id:			157565
accession number:	1994.96
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1994.96
updated:		2023-04-05 11:07:29.815000

Embroidery with Birds, 700s-800s. China, Tang dynasty (618-906). Embroidery, silk thread on silk ground; overall: 157.5 x 25.7 cm (62 x 10 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1994.96

title:				Embroidery with Birds
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			700s-800s
creation date earliest:		700
creation date latest:		899
current location:		
creditline:			Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
copyright:			

---

culture:	China, Tang dynasty (618-906)
technique:	embroidery, silk thread on silk ground
department:	Textiles
collection:	Textiles
type:		Embroidery
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

---

measurements: Overall: 157.5 x 25.7 cm (62 x 10 1/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian & Chinese Textiles from the Cleveland and Metropolitan Museums of Art
	opening date:   1997-10-19T00:00:00
	<i>When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian & Chinese Textiles from the Cleveland and Metropolitan Museums of Art</i>. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 2-May 17, 1998).

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

---

PROVENANCE

---

fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:
These engaging little birds are embroidered in a naturalistic style that developed during the 8th and 9th centuries. All but one are oriented away from the central pair that flanks a tulip growing from a hill. Contrasting with the spontaneity of the birds is the structured pattern of the silk ground—rosettes within a lozenge grid. Such contrasts frequently occur among embroideries of the Tang dynasty. Also characteristic of embroideries from that period is the use of discrete areas of color with no attempts at shading. The form of the birds, the hill, and the flower are based on Persian models. The introduction of foreign motifs into the decorative arts of Central Asia and China was one of the most important results of active trading in precious objects along the Silk Road.
---

RELATED WORKS

---

CITATIONS

	Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles. 1997.
	page number: 	pp. 168-169, color reproduction, p. 168-9, detail reproduction, p. 169
	url:		

	"A Meeting of Traditions." <em>HALI</em> 95 (November 1997): 102-104
	page number: 	Mentioned and reproduced: P. 102
	url:		

	Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and Keith Wilson. <em>Masterworks of Asian Art. </em>Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.
	page number: 	Mentioned and reproduced: P. 44-45
	url:		

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1994.96/1994.96_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1994.96/1994.96_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1994.96/1994.96_full.tif