He visited Abu Talha al-Ansari to check on him during his illness and found Sahl bin Hunayf there with him. Abu Talha ordered someone to pull out a patterned cloth from beneath him.Sahl said to him, "Why are you pulling it out?"He replied, "Because it has images on it, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said about such things what you already know."Sahl said, "Did he not say, 'Except what is embroidered as a pattern in a garment'?"Abu Talha replied, "Yes, but this is more pleasing to my soul."
أخبرنا علي بن شعيب قال حدثنا معن قال حدثنا مالك عن أبي النضر
أنه دخل على أبي طلحة الأنصاري يعوده فوجد عنده سهل بن حنيف فأمر أبو طلحة إنسانا ينزع نمطا تحته فقال له سهل لم تنزع قال لأن فيه تصاوير وقد قال فيها رسول الله ﷺ ما قد علمت قال ألم يقل إلا ما كان رقما في ثوب قال بلى ولكنه أطيب لنفسي
[Its chain of transmission is sahih] Tirmidhi transported it, Clothing, the chapter on what has been said about images, hadith no. 1750, from the hadith of Maen, by this route, and it is in Muwatta (Yahya): 2/966.Ubaydullah is Ibn Abdullah bin Utbah bin Masud, and Abu Nadr is Salim.