Curtain Fragment with Panthers (500s): Art, History and Details

Curtain Fragment with Panthers (500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Luxurious tapestry-woven curtains decorated with colorful figures and flora were hung in religious, palatial, and theatrical settings. Often, as here, red forms the background of the main field framed by a blue border. Lively cheetahs or panthers wearing collars appear among alternating stylized rosettes and floral roundels that frame birds on the red ground. In the border, pairs of masks and birds alternate. Cheetahs were favored for hunting, suggested here by the collars and, in one case, a harness. Panthers, on the other hand, were associated with Dionysus, Greek god of wine, who was admired by Egyptian people of all religions through the 500s CE.

Object facts

• Title: Curtain Fragment with Panthers
• Date: 500s
• Culture: Egypt, Antinoë, Byzantine period, late 6th century
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Dyed wool, undyed linen: slit-tapestry weave
• Dimensions: Overall: 76.2 x 54.9 cm (30 x 21 5/8 in.); Mounted: 87.6 x 66 x 2.5 cm (34 1/2 x 26 x 1 in.)
• Collection: T - Coptic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1980.31

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

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.