The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 6, 2023

Textile with Tiny Leaves

1275–1350

Central Asia, Mongol period, late 13th - mid-14th century

Silk and gold thread; tabby with supplementary weft

Overall: 14.5 x 15.5 cm (5 11/16 x 6 1/8 in.)

Dudley P. Allen Fund 1985.33

Location

not on view

Description

The shimmering gold of the tiny scattered leaves in this silk perfectly suited the taste of the Mongol court. Showing no Chinese or eastern Iranian influence, this type of pattern appears to have been indigenous to eastern Central Asia. The closest parallels to the tiny leaves densely strewn across the surface are found among the silk tapestries of the Uyghurs.

Provenance
?–1985
(Spink & Son, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1985–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1985." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 2 (1986): 26-71. Mentioned: no. 163, p. 69 www.jstor.org
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. pp. 2–35, fig. 7 www.jstor.org
Wardwell, Anne E. "Panni Tartarici: Eastern Islamic Silks Woven with Gold and Silver (13th and 14th Centuries)." In Islamic Art III, 95-173. New York: The Islamic Art Foundation, 1989. Mentioned: pp. 95–173; Reproduced: Fig. 3
Indictor, N., R. J. Koestler, M. Wypyski, and A. E. Wardwell. "Metal Threads Made of Proteinaceous Substrates Examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy: Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry." Studies in Conservation 34, no. 4 (1989). pp. 171–182
Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1997. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 38, p. 148
Exhibition history

The Year in Review for 1985. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-April 20, 1986).

When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian & Chinese Textiles from the Cleveland and Metropolitan Museums of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 26, 1997-January 4, 1998); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 26, 1997-January 4, 1998); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 2-May 17, 1998); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 2-May 17, 1998).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.33