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Source Description
This rectangular, reversible tapestry (<em>kesi</em>) fragment, woven with silk and metal thread on a deep purple ground, is a section from yardage likely intended for a garment, but no contemporary paintings exist to confirm this. A selvage edge remains on the left; having an extant selvage edge provides us with information about the loom on which this textile was woven. The design motif of this kesi—dragons chasing flaming pearls—is Chinese. But the form of the dragons and the way they are crowded together is not Chinese. Rather than animals and birds among flowers, a frequently occurring pattern in the decorative art of eastern Central Asia that long predated the Mongol conquest, here the dragons are chasing flaming pearls. This deviation is indicative of the powerful influence of the Mongols.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
154215
label
Dragons Chasing Flaming Pearls
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
154215
contentType
object
title
Dragons Chasing Flaming Pearls
description
This rectangular, reversible tapestry (<em>kesi</em>) fragment, woven with silk and metal thread on a deep purple ground, is a section from yardage likely intended for a garment, but no contemporary paintings exist to confirm this. A selvage edge remains on the left; having an extant selvage edge provides us with information about the loom on which this textile was woven. The design motif of this kesi—dragons chasing flaming pearls—is Chinese. But the form of the dragons and the way they are crowded together is not Chinese. Rather than animals and birds among flowers, a frequently occurring pattern in the decorative art of eastern Central Asia that long predated the Mongol conquest, here the dragons are chasing flaming pearls. This deviation is indicative of the powerful influence of the Mongols.
date
1200s or earlier
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60757003
genreSpecific
Textile
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 60 x 32 cm (23 5/8 x 12 5/8 in.)
cul
Central China
accession
1988.33
Source extras
tec
silk and gold thread: tapestry
tombstone
Dragons Chasing Flaming Pearls (龍戲珠紋織品), 1200s or earlier. Central China. Silk and gold thread: tapestry; overall: 60 x 32 cm (23 5/8 x 12 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund, 1988.33
titleInOriginalLanguage
龍戲珠紋織品
collection
Textiles
didYouKnow
The metal thread used in this weaving is fabricated from very thin strips of parchment with applied gold and silver leaf that are then wound around a core of yellow silk.
citations
citation
Simcox, Jacqueline. "Silks from the Middle Kingdom." <em>Hali: The International Magazine of Fine Carpets and Textiles,</em> Issue 43, (February 1989), pp. 16–33.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 14, p. 21.
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 and 73, no. 193
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 (August 1990): 286–323.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 316, cat. no. 14; Reproduced: p. 296, fig. 14
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25161297
citation
Watt, James C. Y., and Anne E. Wardwell. <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, 1997.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 75–77, cat. no. 17
creditline
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
updatedAt
2026-06-17 11:19:44.802000
sourceId
154215
dept
Textiles
coll
Textiles
med
silk and gold thread: tapestry
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
daa81e0d10bb6f91