Fragment with Lion Strangler from a Dalmatic of Saint Bernard Calvo
Unknown Artist
1200–1243
Medium
Silk and gold thread: lampas, taqueté, and plain-weave variant
Dimensions
43.8 × 39.7 cm · mounted: 53 × 49.8 cm
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1950.146
About this artwork
Within the elaborate roundel, a bearded man with a belted tunic strangles a lion in each hand. Gold thread shimmers on their heads and his hands. In the inscription band across the top, an Arabic word has been written with mirror-image symmetry. It can be read as al-yumn, primarily translated as prosperity. The central motif of this renowned silk is a pre- Islamic Persian symbol of royal power. Both Muslims and Christians throughout the Iberian Peninsula admired such textiles. Members of the Cat...