Arkeonews has a very interesting article about new research into a fresco in the Benedictine monastery church of San Antonio in Polesine in Ferrara, which depicts a tent of Islamic origin being used as a liturgical hanging over and around an altar.
The article can be viewed at A 13th-Century Italian Fresco Reveals the Medieval Church's Use of Islamic Altar Tents
The history of such altar canopies, either as features or temporary arrangements of cloth hangings, and known either as a baldachin or a ciborium, is set out in some detail, and with illustrations, by Wikipedia at Ciborium (architecture)
Whether the Ferrara tent was one of the spoils of war, a gift - if not by Pope Innocent IV then the court or circle of the Emperor Frederick II comes to mind as a possibility, though a fraught one - a purchases or a self-conscious copy is not clear. The painting does show an interest in depicting the unusual and in seeking a visual illusion, a tromp-l’oeil.
The Wikipedia article at Trompe-l'œil clearly indicates that this artistic device began in the region of Italy that includes Ferrara.
The presence of Islamic or Islamic inspired textiles in medieval Europe is well attested, and I have sometimes written about them on this blog. Expensive silk fabrics produced in the eastern Mediterranean, Sicily or Spain were often used to create vestments and related items for churches and courts. One example of an Islamic inspired textile that has survived intact is the Coronation robe of Kings of Sicily. This was probably made by Arabic craftsman for the Christian King Roger II and is dated, by the Hegira system to the Christian year 1134.
The monastery was refounded by the Este family in the mid-thirteenth century and was a community that continued to receive the patronage of the ruling family of Ferrara over the centuries.
Wikipedia has an account of the monastery at Sant'Antonio in Polesine and there is more about it at St. Anthony Polesine - Musei di Ferrara
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