Lampas with roundels of the image of Christ in benedictory pose (1550–1650): Art, History and Details

Lampas with roundels of the image of Christ in benedictory pose (1550–1650) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Ottoman manufacturers also wove luxury silks with Christian images for the largest markets outside of the reigning sultans, whose need for luxury fabrics was voracious, targeting the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and the state of Muscovy (Moscow), which lacked silk industries. Worn as majestic church vestments, they were prized signifiers of the power and wealth of the Eastern Orthodox church. Christian imagery is often displayed in small medallion patterns, as seen here, woven in the standard Ottoman lampas technique. In this highest grade lampas with extensive gilt-metal thread, small medallions enclose half-length images of Christ in a benedictory pose alternating with crosses. The abbreviated inscription in the roundel, IC XC, translates as "Jesus Christ."

Object facts

• Title: Lampas with roundels of the image of Christ in benedictory pose
• Date: 1550–1650
• Culture: Turkey, Bursa, Ottoman period
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Silk and gilt-metal thread: lampas
• Dimensions: Overall: 36.5 x 33.7 cm (14 3/8 x 13 1/4 in.); Mounted: 41.3 x 38.7 cm (16 1/4 x 15 1/4 in.)
• Collection: T - Islamic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1916.1423

A detail from the museum

Around the crosses in silver thread is the inscription, IC XC N K meaning "Jesus Christ Victorious."

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• 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.
• Phillips, Amanda. Sea Change: Ottoman Textiles between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. 2021.

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.