Armenian Marash embroidery

Armenian Marash embroidery (also called “interlaced”) is one of the oldest kinds of needlework. Around the world Marash embroidery is often called Maltese, but it arose and developed in ancient Armenia and reached Malta and its surroundings much later, in the Middle Ages.

The picture shows a rectangular embroidered cloth with a dark blue ground and a gold-coloured border braid. In the centre is a cross-shaped ornament, flanked by two smaller cross-shaped motifs, and light-coloured triangular motifs run along the edges.