Location

not on view

Fun Fact

This textile consists of two fragments mounted together (1959.124 and 1982.284). The two roundels have different diameters, even though the number of warps per repeat is the same.

Description

These textiles are woven with floral roundels that enclose horsemen hunting lions. The theme of horsemen hunting with lances, the floral frames of the roundels, and the costumes of the hunters were all inspired by silks from the Byzantine world. The stiff, abstracted style, however, is characteristic of Sogdian silks, woven in Sogdiana and often traded to distant markets. These fragments were preserved in an Egyptian grave where they were found sewn as ornaments onto a tunic.

Provenance

Mrs. Paul [Marguerite] Mallon [d. 1977], Paris, France

?-1982

(Goumaronart, Inc, Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art).

1982-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Shepherd, Dorothy G. “Medieval Persian Silks in Fact and Fancy: A Refutation of the Riggisberg Report.” Bulletin Du Cieta, Centre International D'étude Des Textiles Anciens 1974, no. 39-40 Reproduced and mentioned: p. 131, fig. 53

Shepherd, Dorothy G. "Medieval Persian Silks in Fact and Fancy." In Müller-Christensen, Sigrid, Mechthild Flury-Lemberg, and Karen Stolleis. Documenta textilia: Festschrift für Sigrid Müller-Christensen. München: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1981. Reproduced and mentioned: p. 122, fig. 4, cat. 98

Wardwell, Anne E. Material Matters: Fifty Years of Gifts from the Textile Arts Club, 1934-1984. Cleveland: The Museum, 1984. Mentioned: p.24, cat. 16

Neils, Jenifer. "The Twain Shall Meet." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 6 (1985): 326-59. Mentioned: p. 359, cat. 90 www.jstor.org

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 : Distributed by H.N. Abrams, 1997. Reproduced and mentioned: p. 31, cat. 2 archive.org

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. 63, fig. 2.26; Mentioned: P. 61

Exhibition history

When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian & Chinese Textiles from the Cleveland and Metropolitan Museums of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 2-May 17, 1998).

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Roundels with Hunters

Eastern Iran or Central Asia

Location

Fun Fact

Description