id: 154940 accession number: 1989.50 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1989.50 updated: 2023-09-15 11:23:05.839000 Cloth of gold with winged lions and griffins, 1225–75. Central Asia. Silk and gold thread: lampas; overall: 124 x 48.8 cm (48 13/16 x 19 3/16 in.); mounted: 135.6 x 59.4 cm (53 3/8 x 23 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1989.50 title: Cloth of gold with winged lions and griffins title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1225–75 creation date earliest: 1225 creation date latest: 1275 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Central Asia technique: Silk and gold thread: lampas department: Textiles collection: T - Islamic type: Textile find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 124 x 48.8 cm (48 13/16 x 19 3/16 in.); Mounted: 135.6 x 59.4 cm (53 3/8 x 23 3/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Notable Acquisitions opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00 Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991). title: When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian & Chinese Textiles from the Cleveland and Metropolitan Museums of Art opening date: 1997-10-19T00:00:00 When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian & Chinese Textiles from the Cleveland and Metropolitan Museums of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 26, 1997-January 4, 1998); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 26, 1997-January 4, 1998); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 2-May 17, 1998); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 2-May 17, 1998). title: The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia 1256-1353 opening date: 2002-10-28T00:00:00 The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia 1256-1353. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (October 28, 2002-February 16, 2003); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (April 13-July 27, 2003). title: The World of Kubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty opening date: 2010-09-20T00:00:00 The World of Kubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 20, 2010-January 2, 2011). title: Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250-1900 opening date: 2013-05-14T04:00:00 Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250-1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14, 2013-June 23, 2014). title: An Epic of Kings: The Great Mongol Shahnama opening date: 2024-08-31T04:00:00 An Epic of Kings: The Great Mongol Shahnama. National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (August 31, 2024-January 5, 2025). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (Lisbet Holmes Textiles, London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-June 29, 1989 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: June 29, 1989- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: The Mongols created exceptionally sumptuous cloths of gold to symbolize their imperial authority and legitimacy, this being the most resplendent example known. Opulent expanses of gold thread enrich the roundels, lions, and griffins in striking contrast with the intricate brown silk foliate ground. The pattern integrates motifs from Iran—paired lions in roundels and paired griffins—and from China, cloud ornaments on the lions’ wings. They suggest it was woven in an imperial workshop in Central Asia where Iranian and Chinese craftsmen worked together with local artisans. The gold is on a paper substrate associated with Asia, whereas animal skin substrates were used in Islamic lands. It is woven in a new technique developed by Iranian weavers, a combination of two weaves known as lampas, which was adopted internationally. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Museum, 1991. page number: p. 45 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook_80839 Interpretations: Sixty-Five Works from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. page number: no. 47 url: Wardwell, Anne E. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147. page number: Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 124 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161319 “Recent Acquisitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art II: Departments of Asian Art: Supplement.” The Burlington Magazine, vol. 133, no. 1059, 1991, pp. 417–424. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: no. VII, p. 419 url: https://www-jstor-org.ingallslibrary.idm.oclc.org/stable/884779 HALI; the international journal of Oriental carpets and textiles 59 (August-October 1991), p. 125. page number: url: Turner, Evan H. and John Russell. Masterpieces from East and West. New York, NY: Rizzoli International, 1992. page number: p. 37 url: Wardwell, Anne E. "Two Silk and Gold Textiles of the Early Mongol Period." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 10 (1992): 354-78. page number: Reproduced: p. 356-58, 376; Mentioned: p. 354-78 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161379 Wardwell, Anne E. "Important Asian Textiles Recently Acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art," Oriental Art N.S. 38 no.4 (Winter 1992/93): 249. page number: p. 249, fig. 6 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 37 no. 08, October 1997 page number: Reproduced: cover url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMM1997-08/page/2 Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art: Distributed by H.N. Abrams, 1997. page number: cat. no. 35, figs. 50, 52, 62; pp. 126, 128, 142-143 url: Wardwell, Anne E. and James C. Watt, "A Meeting of Traditions," HALI; the international journal of Oriental carpets and textiles 95 (November 1997): 102-104. page number: url: Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 66-67 url: Chuvin, Pierre, and Gilles Béguin. Les arts de l'Asie Centrale. Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, 1999. page number: Reproduced: p. 460, no. 563 url: Bonhams Knightsbridge. Islamic Works of Art including two 'Fostat Carpet' Fragments. 21 April 1999. page number: fig. a, p. 62 url: Hattstein, Markus, and Peter Delius. Islam, Kunst und Architektur. Köln: Könemann, 2000. page number: Reproduced: p. 405 url: Komaroff, Linda, and Stefano Carboni. The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256-1353. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven, CT: Distributed by Yale University Press, 2002. page number: cat. no. 69, p. 64, p. 260, fig. 58 url: Watt, James C. Y., and Maxwell K. Hearn. The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010. page number: p. 256, fig. 274 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 363 url: Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland, OH; New Haven, CT: The Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015. page number: Reproduced: Front Cover, P. 6, 216, 218, fig. 6.3; Mentioned: P. 180, 215 url: Fircks, Juliane von. "Dou Royaume des Tartares vient Drap Dor et de Soie." Histoire de l'Art 82, issue 1 (2018). page number: Reproduced: p. 182, fig. 13 url: Mozzati, Luca, and David Radzinowicz. Islamic Art. Munich: Prestel, 2019. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 200 url: Clarke, Sarah E. Braddock, and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads: Journeys between East and West, Past and Present. London ; New York : Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2022. page number: Reproduced: p. 90, fig. 7.4 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1989.50/1989.50_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1989.50/1989.50_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1989.50/1989.50_full.tif