Fragment with eagles in roundels from the Reliquary of Saint Librada in Siguenza Cathedral (1100–50): Art, History and Details

Fragment with eagles in roundels from the Reliquary of Saint Librada in Siguenza Cathedral (1100–50) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This fragment belongs to a group of Spanish silks characterized by their design of aligned, slightly oval roundels that frame animals or birds. A single heraldic eagle fills the center of the roundel, and under his talons are Arabic inscriptions that read Blessing. The beaded border is animated with composite beasts and harpies. It was made during a period when the Islamic cities of Spain were the leading producers of luxury silks in Europe.

Object facts

• Title: Fragment with eagles in roundels from the Reliquary of Saint Librada in Siguenza Cathedral
• Date: 1100–50
• Culture: Spain, Almeria
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Silk and gold thread: lampas weave
• Dimensions: Overall: 36.8 x 40.6 cm (14 1/2 x 16 in.); Mount: 47 x 50.8 cm (18 1/2 x 20 in.); Framed: 49.5 x 53.3 cm (19 1/2 x 21 in.)
• Collection: T - Islamic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1952.15

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Spanish Medieval Art. Loan Exhibition in Honor of Dr. Walter W.S. Cook. New York: New York University. Institute of Fine Arts. Alumni Association.1954.
• Shepherd, Dorothy G. "Two Hispano-Islamic Silks in Diasper Weave." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 1 (1955): 6-10.
• Shepherd, Dorothy G. "A Dated Hispano-Islamic Silk." Ars Orientalis 2 (1957): 373-82.

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.