Brocaded velvet cushion cover with crescents (1525–75): Art, History and Details

Brocaded velvet cushion cover with crescents (1525–75) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This cushion cover is one of the earliest and highest quality examples that has survived. The vibrant pattern displays large crescents inscribed with smaller crescents and elegant rosebuds on a leafy vine. The six-pointed lappet designs across each end identify its function as a cover for a cushion on a divan, the equivalent of a Western sofa. The elegant yet lively quality of the drawing, velvet weave, and dense metal thread indicate that it was made near the height of Ottoman silk textile production in the mid-1500s.

Object facts

• Title: Brocaded velvet cushion cover with crescents
• Date: 1525–75
• Culture: Turkey, Istanbul or Bursa
• Type: Velvet
• Technique: velvet, brocaded: silk, gilt- and silver-metal thread, and cotton
• Dimensions: Overall: 138.4 x 65.4 cm (54 1/2 x 25 3/4 in.); Mounted: 134.6 x 63.5 cm (53 x 25 in.)
• Collection: T - Islamic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 2009.282

A detail from the museum

A vertical crease down the center of the textile shows that in the past it was folded for an extended time.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. Cleveland; New Haven: Cleveland Museum of Art; Yale University Press, 2015.
• Rustem, Unver. "From Auspicious Ornament to State Symbol: The Crescent Moon in Ottoman Art and Architecture." In The Moon: A Voyage through Time. Christiane Gruber, ed. Toronto, Ontario: Aga Khan Museum, 2019.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.