Samite fragment with hunters

Description

This silk depicts pairs of horsemen hunting ibexes (mountain goats). The ibexes and two pairs of rabbits originally filled the spaces between rows of large floral roundels. Portions of the roundels are preserved at the top and bottom. Although the design was greatly influenced by silks from Egypt and Syria, the abstract style is typically Sogdian, from an area in Central Asia. This is one of many Sogdian silks that were traded to Europe and eventually preserved in church treasuries.

Provenance

(Dr. Emil Delmar [1876–1959], Budapest, Hungary, and New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1974); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1974–)

Samite fragment with hunters

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800s

Accession Number

1974.98

Medium

Silk: compound twill

Dimensions

Overall: 22 x 41.8 cm (8 11/16 x 16 7/16 in.); Mounted: 40 x 61 cm (15 3/4 x 24 in.)

Classification

Textile

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund