Cleveland Museum of Art

Cope

Date: 1500s
Medium: Silk
Culture: China, Macao
Department: Textiles
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 127970

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Silk fabric woven in China with European motifs was transported by European traders by the early 16th century. This popular pattern features a crowned double-headed eagle grasping arrows in its claws above a vase emitting blossoming vines. The eagle motif was derived from the Habsburg coat of arms, rulers of Spain and Austria during the 1500s and 1600s. Vertical borders with Chinese flora occur near the selvages of the five silk lengths forming the cope. The gilt-metal braided and fringed hood and broad orphrey band, or ornamental border, along the front edges feature fashionable small-scale floral sprigs.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Provenance: ?–1950: (Adolph Loewi [1888–1977], Los Angeles, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) | 1950–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH