Brocade with Hares

Description

The motif of the hare among bushes may relate to the hunting activities of the Khitan, the Jurchen, and the Mongols. Hare hunts are recorded in the Liaoshi (History of the Liao Dynasty) and were often reported by envoys returning to China from the northern states. The asymmetry of the image in this textile is characteristic of Jin brocades. However, the paired (instead of single) warps reveal the influence of craftsmen from the eastern Iranian world and therefore dates the textile to the Mongol period.

Provenance

(Lisbet Holmes Textiles, London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1991); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1991–)

Brocade with Hares

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1200s–mid-1300s

Accession Number

1991.113

Medium

Silk: tabby, brocaded; gold thread

Dimensions

Overall: 26 x 42.8 cm (10 1/4 x 16 7/8 in.)

Classification

Textile

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Lisbet Holmes