Detail View: The AMICA Library: Fragment from a Large Curtain

AMICA ID: 
CMA_.1939.35
AMICA Library Year: 
2002
Object Type: 
Textiles
Creator Nationality: 
European; Iberian; Spanish
Creator Name-CRT: 
Islamic Spain, probably Granada, Nasrid period, 14th century
Title: 
Fragment from a Large Curtain
Title Type: 
Primary
View: 
Full View
Creation Date: 
1300s
Creation Start Date: 
1300
Creation End Date: 
1399
Materials and Techniques: 
Lampas: a combination of two weaves, satin weave and plain weave; silk and gold thread
Classification Term: 
Textiles
Dimensions: 
Overall: 48.3cm x 25.4cm
AMICA Contributor: 
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Owner Location: 
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ID Number: 
1939.35
Credit Line: 
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Inscriptions: 
horizontal rows of staggered arch-like forms enclose knotted and interlaced Kufic inscriptions: "Success."
Rights: 
Provenance: 
(Estate of H. A. Elsberg).
Context: 

This rare silk was originally resplendent with its luxurious gold thread ground. Similar patterns decorate the stucco walls of the Alhambra, the imperial palace built in Granada in the 14th century by the Nasrid rulers, the last Islamic dynasty in Spain (1238-1492). The sophisticated pattern is based on the angular arabic script called kufic. The word for "good fortune" appears in mirror-image symmetry in crimson silk, framed by split palmette leaves forming arches in either ivory or green silk.

Related Image Identifier Link: 
CMA_.AM20020305.tif