The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, holds a spectacular array of ancient textilesthat were made in Islamic lands and traded along the Silk Road, the networkof ancient trade routes that linked China, Central Asia and Byzantium for morethan 1500 years. The majority range in date from the 9th to the 15th centuriesCE and were reportedly found in the caves of Samangan province in northernAfghanistan. They are accompanied by a smaller group of Chinese textiles,of similar date and provenance.Presented as a whole, this extraordinary collection, which has remainedlargely unpublished until now, is a rich source of information not only for thehistory of textiles, but also for the history of the Silk Road itself. Scientificanalysis has allowed a number of these textiles to be dated with precision forthe first time, making the collection an especially valuable scholarly resource.The textiles display an astonishing range of motifs, patterns and calligraphicdesigns. The exceptional beauty and variety of the c. 400 garments and textilefragments vividly evokes the lives of merchants, pilgrims and travellers, as wellas the inhabitants of countries linked by the Silk Road.