The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 2, 2023

Fragment with falconer and attendant in animated lattice, from a robe

mid-1500s

Iran, Kashan, Safavid period

(1501–1722)

Silk: velvet, brocaded, pile-warp substitution; gilt-metal thread

Overall: 79.4 x 66.7 cm (31 1/4 x 26 1/4 in.); Mounted: 89.5 x 74.9 cm (35 1/4 x 29 1/2 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1944.239

Location

116 Islamic

Description

This velvet of Iran’s Safavid period (1501–1722) displaying a falconry scene is celebrated for its refined beauty and meticulous draftsmanship. A falconer and attendant flank a blossoming plant on a golden ground of lobed medallions. Animated vines display leaves bearing lion’s masks and dragons coiled around larger leaves on the crimson ground. Instead of two or three colors of velvet, Iranian weavers wove with as many as 14 colors, the most colorful velvets ever woven.

Provenance
?-1944
(Dikran G. Kelekian [1867-1951], Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1944-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Hennezel, Henri d'. Le décor des soieries dʹart, anciennes et modernes: documents originaux en couleurs du Musée historique des tissus de Lyon. Paris: Éditions Nilsson, 1900. Reproduced: pl. 13
Reath, Nancy Andrews, and Eleanor B. Sachs. Persian Textiles and Their Technique from the Sixth to the Eighteenth Centuries, Including a System for General Textile Classification. New Haven: Pub. for Pennsylvania Museum of Art by Yale University Press, 1937. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 122, pl. 80
Pope, Arthur Upham, Phyllis Ackerman, and Theodore Bestermann. A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present. London: Oxford University Press, 1938. Vol. VI, Pl. 1019
Underhill, Gertrude. “A Shah Tahmasp Velvet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 31, no. 9, 1944, pp. 157–158. Mentioned: pp. 157-158 www.jstor.org
Underhill, Gertrude. “Fragments of a Khusraw and Shīrīn Velvet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 32, no. 6, 1945, pp. 95–99. Mentioned: p. 95 www.jstor.org
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. 120, pl. 136
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 732 archive.org
Woven Treasures of Persian Art; Persian Textiles from the 6th to the 19th Century. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum, 1959. Mentioned: pp. 34-35, cat. no. 53
Ghirshman, Roman. Sept mille ans d'art en Iran: Petit Palais, Octobre 1961-Janvier 1962. Paris: Association francaise d’action artistique, 1961. p. 201, no. 1130
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 217 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. 217 archive.org
Jones, Dalu and George Michell. The Arts of Islam: Hayward Gallery, 8 April-4 July 1976. [London]: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976. p. 105, no. 72
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 276 archive.org
Donley, Gregory, "Three New Curators", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 39 no. 04, April 1999 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6-7 archive.org
Thompson, Jon, and Sheila R. Canby. Hunt for Paradise: Court Arts of Safavid Iran, 1501-1576. Milan: Skira; London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. pp. 288-289, cat. no. 12, 14
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 364
Highet, Juliet. "Silks from Islamic Lands." The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries 17, issue 5 (March 2014). Reproduced: p. 16
Weinstein, Laura, and Emine Fetvacı. Ink, Silk & Gold: Islamic Art from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston: MFA Publications, 2015. p. 101, no. 63
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. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 349-351, fig. 9.9
Exhibition history

Lost Cities. Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (March 20-May 20, 1960).

7000 Ans d'Art en Iran. Petit Palais, Paris, France (October 1961-January 1962).

The Arts of Islam. The Arts Council of Great Britain, Hayward Gallery, London, UK (April 8-July 4, 1976).

Falconry [in Islamic Art], held in connection with the International Symposium of Falconry. Abu Dhabi (December 12-?, 1976).

2000 Years of Silk Weaving. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 18-April 16, 1944).

For Modern America from the Ancient Near East. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-March 21, 1948).

35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).

Lost Cities. Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (organizer) (March 20-May 20, 1960).

Arts of Islam. Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (April 8-July 4, 1976).

Symposium on Falconry. Presidential Court Palace, Sheikh Zayed al-Nihayan, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (organizer) (December 10-18, 1976).

Hunt for Paradise: Court Arts of Iran, 1501-1576. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (October 16, 2003-January 18, 2004); Palazzo Reale, Milano, Italy (March 10-June 27, 2004).

Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250-1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14, 2013-June 23, 2014).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1944.239