Textile with Diamonds
Unknown Artist
1000s
Medium
silk, cotton, and silver thread: tabby with supplementary weft
Dimensions
51.5 × 30.3 cm
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1993.139
About this artwork
Few Central Asian luxury silks dating from the 10th-11th centuries have survived. Here the cotton wefts, together with thin, widely spaced silk warps, identify this example as Central Asian. Its date has been determined by comparing it with two related textiles that are securely dated. At this time Chinese silks with small-scale diamond patterns were usually reserved for undergarments or linings. The use of silver thread for the tiny diamonds in this example, however, may indicate that in Centra...