The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of May 7, 2024
Brocade with Phoenixes
1100s–1200s
Location: not on view
Description
This elegant brocade of phoenixes, seen almost frontally, is woven with gold thread made from flat strips of gilded paper instead of the usual strips of gilded parchment. This suggests that the textile was woven in the southern part of the Jin state that had been annexed from the Chinese. Although probably intended to serve as secular clothing, this textile ended up in a Buddhist institution. The end was folded and stamped in red ink with a seated Buddha flanked by two Bodhisattvas (now faint and upside down). Two Tibetan inscriptions were also stamped (translation: "The Bhagavan, the Tathagata, the Arhat, the completely perfect Buddha," and "Salutations to Blo gnas.") Above, an isolated letter ka indicates that the textile was used to cover the first volume of a set of books.- Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles. 1997. pp. 120-121, reproduced in color, p. 121Shea, Eiren. "The Spread of Gold Thread Production in the Mongol Period: A Study of Gold Textiles in the China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou." Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 50 (2021). p. 381-415, illus. p. 366-72.
- 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).
- {{cite web|title=Brocade with Phoenixes|url=false|author=|year=1100s–1200s|access-date=07 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1994.27