Enthroned King Flanked by Griffins (prior to 1971): Art, History and Details

Enthroned King Flanked by Griffins (prior to 1971) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This textile fragment preserves one complete and portions of 5 aligned roundels arranged in two rows (the top row fragmentary). Each roundel depicts an enthroned king flanked by crescents from his crown and griffins at his knees. Each king's robe and throne are ornamented with geometric patterns. Filling areas over the shoulders and at the feet of the king are stylized floral motifs outlined with pearls. The border is ornamented with stylized floral scroll. Interspaces contain an eight-pointed medallion. According to recent analysis of the museum’s Buyid and Abbasid textile materials, some have been identified as modern reproductions.

Object facts

• Title: Enthroned King Flanked by Griffins
• Date: prior to 1971
• Culture: Iran or Iraq, in the style of the Abbasid period (750–1258)
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Silk: lampas weave
• Dimensions: Overall: 46 x 78.7 cm (18 1/8 x 31 in.)
• Collection: T - Islamic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1971.24

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1971.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 59, no. 1, 1972, pp. 3–46.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
• Blair, Sheila S., et al. “Reevaluating the Date of the ‘Buyid’ Silks by Epigraphic and Radiocarbon Analysis.” Ars Orientalis, vol. 22, 1992, pp. 1–41.

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.