The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 12, 2024

Brocaded velvet cover with sunbursts

Brocaded velvet cover with sunbursts

early 1600s
velvet, brocaded: silk, gilt- and silver-metal thread, and cotton
Overall: 180.7 x 128.3 cm (71 1/8 x 50 1/2 in.); Mounted: 185.4 x 134 cm (73 x 52 3/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2008.146
Location: not on view

Description

The rare sunburst pattern contrasts in its boldness with delicate floral motifs; the sunburst’s dynamic rays terminate in small tulips bearing hyacinths that alternate with peacock feathers. Interstitial motifs display the favorite telltale Turkish flora of carnations, tulips, and hyacinths. Quantities of luxury textiles were made for the Ottoman sultans, who were the largest consumers of textiles in the Western world by the mid-1500s and early 1600s. Textiles were lavishly displayed in ceremonies, presented as splendid robes of honor, and visible as furnishing fabrics in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul where they spoke to the vast power and unfathomable wealth of the Ottoman Empire.
  • Electronic Calogue: Francesca Galloway; Asian Textiles, I., 7th October to 12th November 2008, pp. 10-11. 10-11
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 53 no. 03, May/June 2013 Mentioned and reproduced: p. 10 archive.org
    Highet, Juliet. "Silks from Islamic Lands." The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries 17, issue 5 (March 2014):16-18. 18
    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. 8, 300-301, fig. 8.17; Mentioned: P. 294, 302
  • Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 21, 2016-December 4, 2017).
    Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250–1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14, 2013-June 23, 2014).
  • {{cite web|title=Brocaded velvet cover with sunbursts|url=false|author=|year=early 1600s|access-date=12 December 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2008.146