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Source Description
This reversible tapestry (<em>kesi</em>) fragment woven with silk and metal thread is a section from yardage likely intended for a garment, but no contemporary paintings exist to confirm this. The starting, bottom edge of the textile is preserved which indicates the bands at the base would have been the cuff ends of a garment. The design motifs of this kesi—a dragon at the top, bands of pearls and split palmettes, and tigers chasing deer with mushroom-shaped antlers—are a synthesis of Western and Chinese elements. The pearls, palmettes, and deer motifs originated in Iran and Sogdiana (an area east of the Caspian Sea and northwest of the Himalayas) but migrated east to China during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Although these motifs disappeared from Chinese art after the fall of the Tang, they survived in Central Asia. In contrast, the dragon is Chinese in origin, but here has a Central Asian form (particularly its extended snout).
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
153812
label
Tigers Chasing Deer, with Dragon
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
153812
contentType
object
title
Tigers Chasing Deer, with Dragon
description
This reversible tapestry (<em>kesi</em>) fragment woven with silk and metal thread is a section from yardage likely intended for a garment, but no contemporary paintings exist to confirm this. The starting, bottom edge of the textile is preserved which indicates the bands at the base would have been the cuff ends of a garment. The design motifs of this kesi—a dragon at the top, bands of pearls and split palmettes, and tigers chasing deer with mushroom-shaped antlers—are a synthesis of Western and Chinese elements. The pearls, palmettes, and deer motifs originated in Iran and Sogdiana (an area east of the Caspian Sea and northwest of the Himalayas) but migrated east to China during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Although these motifs disappeared from Chinese art after the fall of the Tang, they survived in Central Asia. In contrast, the dragon is Chinese in origin, but here has a Central Asian form (particularly its extended snout).
date
1000s–1200
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60761641
genreSpecific
Textile
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 58 x 27.2 cm (22 13/16 x 10 11/16 in.); Mounted: 75.6 x 43.8 cm (29 3/4 x 17 1/4 in.)
cul
China, Eastern, 11th-12th century
accession
1988.1
Source extras
tec
Silk and gold thread; tapestry
tombstone
Tigers Chasing Deer, with Dragon, 1000s–1200. China, Eastern, 11th-12th century. Silk and gold thread; tapestry; overall: 58 x 27.2 cm (22 13/16 x 10 11/16 in.); mounted: 75.6 x 43.8 cm (29 3/4 x 17 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1988.100
collection
Textiles
didYouKnow
Two similar <em>kesi</em> in Cleveland’s collection include 1991.3 and 1988.33. All are roughly the same size and given their size all three rectangular fragments may have been used as sutra (prayer leaves) covers. All three have two vertical crease lines that divide the fragment roughly into thirds and differential fading between the central third and outer thirds, which further substantiates this possible usage.
citations
citation
Simcox, Jacqueline. "Silks from the Middle Kingdom." <em>Hali: The International Magazine of Fine Carpets and Textiles,</em> Issue 43, (February 1989).
page_number
p. 16-33; illus. fig. 7 p. 23.
citation
“The Year in Review for 1988.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 76, no. 2 (February 1989): 30–75.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 37, 52, and 73, no. 192; Reproduced: p. 52, no. 192
citation
Wilson, J. Keith. "Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 77, no. 8 (1990).
page_number
p. 286-323
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25161297.
citation
Wardwell, Anne E. 1992. “Important Asian Textiles Recently Acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art.” <em>Oriental Art</em> N.s., V. 38, N. 4 (winter 1992/93), P. 244-251.
page_number
P. 244-251
citation
Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. <em>When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles</em>. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art: Distributed by H.N. Abrams, 1997.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 14, pp. 66–69
citation
Rosati, Maria Ludovica. Il parato di Benedetto XI: storia di un tesoro. Genova : Fondazione Bruschettini per l'arte islamica e asiatica ; Milano : Dario Cimorelli editore, 2023.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 117; reproduced: p. 113, fig. 14
creditline
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
updatedAt
2026-06-17 11:19:44.791000
sourceId
153812
dept
Textiles
coll
Textiles
med
Silk and gold thread; tapestry
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
4d07291aa4b668a5