Artwork Page for Silk curtain from the Alhambra palace

Details / Information for Silk curtain from the Alhambra palace

Silk curtain from the Alhambra palace

1300s

Spain, Granada, Nasrid period

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Medium
lampas and taqueté: silk
Measurements
Overall: 438.2 x 271.8 cm (172 1/2 x 107 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1982.16
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

This is one of two of the largest, most complete, and most ornate curtains to survive from the 1300s when it presumably hung in the royal Alhambra Palace in Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. Its style, artistic vocabulary, and harmonious proportions reflect the magnificent wall decoration in the Alhambra. The motto of the ruling Nasrid dynasty, "There is no conqueror but God," is inscribed in the end borders and central panel. The inscribed striped silk forming the central panel is more worn, suggesting that it was recycled, most likely during the 1300s.
Rectangular silk curtain with a central band of dark blue, red, yellow, and green ornate intertwining lines and organic shapes flanked by panels with a red grid framing smaller panels with fine winding yellow patterns and Arabic text. Columns of three larger panels on either side have a rectangle in the center of the yellow with a red, vaguely floral, radiating pattern. Above the grids run two bands and below one featuring continued winding patterns. Arabic text intertwines with the geometric designs (see "Inscriptions").

Silk curtain from the Alhambra palace

1300s

Spain, Granada, Nasrid period

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