The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Fragment with jewel-like silk

800s

Iraq, probably Baghdad

Silk: plain weave, brocaded
Overall: 17.1 x 12.7 cm (6 3/4 x 5 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1950.526
Location: Not on view

Description

This fragment is brocaded in a jewel-toned silks: red, rose, turquoise, salmon pink, pale pink, golden tan, green, dark blue, and dark brown. Flat strips of gold foil were wound on tan silk strands to create gold thread adding to the luxuriousness of the brocade.
  • ?-1950
    (Dr. Emil Delmar [1876-1959], Budapest, Hungary, and New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1950-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Kühnel, Ernst. "Abbasid Silks of the Ninth Century." Ars Orientalis 2 (1957): 367-71. pp. 367-71, fig. 12 4629042.
    Wilckens, Leonie von. Die textilen Künste: von der Spätantike bis um 1500. München: C.H. Beck, 1991. p. 84, no. 86
    Baker, Patricia L. Islamic Textiles. London: British Museum Press, 1995. pp. 34-35
    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. 70, fig. 2.31; Mentioned: P. 70, 215
  • {{cite web|title=Fragment with jewel-like silk|url=false|author=|year=800s|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1950.526