This is either a complete object - a cover, probably to protect a book cradled on a book stand - or it is a border cut from a bath wrap or a sash. Bath wraps were used in the hamman [public bath] and sashes were worn around the waist, tied so that the decorative ends hung at knee level. From about the 1720s onwards Ottoman embroidery stopped copying woven designs and became a truly creative art form: new, naturalistic floral motifs were introduced and many of them were depicted in great detail. Some were allowed to sway and sweep across the fabric, some were stylised and many were enriched with metal thread. The colours were originally very bright but have often faded to pleasing pastel shades.