Artwork Page for Tapestry with golden lions and palmettes

Details / Information for Tapestry with golden lions and palmettes

Tapestry with golden lions and palmettes

1200s or earlier

Central Asia

Medium
silk, gold thread; tapestry weave
Measurements
Overall: 63.5 x 34.7 cm (25 x 13 11/16 in.); Mounted: 73.7 x 45.7 cm (29 x 18 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1991.3
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

Dye analysis has been done on some of the colored yarns in this fragment. The orange, scarlet, and pink dye comes from the safflower plant, the red and darker pink dye from the bark of a small evergreen tree called the China brasiliensis, and the blue dye from the indigo plant.

Description

This reversible tapestry (kesi) fragment, woven with silk and metal thread, is a section from yardage likely intended for a garment, but no contemporary paintings exist to confirm this. A fringe of warps and a striped starting edge are preserved at the bottom of this fragment, as is a selvage along the left edge. Iranian golden lions, traditional symbols of royalty, are depicted amid large palmette leaves on vines. This kesi is different from other Central Asian silk kesi in the repetition of lions and palmettes in horizontal rows, facing alternate directions in an asymmetrical Chinese-inspired layout. But the depiction of lions with parted manes and tilted heads dates from the Sasanian dynasty of Iran (226–637 CE). The palmettes are common to both the Iranian world and Central Asia. This kesi may have been woven by Uyghurs living in the vicinity of Khotan, where the influence of Iranian culture was strong.
Tapestry fragment with four rows of stylized, gold lions among palmettes, stylized palm leaves, and green-leafed orange vines that snake across the dark brown background. The lions, two per row, are outlined in orange, their tongues sticking out, heads tilted, and manes like spikes. The lions alternate facing left and right by row. The multi-color palmettes are colored mainly in greens, blues, and oranges. A fringe runs along the lower edge.

Tapestry with golden lions and palmettes

1200s or earlier

Central Asia

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