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Source Description
This velvet of Iran’s Safavid period (1501–1722) displaying a falconry scene is celebrated for its refined beauty and meticulous draftsmanship. A falconer and attendant flank a blossoming plant on a golden ground of lobed medallions. Animated vines display leaves bearing lion’s masks and dragons coiled around larger leaves on the crimson ground. Instead of two or three colors of velvet, Iranian weavers wove with as many as 14 colors, the most colorful velvets ever woven.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
123707
label
Fragment with falconer and attendant in animated lattice, from a robe
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
123707
contentType
object
title
Fragment with falconer and attendant in animated lattice, from a robe
description
This velvet of Iran’s Safavid period (1501–1722) displaying a falconry scene is celebrated for its refined beauty and meticulous draftsmanship. A falconer and attendant flank a blossoming plant on a golden ground of lobed medallions. Animated vines display leaves bearing lion’s masks and dragons coiled around larger leaves on the crimson ground. Instead of two or three colors of velvet, Iranian weavers wove with as many as 14 colors, the most colorful velvets ever woven.
date
mid-1500s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79901020
genreSpecific
Velvet
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 79.4 x 66.7 cm (31 1/4 x 26 1/4 in.); Mounted: 89.5 x 74.9 cm (35 1/4 x 29 1/2 in.)
cul
Iran, Kashan, Safavid period (1501–1722)
accession
1944.239
Source extras
tec
Silk: velvet, brocaded, pile-warp substitution; gilt-metal thread
tombstone
Fragment with falconer and attendant in animated lattice, from a robe, mid-1500s. Iran, Kashan, Safavid period (1501–1722). Silk: velvet, brocaded, pile-warp substitution; gilt-metal thread; overall: 79.4 x 66.7 cm (31 1/4 x 26 1/4 in.); mounted: 89.5 x 74.9 cm (35 1/4 x 29 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1944.239
collection
T - Islamic
citations
citation
Hennezel, Henri d'. <em>Le décor des soieries dʹart, anciennes et modernes: documents originaux en couleurs du Musée historique des tissus de Lyon</em>. Paris: Éditions Nilsson, 1900.
page_number
Reproduced: pl. 13
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. 122, pl. 80
citation
Pope, Arthur Upham, Phyllis Ackerman, and Theodore Bestermann. <em>A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present</em>. London: Oxford University Press, 1938.
page_number
Vol. VI, Pl. 1019
citation
Underhill, Gertrude. “A Shah Tahmasp Velvet.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 31, no. 9, 1944, pp. 157–158.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 157-158
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25141157
citation
Underhill, Gertrude. “Fragments of a Khusraw and Shīrīn Velvet.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 32, no. 6, 1945, pp. 95–99.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 95
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
Reproduced: p. 120, pl. 136
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. 732
citation
<em>Woven Treasures of Persian Art; Persian Textiles from the 6th to the 19th Century</em>. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum, 1959.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 34-35, cat. no. 53
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. 201, no. 1130
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
Jones, Dalu and George Michell. <em>The Arts of Islam: Hayward Gallery, 8 April-4 July 1976</em>. [London]: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976.
page_number
p. 105, no. 72
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
Donley, Gregory, "Three New Curators", Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em>. Vol. 39 no. 04, April 1999
page_number
Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6-7
citation
Thompson, Jon, and Sheila R. Canby. <em>Hunt for Paradise: Court Arts of Safavid Iran, 1501-1576</em>. Milan: Skira; London: Thames & Hudson, 2003.
page_number
pp. 288-289, cat. no. 12, 14
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 364
citation
Highet, Juliet. "Silks from Islamic Lands." <em>The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries</em> 17, issue 5 (March 2014).
page_number
Reproduced: p. 16
citation
Weinstein, Laura, and Emine Fetvacı. I<em>nk, Silk & Gold: Islamic Art from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston</em>. Boston: MFA Publications, 2015.
page_number
p. 101, no. 63
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: P. 349-351, fig. 9.9
citation
Munroe, Nazanin Hedayat. “The Patterns of Poetry.”<em> HALI; the international journal of Oriental carpets and textiles</em>. Issue 224, Summer 2025.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 102, fig. 1
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:22:31.235000
sourceId
123707
dept
Textiles
coll
T - Islamic
med
Silk: velvet, brocaded, pile-warp substitution; gilt-metal thread
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
12777f09c841eca0