The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 7, 2024

Textile with Phoenixes and Dragons

Textile with Phoenixes and Dragons

1279–1368
(1260-1368)
Silk and gold thread; lampas
Overall: 20.3 x 20 cm (8 x 7 7/8 in.); Mounted: 31.4 x 31.1 cm (12 3/8 x 12 1/4 in.)
Edward L. Whittemore Fund 1995.73
Location: not on view

Description

This is one of the very few northern Chinese silk and gold textiles to have survived from the Yuan dynasty. The curled dragons chasing pearls, the phoenixes, and the background of tiny hexagons are Chinese motifs, but the lobed roundels enclosing the dragons and phoenixes indicate the influence of eastern Iranian craftsmen who had been relocated to northern China. A red and gold silk woven with the same pattern is preserved in Beijing. The extraordinary survival of the two silks demonstrates that patterns were typically used over and over.
  • ?–1995
    (Alan Kennedy, Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1995–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • 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. Reproduced: pp. 127, 153, 161, cat. 42
    Komaroff, Linda, and Stefano Carboni. The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256-1353. New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art ; New Haven : Yale University Press: 2002. Mentioned: p. 176, cat. 183; Reproduced: p. 283, fig. 206
    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 and mentioned: p. 264, fig. 286
    Müller, Kathrin. Musterhaft naturgetreu: Tiere in Seiden, Zeichnungen und Tapisserien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 2020. Reproduced: P. 48, abb. 5
  • 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).
    The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia 1256-1353. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (October 28, 2002-February 16, 2003); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (April 13-July 27, 2003).
    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=Textile with Phoenixes and Dragons|url=false|author=|year=1279–1368|access-date=07 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1995.73