The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

Cloth of gold with winged lions and griffins

Cloth of gold with winged lions and griffins

1225–75
Silk and gold thread: lampas
Overall: 124 x 48.8 cm (48 13/16 x 19 3/16 in.); Mounted: 135.6 x 59.4 cm (53 3/8 x 23 3/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1989.50
Location: not on view

Description

The Mongols created exceptionally sumptuous cloths of gold to symbolize their imperial authority and legitimacy, this being the most resplendent example known. Opulent expanses of gold thread enrich the roundels, lions, and griffins in striking contrast with the intricate brown silk foliate ground. The pattern integrates motifs from Iran—paired lions in roundels and paired griffins—and from China, cloud ornaments on the lions’ wings. They suggest it was woven in an imperial workshop in Central Asia where Iranian and Chinese craftsmen worked together with local artisans. The gold is on a paper substrate associated with Asia, whereas animal skin substrates were used in Islamic lands. It is woven in a new technique developed by Iranian weavers, a combination of two weaves known as lampas, which was adopted internationally.
  • ?-June 29, 1989
    (Lisbet Holmes Textiles, London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    June 29, 1989-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Museum, 1991. p. 45 archive.org
    Interpretations: Sixty-Five Works from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. no. 47
    Wardwell, Anne E. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 124 www.jstor.org
    “Recent Acquisitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art II: Departments of Asian Art: Supplement.” The Burlington Magazine, vol. 133, no. 1059, 1991, pp. 417–424. Mentioned and Reproduced: no. VII, p. 419 www-jstor-org.ingallslibrary.idm.oclc.org
    HALI; the international journal of Oriental carpets and textiles 59 (August-October 1991), p. 125.
    Turner, Evan H. and John Russell. Masterpieces from East and West. New York, NY: Rizzoli International, 1992. p. 37
    Wardwell, Anne E. "Two Silk and Gold Textiles of the Early Mongol Period." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 10 (1992): 354-78. Reproduced: p. 356-58, 376; Mentioned: p. 354-78 www.jstor.org
    Wardwell, Anne E. "Important Asian Textiles Recently Acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art," Oriental Art N.S. 38 no.4 (Winter 1992/93): 249. p. 249, fig. 6
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 37 no. 08, October 1997 Reproduced: cover archive.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. cat. no. 35, figs. 50, 52, 62; pp. 126, 128, 142-143
    Wardwell, Anne E. and James C. Watt, "A Meeting of Traditions," HALI; the international journal of Oriental carpets and textiles 95 (November 1997): 102-104.
    Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 66-67
    Chuvin, Pierre, and Gilles Béguin. Les arts de l'Asie Centrale. Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, 1999. Reproduced: p. 460, no. 563
    Bonhams Knightsbridge. Islamic Works of Art including two 'Fostat Carpet' Fragments. 21 April 1999. fig. a, p. 62
    Hattstein, Markus, and Peter Delius. Islam, Kunst und Architektur. Köln: Könemann, 2000. Reproduced: p. 405
    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. cat. no. 69, p. 64, p. 260, fig. 58
    Watt, James C. Y., and Maxwell K. Hearn. The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010. p. 256, fig. 274
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 363
    Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland, OH; New Haven, CT: The Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. Reproduced: Front Cover, P. 6, 216, 218, fig. 6.3; Mentioned: P. 180, 215
    Fircks, Juliane von. "Dou Royaume des Tartares vient Drap Dor et de Soie." Histoire de l'Art 82, issue 1 (2018). Reproduced: p. 182, fig. 13
    Mozzati, Luca, and David Radzinowicz. Islamic Art. Munich: Prestel, 2019. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 200
    Clarke, Sarah E. Braddock, and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads: Journeys between East and West, Past and Present. London ; New York : Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2022. Reproduced: p. 90, fig. 7.4
    Blessing, Patricia, Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, and Eiren L. Shea. Medieval Textiles Across Eurasia, C. 300-1400. Cambridge, United Kingdom; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Mentioned: p. 11; Reproduced: p. 13, fig. 10
  • Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250-1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14, 2013-June 23, 2014).
    The World of Kubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 20, 2010-January 2, 2011).
    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).
    When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian & Chinese Textiles from the Cleveland and Metropolitan Museums of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 26, 1997-January 4, 1998); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 26, 1997-January 4, 1998); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 2-May 17, 1998); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 2-May 17, 1998).
    Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991).
  • {{cite web|title=Cloth of gold with winged lions and griffins|url=false|author=|year=1225–75|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.50