Collection Online as of December 6, 2023

Fragment with Octagons and Four-Pointed Stars

before 1949

Part of a set. See all set records

Iran or Iraq, in the style of the Seljuq period

(1037–1194)

Lampas weave, silk

Overall: 9 x 10.5 cm (3 9/16 x 4 1/8 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1949.165.b

Location

not on view

Description

The design consists of aligned large-scale octagons and four-pointed star-shaped interspaces filled with leafy scrolls. Each octagon encloses pairs of regardant gazelles and non-regardant rabbits in mirror image against a foliate background, patterned in white on a light pinkish-tan ground. Framing the octagon is a Kufic inscription repeated in orthograde and retrograde around the central design.

Inscriptions

Inscription

inni la-'a'lamu wal-layl janan anna al-jannah fi arja' difafihi

Inscription Translation

I know full well that even though night is darkness, Paradise lies on its outer edges.

Inscription Remark

The Kufic inscription is repeated in orthograde and retrograde framing the octagon.

Provenance

Originally reported as having been found in Bibi Shahr Banu, near Rayy, Iran

?-1949

(Adolph Loewi [1888-1977], Los Angeles, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1949-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Shepherd, Dorothy G. “Two Seljuk Silks from Raiy.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 37, no. 1, 1950, pp. 16–12. Mentioned: pp. 16-17; Reproduced: [unpaginated] www.jstor.org

Schmidt, Heinrich Jakob. Alte Seidenstoffe; ein Handbuch für Sammler und Liebhaber. Braunschweig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1958. p. 117, fig. 83