Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "129261",
    "label": "Fragment with eagles in roundels from the Reliquary of Saint Librada in Siguenza Cathedral",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}

{
    "id": "129261",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Fragment with eagles in roundels from the Reliquary of Saint Librada in Siguenza Cathedral",
    "description": "This fragment belongs to a group of Spanish silks characterized by their design of aligned, slightly oval roundels that frame animals or birds. A single heraldic eagle fills the center of the roundel, and under his talons are Arabic inscriptions that read <em>Blessing</em>. The beaded border is animated with composite beasts and harpies. It was made during a period when the Islamic cities of Spain were the leading producers of luxury silks in Europe.",
    "date": "1100–50",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.15",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60749065"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Textile"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.15/1952.15_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.15/1952.15_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.15/1952.15_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 36.8 x 40.6 cm (14 1/2 x 16 in.); Mount: 47 x 50.8 cm (18 1/2 x 20 in.); Framed: 49.5 x 53.3 cm (19 1/2 x 21 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Spain, Almeria"
    ],
    "accession": "1952.15"
}

{
    "tec": "Silk and gold thread: lampas weave",
    "tombstone": "Fragment with eagles in roundels from the Reliquary of Saint Librada in Siguenza Cathedral, 1100–50. Spain, Almeria. Silk and gold thread: lampas weave; overall: 36.8 x 40.6 cm (14 1/2 x 16 in.); mount: 47 x 50.8 cm (18 1/2 x 20 in.); framed: 49.5 x 53.3 cm (19 1/2 x 21 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1952.15",
    "collection": "T - Islamic",
    "inscriptions": [
        {
            "inscription": "inscription beneath claws of the large heraldic eagle: \"baraka\" (Blessing); another inscription on the wings seems to be of pseudo-Gothic letters."
        }
    ],
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "<em>Spanish Medieval Art. Loan Exhibition in Honor of Dr. Walter W.S. Cook</em>. New York: New York University. Institute of Fine Arts. Alumni Association.1954.",
            "page_number": "p. 22, no. 69"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Shepherd, Dorothy G. \"Two Hispano-Islamic Silks in Diasper Weave.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 42, no. 1 (1955): 6-10.",
            "page_number": "pp. 6-10",
            "url": "www.jstor.org/stable/25142005."
        },
        {
            "citation": "Shepherd, Dorothy G. \"A Dated Hispano-Islamic Silk.\" <em>Ars Orientalis</em> 2 (1957): 373-82.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 378, pl. 10, fig. 4",
            "url": "www.jstor.org/stable/4629043"
        },
        {
            "citation": "May, Florence Lewis. <em>Silk Textiles of Spain, Eighth to Fifteenth Century</em>. New York: Printed by order of the trustees, the Hispanic Society of America, 1957.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 39-40, fig. 25"
        },
        {
            "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. 120",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n35"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Shepherd, Dorothy. \"Two Medieval Silks from Spain.\" <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>45, no. 1 (January 1958): 3-7.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 4",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25142255"
        },
        {
            "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. 218",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n242"
        },
        {
            "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. 218",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n242"
        },
        {
            "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. 275",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n295"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Bornstein, Christine Verzár, and Priscilla Parsons Soucek. <em>The Meeting of Two Worlds: The Crusades and the Mediterranean Context : [Exhibition], the University of Michigan Museum of Art, May 9-September 27, 1981</em>. Ann Arbor: The Museum, 1981.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 3, pp. 24-25"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Edwards, Holly. <em>Patterns and Precision, the Arts and Sciences of Islam</em>. [Washington, D.C.]: National Committee to Honor the Fourteenth Centennial of Islam, 1982.",
            "page_number": "p. 53, cat. no. 155"
        },
        {
            "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": "Reproduced: P. 180-181, fig. 5.10; Mentioned: P. 180"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Blessing, Patricia, Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, and Eiren L. Shea. <em>Medieval Textiles Across Eurasia, C. 300-1400.</em> Cambridge, United Kingdom; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2023.",
            "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 72; Mentioned: p. 73, fig. 63"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Hanson, Robin and Holly Witchey. \"Dorothy Shepherd and the Cleveland Museum of Art's Ancient Near Eastern and Islamic Art Collection.\" <em>Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals</em> 20, n. 3 (September 2024): 461-473.",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 467 (fig. 5)"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.15",
    "creditline": "Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 06:40:13.166000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.15/1952.15_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 129261,
    "dept": "Textiles",
    "coll": "T - Islamic",
    "med": "Silk and gold thread: lampas weave",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.15/1952.15_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "2291b5f46d900d1a"
}