Tigers Chasing Deer, with Dragon
Unknown Artist
1000s–1200
Medium
Silk and gold thread; tapestry
Dimensions
58 × 27.2 cm · mounted: 75.6 × 43.8 cm
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
1988.100
About this artwork
This reversible tapestry (kesi) fragment woven with silk and metal thread is a section from yardage likely intended for a garment, but no contemporary paintings exist to confirm this. The starting, bottom edge of the textile is preserved which indicates the bands at the base would have been the cuff ends of a garment. The design motifs of this kesi—a dragon at the top, bands of pearls and split palmettes, and tigers chasing deer with mushroom-shaped antlers—are a synthesis of Western and Chinese...