Curtain Panel with Scenes of Merrymaking
Unknown Artist
500s
Medium
Linen, undyed; wool: dyed; tapestry weave with supplementary weft wrapping
Dimensions
144.2 × 57.1 cm · mounted: 153.7 × 66 × 3.2 cm
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund and Gift of the Textile Art Alliance in memory of Robert P. Bergman
Accession Number
2000.5
About this artwork
This large panel conveys merrymaking, wealth, and power through its symbolic imagery and deep purple color. It was originally part of a luxurious wide curtain with similar panels alternating with plain linen panels. Although woven in Christian Egypt, the panel is dominated by pagan subjects. A nude male stands beside a dancing female in transparent clothing in each of the three squares, alternating with centaurs (half-man, half-horse creatures) in roundels. In the central square, Dionysus, the g...