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Source Description
The coat’s outer fabric is woven in five brilliant colors featuring paired ducks in pearl roundels, hallmarks of the precious and highly desired silks from Sogdia. The coat’s inner lining is a twill damask with a floral pattern made in China. The combination of Sogdian and Chinese silks in one garment with Tibetan ownership history is evidence of the vital exchange and cultural interaction among the peoples living along the trade routes of the Silk Road.<br><br>This precious coat was presumably made for a Tibetan prince. Given the coat’s pristine condition, though, it is unclear whether the garment was ever worn, or was used as a diplomatic gift or perhaps as currency.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
159372
label
Child’s Coat with Ducks in Pearl Medallions
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
159372
contentType
object
title
Child’s Coat with Ducks in Pearl Medallions
description
The coat’s outer fabric is woven in five brilliant colors featuring paired ducks in pearl roundels, hallmarks of the precious and highly desired silks from Sogdia. The coat’s inner lining is a twill damask with a floral pattern made in China. The combination of Sogdian and Chinese silks in one garment with Tibetan ownership history is evidence of the vital exchange and cultural interaction among the peoples living along the trade routes of the Silk Road.<br><br>This precious coat was presumably made for a Tibetan prince. Given the coat’s pristine condition, though, it is unclear whether the garment was ever worn, or was used as a diplomatic gift or perhaps as currency.
date
700s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79978843
genreSpecific
Garment
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
width across shoulders: 84.5 cm (33 1/4 in.); length back of neck to hem: 51.4 cm (20 1/4 in.)
cul
Probably Sogdia (present-day Uzbekistan)
China, Tang dynasty
accession
1996.2.1
Source extras
tec
Silk: weft-faced compound twill weave (samite)
tombstone
Child’s Coat with Ducks in Pearl Medallions (雙鴨圓形紋兒童外套), 700s. Probably Sogdia (present-day Uzbekistan). Silk: weft-faced compound twill weave (samite); width across shoulders: 84.5 cm (33 1/4 in.); length back of neck to hem: 51.4 cm (20 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1996.2.1
titleInOriginalLanguage
雙鴨圓形紋兒童外套
collection
Textiles
didYouKnow
This coat is part of a set of garments that originally included an outer pair of pants and silk boots made from the same fabric.
citations
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, “The Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Major Works,” March 18, 1996, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
citation
Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. W<em>hen 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: cat. no. 5, pp. 34-37; fig. 1, p. 22; fig. 3, p. 24
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. 36, 41-42, 66-67, fig. 2.28; Mentioned: P. 65
citation
Corty, Axelle. "Mysterieuses Soieries d'Asie Central." <em>Connaissance des arts</em> 745 (Feb. 2016): 84-89.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 84-85
citation
"Highlights from North American Collections." <em>IDP News: Newsletter of the International Dunhuang Project</em>, no. 49-50, Summer 2017, pp. 4-7.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 7, fig. 5
citation
The Asian Art Newspaper. "The Splendor of Chinese Textiles: From the Silk Road to the Imperial Court." <em>The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries</em> 21, no. 6 (Summer 2018): 25.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 25
citation
Spee, Clarissa von. "From the Silk Road to the Imperial Court: Chinese Textiles in the Cleveland Museum of Art." <em>Arts of Asia</em> 48, no. 3 (May-June 2018): 50-56.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 50,fig. 1
citation
Pritzker, David Thomas and Wang Xudong 王旭东, editors. <em>Cultural Exchange along the Silk Road: Masterpieces of the Tubo Period (7th-9th Century)</em> = 丝绸之路上的文化交流 : 吐蕃时期艺术珍品. Beijing: 中国藏学出版社 [China Tibetology Publishing House], 2020.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 28, 图一
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
Mentioned: p. 27; Reproduced: p. 28, fig. 26
citation
Williams, Elizabeth Dospel. "Khirbat al-Mafjar and the Immersive Materiality of Early Medieval Interiors." In <em>Stucco in the Islamic World: Studies of Architectural Ornament from Spain to India</em>, Edited by Richard McClary, 44-61. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2025.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 56, fig. 3.9b
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-06-03 11:06:04.431000
sourceId
159372
dept
Textiles
coll
Textiles
med
Silk: weft-faced compound twill weave (samite)
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
89bf319cb78ce8b3