id: 171607 accession number: 2014.388.1 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2014.388.1 updated: 2023-03-22 03:05:03.137000 Royal Round Tent made for Muhammad Shah (Roof), 1834–48. Iran, Rasht, Qajar period (1779-1925). Rasht work; wool with silk embroidery (chain stitch), cotton, linen, rope, leather; overall: 360 x 400 x 400.1 cm (141 3/4 x 157 1/2 x 157 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2014.388.1 title: Royal Round Tent made for Muhammad Shah (Roof) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1834–48 creation date earliest: 1834 creation date latest: 1848 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Iran, Rasht, Qajar period (1779-1925) technique: Rasht work; wool with silk embroidery (chain stitch), cotton, linen, rope, leather department: Textiles collection: T - Islamic type: Textile find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 360 x 400 x 400.1 cm (141 3/4 x 157 1/2 x 157 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Muhammad Shah's Royal Persian Tent opening date: 2015-07-13T04:00:00 Muhammad Shah's Royal Persian Tent. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13, 2015-August 23, 2016). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * --- PROVENANCE Mehdi Mahboubian [1921-2005], Oxfordshire, UK date: by early 1980s-1991? footnotes: citations: (Sotheby's, London, sale 24 April 1991) date: April 24, 1991 footnotes: citations: Private Collection, consigned to Francesca Galloway, Ltd. date: after 1991 footnotes: citations: (Francesca Galloway, Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-2014 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2014- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Royal tents were potent symbols of authority, wealth, and power throughout the greater Middle East. Rulers owned thousands of tents. They were used for shelter, shade, and innumerable functions in tent compounds that were essential for imperial ceremonies, travel, and military campaigns. Distinguished by size with elaborately decorated interior walls and ceilings, tents could be as large as castles. Opulent tents were also presented as imperial gifts.

Tents are only known through documents before 1600. For example, in Baghdad in 809, Caliph Harun al-Rashid owned 4,000 ceremonial tents and 150,000 camping tents that were stored in the imperial Abbasid treasury. An astonishing variety and quantity of tents were housed in the royal Fatimid tent storeroom in Cairo in 1068-69, including "military tents, fortress tents, and castle tents, manufactured of . . . gold-brocaded stuff embroidered with designs of elephants, wild beasts, horses, peacocks, birds."

Since 1600, Ottoman Turkish tents with elaborate floral decoration have been preserved in Istanbul in the Topkapi Palace Museum and Military Museum, and in European collections as war booty, primarily from the Ottoman Turks' attempt to conquer Vienna in 1683. These tents are not done in the Rasht technique, but rather are applique.

In contrast, royal tents from Iran are extremely rare. This spectacular ceremonial tent is embroidered with the name of its owner, Muhammad Shah, who ruled Iran from 1834 to 1848 during the Qajar dynasty. The radiant jewellike interior features exuberant flora, blossoming vines, and robust birds made with colored wool embellished with silk-thread embroidery. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS "The Shahs' Tents" with articles by Toby Falk "Royalty in the Field," Jennifer Wearden "Rasht Textiles," and Ian Bennet "A Qajar Masterpiece." HALI; the international journal of Oriental carpets and textiles 59 (October 1991), pp.118-123. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 118-123 url: Sotheby's London. European and Oriental Rugs, Carpets and Textiles. 24 April 1991 sale. page number: url: Baker, Patricia L. Islamic Textiles. 1995. page number: p.138-39 url: Atasoy, Nurhan. Otağ-ı Hümayun: Ottoman imperial tent complex. İstanbul: Aygaz, 2000. page number: url: Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. page number: Reproduced: pp. 392-393 url: "The Shah's Tent." HALI; the international journal of Oriental carpets and textiles 185 (Autumn 2015): 94-95. page number: Reproduced: figs. 1-4, pp. 94-95 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2014.388.1/2014.388.1_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2014.388.1/2014.388.1_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2014.388.1/2014.388.1_full.tif