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Fragment of Silk Taffeta with “Rose and Nightingale” Motif

1700s
(1501–1722)
Silk and metallic thread: taffeta, brocaded
Overall: 38.1 x 40.6 cm (15 x 16 in.); Mounted: 48.3 x 50.8 cm (19 x 20 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Fred R. White 1943.91
Location: not on view
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Description

A luxurious textile like this would have been used for courtly robes or coats in Safavid Iran. The bird-and-flower motif is known as gul-u-bulbul in Persian, meaning “rose and nightingale.” The motif references the poetic image of a nightingale plaintively singing to an indifferent rose as a metaphor for unrequited human love as well as the soul’s desire for mystical union with the divine.
Fragment of Silk Taffeta with “Rose and Nightingale” Motif

Fragment of Silk Taffeta with “Rose and Nightingale” Motif

1700s

Iran, Safavid period (1501–1722)

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