The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Silk Sleeve Decoration with Hunters

Silk Sleeve Decoration with Hunters

700s
(661–750) or Abbasid period (750–1258)
Silk: complementary weft-faced twill with inner warps (samit)
Overall: 28.9 x 20.3 cm (11 3/8 x 8 in.); Mounted: 37.8 x 29.2 cm (14 7/8 x 11 1/2 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1947.193
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

At the bottom, men with spears hunt ostrich.

Description

This silk sleeve blends technical and stylistic elements that occurred in early Islamic art. The sides of the sleeve are decorated with a lotus flower design, an ancient Egyptian motif that was absorbed into Hellenistic and Byzantine art. The upper panel displays a large medallion composed of leaves and palmettes, common vegetal motifs in Islamic art of this period. Below, the mace-wielding horseman is identified in Coptic inscriptions as Joseph, father of Jesus and saint within the Coptic faith. The image is likely derived from the Byzantine representation of the victorious emperor.
  • ?-1947
    (Dikran G. Kelekian [1867-1951], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1947-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Shepherd, Dorothy. "A Coptic Silk." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 34, no. 9 (1947): 216-37. p. 236-37 25141411
    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. p. 91, no. 54
    Akin, Esra. Muthanna / History, Theory, and Aesthetics. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2020. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 114, fig. 4.3
  • Art of the Islamic World (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 21, 2021-May 31, 2022).
    Coptic Textile Rotation Gallery 106. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 20, 2013-March 17, 2014).
    Byzantine Gallery 210 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 2, 2001-October 15, 2002).
    Textiles from Egypt, Syria and Spain: 7th through 15th centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 26-June 6, 1991).
  • {{cite web|title=Silk Sleeve Decoration with Hunters|url=false|author=|year=700s|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1947.193