The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Lampas with roundels of the image of Christ in benedictory pose

Lampas with roundels of the image of Christ in benedictory pose

1550–1650
Overall: 36.5 x 33.7 cm (14 3/8 x 13 1/4 in.); Mounted: 41.3 x 38.7 cm (16 1/4 x 15 1/4 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Around the crosses in silver thread is the inscription, IC XC N K meaning "Jesus Christ Victorious."

Description

Ottoman manufacturers also wove luxury silks with Christian images for the largest markets outside of the reigning sultans, whose need for luxury fabrics was voracious, targeting the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and the state of Muscovy (Moscow), which lacked silk industries. Worn as majestic church vestments, they were prized signifiers of the power and wealth of the Eastern Orthodox church.

Christian imagery is often displayed in small medallion patterns, as seen here, woven in the standard Ottoman lampas technique. In this highest grade lampas with extensive gilt-metal thread, small medallions enclose half-length images of Christ in a benedictory pose alternating with crosses. The abbreviated inscription in the roundel, IC XC, translates as "Jesus Christ."
  • 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. 321, fig. 8.37; Mentioned: P. 322
    Phillips, Amanda. Sea Change: Ottoman Textiles between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. 2021. p. 110, fig. 3.10
  • Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250-1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14, 2013-June 23, 2014).
    An Approach to Musem Objects. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 3-June 30, 1958).
    2000 Years of Silk Weaving. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 18-April 16, 1944).
  • {{cite web|title=Lampas with roundels of the image of Christ in benedictory pose|url=false|author=|year=1550–1650|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.1423