This blue silk fabric with rabbits and vines originated in either Mamluk Egypt (1250–1517) or Ilkhanid Iran (1256–1353) and was woven from imported natural materials. The gold likely came from mines in Egypt or the Niger Delta in western Africa, which fed a busy trade through the Sahara Desert and into the Middle East. The silk was spun from cocoons of silkworms bred in China and transported across the Gobi Desert and Himalayan Mountains. The silkworm trade continued through the Middle East and into the African continent, where local farmers eventually established silkworm farms. This global circulation of natural materials contributed to the luxury status of gold thread and silk in 14th-century Egypt and Iran.