The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of August 8, 2022

Palmettes and Birds from a Tunic or Curtain

500s–600s

Egypt or Syria, Byzantine or Islamic periods, 6th-7th Century

Silk; complementary weft-faced twill weave with inner warps (samite)

Overall: 31.1 x 14 cm (12 1/4 x 5 1/2 in.); Mounted: 36.2 x 20.3 cm (14 1/4 x 8 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1951.535

Location

106A Migration Period & Coptic

Fun Fact

These elaborate patterns were woven on large, early looms known as drawlooms that automatically repeated designs across the width of the fabric, often in mirror-image symmetry.

Description

The symmetrical pattern displays back-to-back green parrots with branches in their beaks and two speckled birds perched on the leaves of a long-stemmed palmette.

Provenance
?–1951
(Dikran G. Kelekian [1867–1951], Paris, France, and New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1951–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history

Byzantine Gallery 210 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 12, 2000-October 25, 2001).

Coptic Textile Rotation Gallery 106. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 18, 2021-November 13, 2022).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1951.535