Silk Sleeve Decoration with Hunters
Unknown Artist
700s
Medium
Silk: complementary weft-faced twill with inner warps (samit)
Dimensions
28.9 × 20.3 cm · mounted: 37.8 × 29.2 cm
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1947.193
About this artwork
This silk sleeve blends technical and stylistic elements that occurred in early Islamic art. The sides of the sleeve are decorated with a lotus flower design, an ancient Egyptian motif that was absorbed into Hellenistic and Byzantine art. The upper panel displays a large medallion composed of leaves and palmettes, common vegetal motifs in Islamic art of this period. Below, the mace-wielding horseman is identified in Coptic inscriptions as Joseph, father of Jesus and saint within the Coptic faith...