The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Curtain Fragment with Panthers
500s
Overall: 76.2 x 54.9 cm (30 x 21 5/8 in.); Mounted: 87.6 x 66 x 2.5 cm (34 1/2 x 26 x 1 in.)
Location: not on view
Description
Luxurious tapestry-woven curtains decorated with colorful figures and flora were hung in religious, palatial, and theatrical settings. Often, as here, red forms the background of the main field framed by a blue border. Lively cheetahs or panthers wearing collars appear among alternating stylized rosettes and floral roundels, which frame birds on the red ground. In the border, pairs of masks and birds alternate. Cheetahs were favored for hunting, suggested here by the collars and, in one case, a harness. Panthers, on the other hand, were associated with Dionysus, Greek god of wine, who was admired by Egyptians of all religions through the AD 500s.- Mrs. Paul Mallon, Paris.
- Coptic Textile Rotation Gallery 106. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 23, 2012-May 2, 2013).Byzantine Gallery 210 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 16, 2002-October 27, 2003).Conserving the Past for the Future. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-May 6, 2001).Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
- {{cite web|title=Curtain Fragment with Panthers|url=false|author=|year=500s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.31