The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Exotic Gold-patterned Silk
1360–1400
Overall: 21.6 x 31.1 cm (8 1/2 x 12 1/4 in.); Mounted: 30.5 x 39.4 cm (12 x 15 1/2 in.)
Location: not on view
Description
This superb quality silk with radiant gold thread on a rich green ground ranked among the most extravagant textiles woven in Italy during the 1300s. The Italian silk designer combined primarily exotic Chinese and Islamic motifs into the exceptionally dynamic pattern in the international style. Mythical beasts with flaming manes appear amid large palmette leaves. A chasuble in this fabric has survived, hidden during World War II behind a false wall in Saint Mary’s Church in Gdansk, Poland. A remarkably similar silk provides the lavish background in the museum’s painting John the Baptist by the Flemish painter Robert Campin. The display of such luxury continues the practice of using the finest items in the worship of God.- ?–1954(Adolph Loewi [1888–1977], Los Angeles, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1954–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Wardwell, Anne E. "Flight of the Phoenix: Crosscurrents in Late Thirteenth- to Fourteenth-Century Silk Patterns and Motifs." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 74, no. 1 (1987): 2-35. p. 2-35, fig 39 25159970.
- Renaissance Textiles (Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 14, 2012-December 10, 2013).Draped in Splendor: Renaissance Textiles and the Church. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 7, 2003-September 26, 2004).Gallery 214 installation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 1991). (after 3 months from gallery for restoration)
- {{cite web|title=Exotic Gold-patterned Silk|url=false|author=|year=1360–1400|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1954.69