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Source Description
This is one of two of the largest, most complete, and most ornate curtains to survive from the 1300s when it presumably hung in the royal Alhambra Palace in Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. Its style, artistic vocabulary, and harmonious proportions reflect the magnificent wall decoration in the Alhambra. The motto of the ruling Nasrid dynasty, "There is no conqueror but God," is inscribed in the end borders and central panel. The inscribed striped silk forming the central panel is more worn, suggesting that it was recycled, most likely during the 1300s.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
150740
label
Alhambra Palace Silk Curtain
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
150740
contentType
object
title
Alhambra Palace Silk Curtain
description
This is one of two of the largest, most complete, and most ornate curtains to survive from the 1300s when it presumably hung in the royal Alhambra Palace in Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. Its style, artistic vocabulary, and harmonious proportions reflect the magnificent wall decoration in the Alhambra. The motto of the ruling Nasrid dynasty, "There is no conqueror but God," is inscribed in the end borders and central panel. The inscribed striped silk forming the central panel is more worn, suggesting that it was recycled, most likely during the 1300s.
date
mid-1300s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79933422
genreSpecific
Textile
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 438.2 x 116.8 cm (172 1/2 x 46 in.)
cul
Spain, Granada, Nasrid period
accession
1982.16.b
Source extras
tec
silk; lampas weave
tombstone
Alhambra Palace Silk Curtain, mid-1300s. Spain, Granada, Nasrid period. Silk; lampas weave; overall: 438.2 x 116.8 cm (172 1/2 x 46 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1982.16.b
collection
T - Islamic
inscriptions
inscription
the bold knotted Kufic inscription in the top and bottom borders of the side panels repeats the Arabic word "felicity." Within the arches forming a frieze in the top border is a Kufic inscription "good fortune" and a Naskhi inscription repeating trhe motto of the Nasrid dynasty, "There is no conqueror but God." In the borders of the three large ornamental rectangles on each side panel is the Naskhi inscription "Dominion belongs to God alone." On the central panel the inscriptions in the borders repeat the phrase, "Majestry is God's," while the Nasrid motto, "There is no conqueror but God" and, above, "Blessing," are inscribed in the arabesque ogives.
citations
citation
Partearroyo, Cristina. "Spanish-Muslem Textile," <em>Bulletin de Liaison du Centre international d'etude des textiles anciens</em>, no. 45, pt. 1 (1977), pp. 78–85.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 78–85; Reproduced: p. 79, figs. 1-2; p. 85, fig. 3
citation
Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1982.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 70, no. 1, 1983, pp. 3–55.
page_number
Reproduced: no. 73, p. 7; Mentioned: no. 73, p. 53
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25159799
citation
Wardwell, Anne E. “A Fifteenth-Century Silk Curtain from Muslim Spain.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 70, no. 2, 1983, pp. 58–72.
page_number
Reproduced: cover, p. 60, fig. 4; Mentioned: p. 72, no. 4
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25159802
citation
Martin Nagy, Rebecca. <em>Textiles in Daily Life in the Middle Ages</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 26, pp. 40–41
citation
Dodds, Jerrilynn Denise. <em>Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain</em>. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992.
citation
"1991 Annual Report." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 79, no. 6 (1992): 155–231.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 173
citation
Jayyusi, Salma Khadra, and Manuela Marín. <em>The Legacy of Muslim Spain</em>. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 14
citation
Pérez Higuera, Teresa. <em>Objetos e imagenes de al-Andalus</em>. Madrid: Instituto de Cooperación con el Mundo Arabe, 1994.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 98–99
citation
Baker, Patricia L. <em>Islamic Textiles</em>. London: British Museum Press, 1995.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 6
citation
Rothstein, Natalie. "Textile: Patterns: Loom-made compound weaves, Lampas" in <em>The Dictionary of Art</em>, vol. 30, pp. 550–554. J. S. Turner, ed. New York: Grove, 1996.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 550–554; Reproduced: p. 552, pl. VII, 1, p. 553
citation
<em>Ghereh: international carpet & textile review,</em> no.20 (Summer 1999).
page_number
Comparative material reproduced: pp. 123–124
citation
Jacobs, Michael, and Francisco Fernandez. <em>Alhambra</em>. London: Frances Lincoln, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 34–35
citation
Alves, Adalberto. <em>A herança árabe em Portugal</em>. Lisboa: CTT Correios, 2001.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 28
citation
Irwin, Robert. <em>The Alhambra</em>. London: Profile, 2004.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 120, no. 14
citation
Mackie, Louise. "Luxuriance." <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 53, no. 4 (July/August 2013): 12–14.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 14
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): 16–18.
page_number
p. 16
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: pp. 166, 196, fig. 5.28; Mentioned: pp. 197–198
citation
Clarke, Sarah E. Braddock, and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. <em>Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads: Journeys between East and West, Past and Present</em>. London; New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2022.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 93, fig. 7.6
creditline
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:46:46.811000
sourceId
150740
dept
Textiles
coll
T - Islamic
med
silk; lampas weave
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
562c3059eeb9260e