Roundel with Amazons, from a tunic (600s–800s): Art, History and Details

Roundel with Amazons, from a tunic (600s–800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Within a roundel are a pair of mounted Amazons (women warriors) shooting backward at lions, which attack their running horses. The roundel frame is filled with stylized floral motifs and is bordered on the inside by a band of tiny hearts.

Object facts

• Title: Roundel with Amazons, from a tunic
• Date: 600s–800s
• Culture: Egypt or Syria(?)
• Type: Textile
• Technique: samite: silk
• Dimensions: Overall: 22.2 x 23.5 cm (8 3/4 x 9 1/4 in.); Mounted: 31.1 x 31.8 cm (12 1/4 x 12 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1952.104

A detail from the museum

The dark purple weft yarn was dyed with kermes and indigo.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Neils, Jenifer. “The Twain Shall Meet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 72, no. 6, 1985, pp. 326–359.
• Mackie, Louise W. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th-21st Century. New Haven: 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.