Silk with Dogs and Birds amid Vines (1350–1400): Art, History and Details

Silk with Dogs and Birds amid Vines (1350–1400) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Silks from China and the Islamic Near East introduced radically new designs with asymmetry and exotic animals around 1300, which Italian silk designers incorporated in an international style to compete with imports from the East. These large palmette leaves were adapted from Islamic silks whereas the recumbent deer, birds, and dogs (visible at the bottom) were popular Italian motifs. Textiles were lucrative commercial commodities during the Middle Ages. Intrepid Italian merchants traveled by land and sea to China, Mongolia, India, and the Islamic Near East, led by the maritime republics of Venice and Genoa. The renowned Venetian, Marco Polo, published his overland journey across Asia to China in 1265.

Object facts

• Title: Silk with Dogs and Birds amid Vines
• Date: 1350–1400
• Culture: Italy, second half of 14th century
• Type: Textile
• Technique: silk, gold thread; a combination of two weaves, 2/1 twill and plain weave (lampas)
• Dimensions: Overall: 21 x 34.9 cm (8 1/4 x 13 3/4 in.); Mounted: 29.2 x 43.2 cm (11 1/2 x 17 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1977.14

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

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.