id: 157004 accession number: 1993.158 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1993.158 updated: 2023-04-05 11:07:29.717000 Pair of Boots, 907–1125. Northern China, Liao dynasty (907-1125). Silk: tapestry weave; two kinds of metal threads; overall: 47.5 x 30.8 cm (18 11/16 x 12 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1993.158 title: Pair of Boots title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 907–1125 creation date earliest: 907 creation date latest: 1125 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Northern China, Liao dynasty (907-1125) technique: Silk: tapestry weave; two kinds of metal threads department: Textiles collection: Textiles type: Textile find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 47.5 x 30.8 cm (18 11/16 x 12 1/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions opening date: 1994-10-18T04:00:00 Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 18-December 31, 1994). 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 Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 2-May 17, 1998). title: The Splendor of Chinese Silk – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c opening date: 2018-02-05T05:00:00 The Splendor of Chinese Silk – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 5-August 12, 2018). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: This magnificent pair of boots, made of finely woven silk tapestry (kesi), features two phoenixes in flight chasing a flaming pearl. Although the bright colors of the fabric have become muted from being buried in a tomb and the gold threads are partly disintegrated, the once lavish use of gold and the Chinese-inspired phoenix motif suggest that the boots were made for a member of the Liao imperial family, probably a woman. At the time the boots were made in the Khitan-occupied territory in northern China, footbinding was introduced among upper-class women in southern China. The high value the Khitan people accorded to boots relates to their mobile, seminomadic lifestyle. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Wilson, J. Keith, and Anne E. Wardwell. "New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 8 (1994): 270-347. page number: Reproduced: p. 325; Mentioned: p. 325-28, 347 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161465 Wardell, Anne E., "Royal Regalia", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 35 no. 08, October 1995 page number: Mentioned & reproduced: p. 7 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMM1995-08/page/6 Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles. 1997. page number: pp. 87-90, reproduced in color, p. 87, detail repr. p. 88, figure 30 url: Watt, James C. Y, Anne E Wardwell, Anne E Wardwell, Morris Rossabi, Cleveland Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), Morris Rossabi, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.). When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1997. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 87-90, no. 23 url: Cunningham, Michael R. Masterworks of Asian art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. page number: Reproduced: p. 48 - 49 url: Spee, Clarissa von. "From the SIlk Road to the Imperial Court: Chinese Textiles in the Cleveland Museum of Art." Arts of Asia 48, no. 3(May-June 2018): 50-56. page number: Reproduced: p. 51, fig. 2 url: Müller, Kathrin. Musterhaft naturgetreu: Tiere in Seiden, Zeichnungen und Tapisserien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 2020. page number: Reproduced: P. 58, abb. 14 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1993.158/1993.158_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1993.158/1993.158_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1993.158/1993.158_full.tif