The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 4, 2022

Ogives with Winged Quadrupeds and Peacocks

1517-1950 (radiocarbon date, 95% probability)

Iran ?, in the style of the Buyid period

(945–1055)

Silk: lampas weave

Overall: 69.8 x 49.8 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Werner Abegg 1966.134

Location

not on view

Description

The design consists of aligned ogives in 4-1/2 rows and part or all of 6 columns; each ogive contains a running winged quadruped with an animal head. Floriated motifs emerge from the end of the tail and fill the interstices. The double border consists of an inner band with scrolling vine and an outer band of kufic inscription. Resulting columns of diamond-shaped interspaces are alternately ornamented with squares filled with diaper pattern on a foliate field and a pair of confronting, regardant peacocks flanking a tree of life.

Inscriptions

Inscription

"kull ibn untha wa-in talat salamatuhu yawman 'ala alah badba' mahmul"

Inscription Translation

Every son of a female, e'en though his wellbeing may have lasted long, One day is carried off on a convex implement [i.e., a bier].

Inscription Remark

Foliated kufic inscription is orthograde on left side and repeated in retrograde on right side.

Provenance
?-1966
Werner [1903–1984] and Margaret Harrington Daniels Abegg [1901–1999], New York, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1966-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
“Annual Report for 1966.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 54, no. 6, 1967, pp. 159–197. Mentioned: pp. 177-178 www.jstor.org
Blair, Sheila S., Jonathan M. Bloom, and Anne E. Wardwell. "Reevaluating the Date of the "Buyid" Silks by Epigraphic and Radiocarbon Analysis." Ars Orientalis 22 (1992): 1-41. Reprpoduced: p. 33; Mentioned: p. 15 www.jstor.org
Exhibition history

Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.134