Description
This silk fragment displays a revolutionary new fashion in Italian textile design, influenced by the exotic patterns in silks imported from China, Byzantium, and Islamic countries of the Middle East. Beginning in the 1320s, instead of the static arrangement of motifs stacked one above the other, Italian designers staggered the motifs, creating asymmetry and movement. Even this fragment suggests motion through the arrangement of motifs in a curved lattice layout. However, the actual motifs—the grape leaves and bunches of grapes—remain typically Italian.
Provenance
(Loewi - Robertson, Inc., Los Angeles, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1971); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1971–)
Accession Number
1971.75
Medium
Silk: lampas weave
Dimensions
Overall: 24.1 x 25.4 cm (9 1/2 x 10 in.); Mounted: 42.2 x 43.2 cm (16 5/8 x 17 in.)
Classification
Textile
Credit Line
Florence and Charles Abel Oriental Rug Collection by exchange