The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Alhambra Palace Silk Curtain

Alhambra Palace Silk Curtain

mid-1300s
silk; lampas weave
Overall: 438.2 x 271.8 cm (172 1/2 x 107 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1982.16.a
Location: not on view

Description

This is one of two of the largest, most complete, and most ornate curtains to survive from the 1300s when it presumably hung in the royal Alhambra Palace in Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. Its style, artistic vocabulary, and harmonious proportions reflect the magnificent wall decoration in the Alhambra. The motto of the ruling Nasrid dynasty, "There is no conqueror but God," is inscribed in the end borders and central panel. The inscribed striped silk forming the central panel is more worn, suggesting that it was recycled, most likely during the 1300s.
  • ?-1982
    (Miguel Rodriguez-Acosta, Granada, Spain, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1982-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Partearroyo, Cristina. "Spanish-Muslem Textile," Bulletin de Liaison du Centre international d'etude des textiles anciens, no. 45, pt. 1 (1977), pp. 78-81. Mentioned: pp. 78-85; Reproduced: p. 79, figs. 1-2; p. 85, fig. 3
    Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1982.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 70, no. 1, 1983, pp. 3–55. Reproduced: no. 73, p. 7; Mentioned: no. 73, p. 53 25159799
    Wardwell, Anne E. “A Fifteenth-Century Silk Curtain from Muslim Spain.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 70, no. 2, 1983, pp. 58–72. Reproduced: cover, p. 60, fig. 4; Mentioned: p. 72, no. 4 25159802
    Martin Nagy, Rebecca. Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985. fig. 26, pp. 40-41
    Dodds, Jerrilynn Denise. Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992. pp. 338-39
    Jayyusi, Salma Khadra, and Manuela Marín. The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994. Reproduced: fig. 14
    Pérez Higuera, Teresa. Objetos e imagenes de al-Andalus. Madrid: Instituto de Cooperación con el Mundo Arabe, 1994. Reproduced: pp. 98-99
    Baker, Patricia L. Islamic Textiles. London: British Museum Press, 1995. Reproduced: p. 6
    Rothstein, Natalie. "Textile: Patterns: Loom-made compound weaves, Lampas" in The Dictionary of Art, vol. 30, pp. 550-554. J. S. Turner, ed. New York: Grove, 1996. Mentioned: pp. 550-554; Reproduced: p. 552, pl. VII, 1, p. 553
    Ghereh: international carpet & textile review, no.20 (Summer 1999). Comparative material reproduced: pp. 123-124
    Jacobs, Michael, and Francisco Fernandez. Alhambra. London: Frances Lincoln, 2000. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 34-35
    Alves, Adalberto. A herança árabe em Portugal. Lisboa: CTT Correios, 2001. Reproduced: p. 28
    Irwin, Robert. The Alhambra. London: Profile, 2004. Reproduced: p. 120, no. 14
    Highet, Juliet. "Silks from Islamic Lands." The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries 17, issue 5 (March 2014): 16-18. p. 16
    Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland, OH; New Haven, CT: The Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. Reproduced: p. 166, p. 196; Mentioned: pp. 197-198
  • Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250-1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14, 2013-June 23, 2014).
    Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain. Alhambra, Granada, Spain (March 18-June 7, 1992); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (July 1-September 27, 1992).
  • {{cite web|title=Alhambra Palace Silk Curtain|url=false|author=|year=mid-1300s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1982.16.a