The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 6, 2023

Tapestry with golden lions and palmettes

1200s or earlier

Central Asia

Silk, gold thread; tapestry weave

Overall: 63.5 x 34.7 cm (25 x 13 11/16 in.); Mounted: 73.7 x 45.7 cm (29 x 18 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1991.3

Location

not on view

Description

This colorful, robust pattern features spirited Iranian golden lions, traditional symbols of royalty, amid large palmette leaves on vines that repeat, facing alternate directions in an asymmetrical Chinese-inspired layout. The regular repetition of the design indicates that it was influenced by silk patterns that were preset on large drawlooms, whereas variations in the motifs and colors confirm it was woven by hand in the tapestry technique. The pattern was created with silk thread in 13 rich colors and gold thread on parchment strips wrapped around a yellow core for increased visibility. This luxury fabric served as a container, most likely for imperial correspondence, a forerunner of paper envelopes today.

Provenance
?–1991
(Spink & Son, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1991–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Turner, Evan H. "Selected 1991 Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 2 (1992): 63-83. Reproduced: p. 67; Mentioned: p. 83 www.jstor.org
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: Distributed by H.N. Abrams, 1997. cat. no. 19, p. 80-2
Watt, James C. Y., and Maxwell K. Hearn. The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010. Reproduced: fig. 260, p. 246
Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. Reproduced: P. 36, fig. 1.20a, P. 229, fig. 6.14; Mentioned: P. 228
Highet, Juliet. "Silks from Islamic Lands." The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries 17, issue 5 (March 2014):16-18. Reproduced: p. 18
Fircks, Juliane von. "Dou Royaume des Tartares vient Drap Dor et de Soie." Histoire de l'Art 82, issue 1 (2018). Reproduced: p. 176, fig. 9
Exhibition history

Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).

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).

The World of Kubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 20, 2010-January 2, 2011).

Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250-1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14, 2013-June 23, 2014).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.3