Floral striped silk on a golden ground (1600–1650): Art, History and Details

Floral striped silk on a golden ground (1600–1650) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Twelve jewel-like colors of silk thread illustrate the vivacity of colors extolled in Iranian flowers on gilt- and silver-metal thread grounds. In a simplified seminaturalistic style, swaying branches support an exuberant array of blossoms in the Safavid tradition while the botanical accuracy of European prints inspired flora in varied angles and stages of maturity. Although celebrated in Iranian poetry for centuries, flowers were not featured in paintings and textiles until the 1640s, inspired by European herbals. This sturdy silk retains its radiant colors in contrast with many silks that have faded from excessive light exposure, especially the reds and pinks that were dyed with light-sensitive safflower dyestuff.

Object facts

• Title: Floral striped silk on a golden ground
• Date: 1600–1650
• Culture: Iran, Safavid period (1501–1722)
• Type: Textile
• Technique: silk, gilt- and silver-metal thread: samite
• Dimensions: Overall: 50.1 x 27.5 cm (19 3/4 x 10 13/16 in.)
• Collection: T - Islamic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 2003.96

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Major Acquisitions 2000-2005." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 45, no. 6 (July/August 2005): 6-17.
• 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.
• Highet, Juliet. "Silks from Islamic Lands." The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries 17, issue 5 (March 2014):16-18.

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.