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Source Description
This superb quality silk with radiant gold thread on a rich green ground ranked among the most extravagant textiles woven in Italy during the 1300s. The Italian silk designer combined primarily exotic Chinese and Islamic motifs into the exceptionally dynamic pattern in the international style. Mythical beasts with flaming manes appear amid large palmette leaves. A chasuble in this fabric has survived, hidden during World War II behind a false wall in Saint Mary’s Church in Gdansk, Poland. A remarkably similar silk provides the lavish background in the museum’s painting John the Baptist by the Flemish painter Robert Campin. The display of such luxury continues the practice of using the finest items in the worship of God.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
132138
label
Exotic Gold-patterned Silk
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
132138
contentType
object
title
Exotic Gold-patterned Silk
description
This superb quality silk with radiant gold thread on a rich green ground ranked among the most extravagant textiles woven in Italy during the 1300s. The Italian silk designer combined primarily exotic Chinese and Islamic motifs into the exceptionally dynamic pattern in the international style. Mythical beasts with flaming manes appear amid large palmette leaves. A chasuble in this fabric has survived, hidden during World War II behind a false wall in Saint Mary’s Church in Gdansk, Poland. A remarkably similar silk provides the lavish background in the museum’s painting John the Baptist by the Flemish painter Robert Campin. The display of such luxury continues the practice of using the finest items in the worship of God.
date
1360–1400
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80023895
genreSpecific
Textile
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 21.6 x 31.1 cm (8 1/2 x 12 1/4 in.); Mounted: 30.5 x 39.4 cm (12 x 15 1/2 in.)
cul
Italy, Venice
accession
1954.69
Source extras
tec
silk, gold thread; a combination of two weaves, 2/1 twill and 1/3 twill (lampas)
tombstone
Exotic Gold-patterned Silk, 1360–1400. Italy, Venice. Silk, gold thread; a combination of two weaves, 2/1 twill and 1/3 twill (lampas); overall: 21.6 x 31.1 cm (8 1/2 x 12 1/4 in.); mounted: 30.5 x 39.4 cm (12 x 15 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1954.69
collection
Textiles
citations
citation
Wardwell, Anne E. "Flight of the Phoenix: Crosscurrents in Late Thirteenth- to Fourteenth-Century Silk Patterns and Motifs." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 74, no. 1 (1987): 2-35.
page_number
p. 2-35, fig 39
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25159970.
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:48:42.782000
sourceId
132138
dept
Textiles
coll
Textiles
med
silk, gold thread; a combination of two weaves, 2/1 twill and 1/3 twill (lampas)
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
a8edf00bb4f003fd