Like many tiraz textiles, the kufic inscription embroidered across the central field of this fragment includes the name of the Abbasid caliph, al-Mu'tadid (r. 892–902), and phrases in praise of him and the Prophet Muhammad. A tiny inscription in the right margin contains the name Ibn Khushu'i, possibly the weaver. The silk and cotton woven fabric is referred to in the Arabic literature as mulham, which has been associated with Merv, the Abbasid capital of Khurasan in eastern Iran now in Turkmenistan.