Square, 16th century, silk - Public domain photo of museum object

Islamic art refers to the visual arts that were produced in the Islamic world, which encompasses a vast geographical area stretching from Spain and North Africa in the west to Central Asia and India in the east. Islamic art is characterized by its focus on religious themes and its emphasis on the representation of spiritual truths. Islamic art is also known for its distinctive aesthetic features, including the use of calligraphy, geometric patterns, and arabesque designs. Islamic art covers a wide range of media, including architecture, painting, calligraphy, ceramics, and textiles. In the narrowest sense, the arts of the Islamic peoples might be said to include only those arising directly from the practice of Islam. More commonly, however, the term is extended to include all of the arts produced by Muslim peoples, whether connected with their religion or not. In this article, the subject includes the arts created in pre-Islamic times by Arabs and other peoples in Asia Minor and North Africa who eventually adopted the Islamic faith.

The Friedsam Collection refers to the bequest of Michael Friedsam, an American businessman and art collector who bequeathed his collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Friedsam was a successful businessman who served as the president of the B. Altman and Company department store in New York City. The Friedsam Collection consists of over 1,000 objects, including paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, and other works of art from a range of time periods and cultures. The collection includes works by artists such as El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Rembrandt, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and Edgar Degas, as well as pieces of decorative arts from China, Japan, and Europe. Friedsam donated his collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1931, and it has since become one of the most important collections in the museum's holdings. The collection is displayed in the museum's galleries and is regularly studied by scholars and researchers.

Brocade is typically woven on a draw loom. It is a supplementary weft technique; that is, the ornamental brocading is produced by a supplementary, non-structural, weft in addition to the standard weft that holds the warp threads together. The purpose of this is to give the appearance that the weave was actually embroidered on. In Guatemala, brocade is the most popular technique used to decorate fabric woven by Maya weavers on backstrap looms. Ornamental features in brocade are emphasised and wrought as additions to the main fabric, sometimes stiffening it, though more frequently producing on its face the effect of low relief. In some, but not all, brocades, these additions present a distinctive appearance on the back of the material where the supplementary weft or floating threads of the brocaded or broached parts hang in loose groups or are clipped away. When the weft is floating on the back, this is known as a continuous brocade; the supplementary weft runs from selvage to selvage. The yarns are cut away in cutwork and broché. Also, a discontinuous brocade is where the supplementary yarn is only woven in the patterned areas. Artisans worked extremely hard to produce these spectacular works of art. It often took years to make them.