Border Strips of a Skirt
Unknown Artist
1600s–1700s
Medium
Silk on linen tabby ground; embroidery
Classification
Embroidery
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1926.217
About this artwork
The primary motif is a large stylized flowering vase with fantastic flowers and foliage, two small figures sitting among the foliage, two birds at the top eating flowers and, in the center, a double-headed eagle. Two of these motifs appear on the large strip, separated by a much smaller flowering vase with two goat-like animals at the base. At the top and bottom is a border of arched compartments containing, alternately, a flower and a two-tailed mermaid or a double-headed eagle.