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Source Description
A new style depicting single figures with limited modeling and European artistic influence was spearheaded by the Iranian painter Riza ‘Abbasi and adopted by textile designers in sumptuous brocaded velvets. Even with faded colors, this grand length retains ten colors of velvet pile, a feat that Iranian velvet weavers achieved by skillfully replacing colored pile warp during weaving, and thereby creating the most colorful velvets in the world. Elegant youths dominate the simplified outdoor setting here with diminutive cypresses and silver ponds on a ground originally covered with gold thread. Fashionably dressed young men wear wide-brimmed hats, silver robes, stole-like scarves, and knotted sashes that are symbols of status and rank.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
113436
label
Velvet panel with four youths smelling flowers
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
113436
contentType
object
title
Velvet panel with four youths smelling flowers
description
A new style depicting single figures with limited modeling and European artistic influence was spearheaded by the Iranian painter Riza ‘Abbasi and adopted by textile designers in sumptuous brocaded velvets. Even with faded colors, this grand length retains ten colors of velvet pile, a feat that Iranian velvet weavers achieved by skillfully replacing colored pile warp during weaving, and thereby creating the most colorful velvets in the world. Elegant youths dominate the simplified outdoor setting here with diminutive cypresses and silver ponds on a ground originally covered with gold thread. Fashionably dressed young men wear wide-brimmed hats, silver robes, stole-like scarves, and knotted sashes that are symbols of status and rank.
date
1625–50
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80006105
genreSpecific
Velvet
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 157.5 x 72.7 cm (62 x 28 5/8 in.); Mounted: 167.6 x 83.2 cm (66 x 32 3/4 in.)
cul
Iran, Isfahan or Yazd, Safavid period (1501-1722)
accession
1932.42
Source extras
tec
Silk: velvet, brocaded, and pile-warp substitution; gilt- and silver-metal thread
tombstone
Velvet panel with four youths smelling flowers, 1625–50. Iran, Isfahan or Yazd, Safavid period (1501-1722). Silk: velvet, brocaded, and pile-warp substitution; gilt- and silver-metal thread; overall: 157.5 x 72.7 cm (62 x 28 5/8 in.); mounted: 167.6 x 83.2 cm (66 x 32 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1932.42
collection
T - Islamic
citations
citation
Waley, Arthur.<em> The Year Book of Oriental Art and Culture</em>. London: E. Benn, Limited, 1925.
page_number
Mentioned; Vol. 1, p. 59
citation
Underhill, Gertrude. “A Shah Abbas Velvet of the Early Seventeenth Century.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 19, no. 4, 1932, pp. 51–54.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 51–54
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25137469
citation
Reath, Nancy Andrews, and Eleanor B. Sachs. <em>Persian Textiles and Their Technique from the Sixth to the Eighteenth Centuries, Including a System for General Textile Classification</em>. New Haven: Pub. for Pennsylvania Museum of Art by Yale University Press, 1937.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 11, 37, 41, 64, 130, plate 89
citation
<em>2000 Years of Silk Weaving: An Exhibition Sponsored by the Los Angeles County Museum in Collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts</em>. New York: E. Weyhe, 1944.
page_number
p. 34, cat. no. 250
citation
Weibel, Adèle Coulin. "2000 years of silk weaving." <em>The Art Quarterly</em>. 7.1944, pp. 191–204.
page_number
no. 250
citation
<em>Fifty Masterpieces of Textiles. [Victoria and Albert Museum Publications, 1950-1951]</em>. London: H.M. Stationery Off, 1951.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 87, fig. 42
citation
Weibel, Adèle Coulin. <em>Two Thousand Years of Textiles; The Figured Textiles of Europe and the Near East</em>. New York: Published for the Detroit Institute of Arts [by] Pantheon Books, 1952.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 121, pl. 137
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 736
citation
<em>Woven Treasures of Persian Art; Persian Textiles from the 6th to the 19th Century</em>. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum, 1959.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 45–46, cat. no. 89
citation
Ghirshman, Roman.<em> Sept mille ans d'art en Iran: Petit Palais, Octobre 1961-Janvier 1962</em>. Paris: Association francaise d’action artistique, 1961.
page_number
p. 202, cat. no. 1136
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. 217
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. 217
citation
Kahlenberg, Mary. "A Mughal Personage Velvet." <em>The Burlington Magazine</em> 115, no. 848 (1973):
page_number
pp. 723–727
url
www.jstor.org/stable/877527
citation
Irwin, John. "'Aśokan' Pillars: A Reassessment of the Evidence." <em>The Burlington Magazine</em> 115, no. 848 (1973).
page_number
pp. 706–720, reproduced p. 721, fig. 23
url
www.jstor.org/stable/877526
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. 276
citation
Wilson, Kax. <em>A History of Textiles</em>. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1979.
page_number
Reproduced: pl. 34
citation
Wearden, Jennifer Mary, and Patricia L. Baker. <em>Iranian Textiles</em>. London: V & A Pub, 2010.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 12, fig. 2
citation
Mackie, Louise W. <em>Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century</em>. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 366–367, fig. 9.25
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:58:55.958000
sourceId
113436
dept
Textiles
coll
T - Islamic
med
Silk: velvet, brocaded, and pile-warp substitution; gilt- and silver-metal thread
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
f0fc97e4395d6c6b