Fragment with seated prince holding falcons in kufic medallions (1654–1955 (radiocarbon date, 95% probability)): Art, History and Details

Fragment with seated prince holding falcons in kufic medallions (1654–1955 (radiocarbon date, 95% probability)) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The design consists of aligned rows of linked roundels enclosing a prince seated on a cushioned throne and holding a large falcon on each hand. The roundel is framed by an inscription in floriated Kufic, which is orthograde along the left half of the roundel and retrograde along right half. The points of junction of the large roundels are ornamented by small roundels enclosing star motifs.

Object facts

• Title: Fragment with seated prince holding falcons in kufic medallions
• Date: 1654–1955 (radiocarbon date, 95% probability)
• Culture: Iran ?, in the style of the Buyid period (945–1055)
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Silk: lampas weave
• Dimensions: Overall: 63.5 x 47.6 cm (25 x 18 3/4 in.)
• Collection: T - Islamic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1966.23

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Blair, Sheila S., Jonathan M. Bloom, and Anne E. Wardwell. "Reevaluating the Date of the "Buyid" Silks by Epigraphic and Radiocarbon Analysis." Ars Orientalis 22 (1992): 1-41.
• 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.

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.