Fragment with confronted sphinxes in roundels from the tomb of Saint Bernard Calvo
Unknown Artist
1200–43
Medium
Silk and gold thread: lampas, taqueté, and plain-weave variant
Dimensions
54.6 × 65.4 cm · framed: 69.2 × 79.4 cm
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1950.394
About this artwork
Composite creatures, such as winged lions and sphinxes, predate the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. Islamic textiles continued to include them for centuries after the Arab conquest of Spain. Pairs of lions with gold faces rear up to bite the haunches of the winged beasts. In between the roundels are pairs of peacocks, motifs traceable to pre-Islamic Persian art that spread throughout the Islamic world, including Spain. The body of Saint Bernard Calvo, the Catholic Bishop of Vich in 1233–...