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Medallions with confronting peacocks
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This textile preserves six ovals aligned in two vertical columns; the top two ovals are fragmentary. Columns are separated by two guard lines that are interrupted by smaller vertical almond-shaped motifs; these are tangent to the large ovals at the widest point. Each large oval, bordered by a band of floriated Kufic, has a central ogival medallion, also bordered with floriated Kufic, with palmettes at each end. The medallions are placed on a ground of white on white with small aligned circles. Interspaces between large ovals are filled with pairs of opposed palmette trees flanked at each end with confronting birds in flight.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineMedallions with confronting peacocks, 1660–1955 (radiocarbon date, 95% probability). Iran ?, in the style of the Buyid period (945–1055). Silk: lampas weave; overall: 59 x 57.4 cm (23 1/4 x 22 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mallon, 1968.73