The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Brocaded velvet with chintamani design

Brocaded velvet with chintamani design

late 1400s
velvet, brocaded: silk and silver-metal thread
Overall: 81.3 x 28.6 cm (32 x 11 1/4 in.); Mounted: 91.4 x 39.4 cm (36 x 15 1/2 in.)
Gift of Adolph Loewi 1943.313
Location: not on view

Description

This early Ottoman brocaded velvet was woven in an imperial workshop in the prosperous city of Bursa, the silk capital and major commercial center of the Ottoman Empire. It has exceptionally rich crimson silk pile, almost twice as dense as later monochrome velvets. The brocaded pattern of three balls and paired wavy bands is known as chintamani, derived from the Sanskrit word for a popular Buddhist motif, “the three jewels,” shown surrounded by flames or foliage in Buddhist art across Asia. Based on the high frequency of its use in art for the Islamic court of the Ottoman Turks, it appears to have been a favored motif and possibly even an unofficial imperial emblem.
  • 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. 291, fig. 8.10
    Mackie, Louise W. "Pomp and Grace: Ottoman Velvets of the Fifteenth Century." In Peter, Michael, and Sophie Desrosiers. Velvets of the Fifteenth Century. 2020, 175. Mentioned and reproduced; pp. 174-175, fig. 4.
    Jaffer, Amin, Jasper Gaunt, and Émilie Foyer. Treasures of the Al Thani Collection at the Hôtel De La Marine. 2021. Mentioned: p. 310
  • Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250-1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14, 2013-June 23, 2014).
  • {{cite web|title=Brocaded velvet with chintamani design|url=false|author=|year=late 1400s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.313