The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 7, 2023

Brocaded silk with foliate medallions from a kaftan

1525–75

Turkey, Istanbul, Ottoman period

Silk: lampas weave, silver-metal thread

Overall: 105.7 x 49.5 cm (41 5/8 x 19 1/2 in.); Mounted: 110.5 x 54.6 cm (43 1/2 x 21 1/2 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1924.741

Location

not on view

Description

Medallions enriched with floral and foliate decoration were signature Ottoman patterns during the height of silk textile production in the second half of the 1500s. Imperial kaftans with related patterns are preserved in the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul along with those worn by young princes. In this splendid length from a kaftan, abundant silver-thread flora and overlapping leaves on vines enliven medallions in the densely woven fabric. It is a combination of two weaves, called lampas, which creates two contrasting surfaces composed of vertical warps and horizontal wefts.

Provenance
?-1924
Mrs. Chauncey J. [Mary Anne Italia Mitchell] Blair [1856-1940], Chicago, IL, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1924-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
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 and Mentioned: P. 310, fig. 8.25
Mackie, Louise. "The Ottoman Sultans' Penchant for Italian Luxury Textiles." In Oriental Silks in Medieval Europe. Juliane von Fircks, and Regula Schorta, eds., 316-327. Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung, 2016. Reproduced: P. 326, fig. 6
Exhibition history

2000 Years of Silk Weaving. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 18-April 16, 1944).

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/1924.741