Brocade with Hares
Unknown Artist
1200s–mid-1300s
Medium
Silk: tabby, brocaded; gold thread
Dimensions
26 × 42.8 cm
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Lisbet Holmes
Accession Number
1991.113
About this artwork
The motif of the hare among bushes may relate to the hunting activities of the Khitan, the Jurchen, and the Mongols. Hare hunts are recorded in the Liaoshi (History of the Liao Dynasty) and were often reported by envoys returning to China from the northern states. The asymmetry of the image in this textile is characteristic of Jin brocades. However, the paired (instead of single) warps reveal the influence of craftsmen from the eastern Iranian world and therefore dates the textile to the Mongol ...