Fez handweaving
According to the historians of textiles, the oldest Moroccan lampases that still exist today date back to the 16th Century. Nevertheless, it is most likely that the weaving of lampases, on hand drawlooms, already existed in Fez in the 14th Century. Indeed, at the time of the Merinids, the diplomat, historian and philosopher Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), who lived in Fez between 1354 and 1362, reported about the existence in the city (which was the capital of Morocco at that time) of prosperous weaving workshops under royal patronage. He explains that the weavers in these workshops were able to integrate the names of the monarchs as well as signs "in the fabrics themselves", in other words that they produced figured fabrics. Ibn Khaldun adds that "this is performed by skilled handweavers, who know in advance where to introduce the threads in the weave", which makes it clear that the looms in use were already hand drawlooms.
According to Ibn Khaldun, this weaving technique had been exported from Spain to Morocco at the time of the Granada Sultan Ibn el-Ahmer (Ibn Khaldun quoted by Lucien Golvin, 1950). This assertion is corroborated by the observation of the fabrics themselves. As a matter of fact, Fez weaving tradition is more intimately connected with the Nasrids' weaving (the Nasrid monarchs, to whom we owe the famous Alhambra, ruled over Granada from the 13th century to the 15th) than with any other tradition: the beautiful Nasrid lampases (ceremonial curtains, tunics) bear close similarities with the lampases woven in Morocco in terms of patterns and compositions.
Silk lampas, Granada, 14th Century (Nasrid Dynasty)
Source: the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Other Andalusian lampases are on display on the site of the Cleveland Museum of Art (fragment of a large curtain of the 14th Century)
When the Nasrid dynasty collapsed at the very end of the 15th Century, the massive move of craftsmen running away from "reconquered" Andalusia gave a new impulse to Northern Morocco textile production: immediately after the storming of Granada in 1492, a large number of weavers established themselves in Fez, which became the sanctuary where the tradition of lampas was perpetuated.
Fez belts
Until the end of the 19th century, the silk lampases woven in Fez were mostly used as women belts (hzoum, sg. hzam). In the well-to-do Moroccan society, these belts were part of the everyday dress of women. In his travel book "Au Maroc", Pierre Loti describes a scene that he observed furtively several times during his stay in Fez, in April 1889: women neighbours paying visits to each other on the flat roofs of their houses, dressed in silk tunics tightened by high and straight belts of silk and gold.
Today known as "Fez belts", these large and long belts (women used to wear them lengthwise folded and rolled up several times around their waist) do not have any equivalent in the world except in Japan, where the so-called obi are quite similar. They testify to the tremendous creativity and knowhow of the weavers of that time.
Textile master pieces, they are outstanding collector's items, sought-after for their shimmering polychrome designs where one can recognise various stylistic influences, Arabo-Andalusian of course but also Oriental, Ottoman, and even Asiatic and European - French and Italian. Their unique composition also presents a repertoire which is typically Moroccan (such as preach thrones - see the picture below).
Fez belt (preach thrones)
Nowadays, one can admire Fez belts in private collections, in antiquities shops, in prestigious auctions (in particular in Europe and in the United States of America), as well as in museums. Among others, the islamic textiles collections of the Abegg-Stiftung Foundation (visit the website of the Foundation here) include thirteen remarkable Fez belts, while the storeroom of the Musée du Quai Branly, in Paris, preserves a large collection of 56 others (either complete or fragmentary), which formerly belonged to the Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie (section Maghreb) and to the Musée de l'Homme (section Afrique du Nord et Proche-Orient). Only two among these 56 belts are on display in the museum's galleries, but you can discover the others on the site of the Musée du Quai Branly - To do so, please enter "Lampas Fes" (using the French spelling of Fes) in the field "Saisir la recherche".
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