The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Fragment with Inscription

dated 818 (AH 203), but before 1978

Iraq, Basrah, in the style of the Abbasid period

(750–1258)
Silk: compound twill weave
Overall: 64.7 x 27.5 cm (25 1/2 x 10 13/16 in.)
Anonymous Gift 1978.173
Location: Not on view

Description

An archer kneels by a hill to shoot at pair of deer to right of a tree. The polychrome design is repeated across horizontal rows on dark brown ground.

The Near East played an important role in the development of textile arts of both the East and West in the early Middle Ages. Sasanian textiles had an impact on both Tang China and Byzantium, and Chinese silks in turn influenced early Islamic textiles.
  • ?-1978
    E. N. Amini, Tehran, Iran, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1978-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Neils, Jenifer. “The Twain Shall Meet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 72, no. 6, 1985, pp. 326–359. Reproduced: p. 349, fig. 45 www.jstor.org
  • The Twain Shall Meet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 1985-January 5, 1986).
    Year in Review: 1978. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 13-March 18, 1979).
  • {{cite web|title=Fragment with Inscription|url=false|author=|year=dated 818 (AH 203), but before 1978|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1978.173