Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "137341",
    "label": "Fragment with Inscription",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}

{
    "id": "137341",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Fragment with Inscription",
    "description": "A design in dark brown on a background of dark tan preserves five nearly complete double-headed \"eagles\" and almost half of a sixth, arranged in aligned rows. Each eagle grasps griffins in its talons. Small birds decorate the shoulders of its wings, and on the wing of each small bird is inscribed with the word “mercy.” Superimposed on the eagle, as if being carried, is a small standing human figure which bears on the upper part of its arms the word “blessing.” At the top of the textile, a Kufic inscription repeats a line from the <em>diwan</em>, collected poetry, of al-Buhturi.",
    "date": "before 1962",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.264",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q80031913"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Textile"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.264/1962.264_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.264/1962.264_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.264/1962.264_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 171 x 65 cm (67 5/16 x 25 9/16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Iran, in the style of the Buyid period (945–1055)"
    ],
    "accession": "1962.264"
}

{
    "tec": "Silk: lampas weave",
    "tombstone": "Fragment with Inscription, before 1962. Iran, in the style of the Buyid period (945–1055). Silk: lampas weave; overall: 171 x 65 cm (67 5/16 x 25 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1962.264",
    "collection": "T - Islamic",
    "inscriptions": [
        {
            "inscription": "On the wing of each small bird is an inscription: \"al-rahmah\" [mercy]."
        },
        {
            "inscription": "On the upper part of the arms of the small standing figure: \"al-barakah\" [blessing]."
        },
        {
            "inscription": "At top of textile: \"baqayta amir al-mu'minin fa-innama baqa['u]ka hasan lil-zaman wa-tay-yib\"",
            "inscription_translation": "Thou hast remained Commander of the Believers, and indeed, Thy remaining is (a) handsome and good (thing) for the age",
            "inscription_remark": "The Kufic inscription repeats a line from the diwan of al-Buhturi."
        }
    ],
    "relatedWorks": [
        {
            "id": 141201,
            "description": "Schematic Drawing of Buyid Silk (1962.264), 1900s. Félix Guichert (French). Ink on paper; overall: 58 x 125 cm (22 13/16 x 49 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Paul Mallon 1964.441"
        },
        {
            "id": 141202,
            "description": "Schematic Drawings of Buyid Silk (1962.264), 1900s. Félix Guichert (French). Ink on paper; overall: 63.7 x 48.3 cm (25 1/16 x 19 in.); second section: 17.3 x 44.5 cm (6 13/16 x 17 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Paul Mallon 1964.442"
        }
    ],
    "didYouKnow": "The top inscription is a line by poet Al-Walīd ibn Ubaidillah Al-Buḥturī (821–897).",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "Wiet, Gaston. <em>Soieries Persanes</em>. Le Caire: Imprimerie de L'Institut Francais d'Archeologie Orientale, 1948.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: cat. no. IX, pp. 55–63; Reproduced: pls. X and XI"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 215",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n239"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 215",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n239"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Lemberg, Mechthild. “The Buyid Silks of the Abegg Foundation, Berne.” <em>Bulletin du CIETA. Centre international d'étude des textiles anciens</em>. No. 37 1973 – I. p. 11-54",
            "page_number": "p. 49, no. 678"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Corbin, Henry. <em>Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth: From Mazdean Iran to Shiʻite Iran</em>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: frontispiece; Mentioned: pp. xvii–xviii"
        },
        {
            "citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 272",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n292"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.264",
    "creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 11:27:01.208000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.264/1962.264_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 137341,
    "dept": "Textiles",
    "coll": "T - Islamic",
    "med": "Silk: lampas weave",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.264/1962.264_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "f22be6cfe34a20f7"
}