The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2023

Brocade with Soaring Phoenixes among Clouds

1100s–1200s

China, Jin dynasty

(1115-1234)

Silk and gold thread; tabby, brocaded

Overall: 56.2 x 62.2 cm (22 1/8 x 24 1/2 in.); Mounted: 69.5 x 74 cm (27 3/8 x 29 1/8 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1994.292

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Textiles like this, which were probably exported from China to Iran, helped transmit the phoenix motif into Ilkhanid decorative arts.

Description

The gold-brocaded designs of Jin brocades, such as this example with graceful phoenixes soaring into clouds, are typically asymmetrical. Moreover, they have no frame or border, and appear to have been cut out of larger decorative images.

Provenance
?–1994
(Dr. Friedrich Spuhler, Berlin, Germany, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1994–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
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. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 31, pp. 118-119
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, CT: Distributed by Yale University Press, 2002. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 180, p. 282, fig. 207, p. 177
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 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).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1994.292