. They are a bit faded, so perhaps they were simply displayed in a house....

Obvious Egyptian references here, with a mule driver and his animal, with two pyramids in the background. Some pencil marks are visible as a rough guide for the maker. The blue pack on the back of the mule has come unstitched.

The other block has an active scene of a chariot driver with his horse. The colours may be a bit faded with this panel....but very appealing colours......The backing fabric is coarse and the stitching professional, in that the stitching is not fine, but holds everything in place in an economical fashion.

I enjoy these panels, and they will go well with the South American molas that I already have....