The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 23, 2025

Fragment with palmette arches with Alhambra wall pattern

1300s

Spain, Granada

Silk and gilt-metal thread: lampas weave
Overall: 48.3 x 25.4 cm (19 x 10 in.); Mounted: 58.1 x 35.2 cm (22 7/8 x 13 7/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1939.35
Location: Not on view

Description

This rare, gold-thread silk displays a sophisticated pattern that also decorates the stucco walls of the Alhambra, the imperial palace in Granada. Three superimposed designs form the harmonious pattern on the golden ground. Split-palmette leaves in ivory or green silk form staggered arches displaying a crimson text, Good fortune, written in angular Arabic script with extended strokes that create secondary symmetrical arches. Deep blue palmette leaves create the third level of decoration. The interior walls of the Alhambra would have shimmered with these warm, patterned textiles.
  • ?–1939
    (Estate of H. A. Elsberg [1869–1938], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1939-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Underhill, Gertrude. “Textiles from Spain and Portugal Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 16, no. 10 (December 1929): 183–185, 191. Mentioned: p. 184; Reproduced: inside back cover 25137255
    Underhill, Gertrude. "Textiles from the H. A. Elsberg Collection." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 26, no. 9 (November 1939): 143–146. Mentioned: p. 144 25138043
    Los Angeles County Museum. 2000 Years of Silk Weaving: An Exhibition Sponsored by the Los Angeles County Museum in Collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York: E. Weyhe, 1944. Reproduced: p. 18, no. 125, pl. 35
    Weibel, Adèle Coulin. Two Thousand Years of Textiles; The Figured Textiles of Europe and the Near East. New York: Published for the Detroit Institute of Arts [by] Pantheon Books, 1952. Reproduced: p. 105, fig. 88
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 130 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 220 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 220 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 277 archive.org
    Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. Reproduced: P. 199, fig. 5.31; Mentioned: P. 200
    Blessing, Patricia."Draping, Wrapping, Hanging: Transposing Textile Materiality in the Middle Ages." The Textile Museum Journal 45, (2018): 2-21. Reproduced: p. 12, fig. 6
  • Al-Andalus: Art from Islamic Spain (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 29, 2019-October 25, 2020).
    Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250–1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14, 2013-June 23, 2014).
    Islamic Gallery 207 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 19, 2001-June 3, 2002).
    Masterpieces of the Weavers' Art. Hackley Art Gallery, Muskegon, MI (October 7-November 3, 1957).
    2000 Years of Silk Weaving. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (January 9-February 29, 1944); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 18-April 16, 1944); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (May 12-June 4, 1944).
  • {{cite web|title=Fragment with palmette arches with Alhambra wall pattern|url=false|author=|year=1300s|access-date=23 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1939.35