Cleveland Museum of Art

Tigers Chasing Deer, with Dragon

Date

1000s–1200

Medium

Silk and gold thread; tapestry

Culture

China, Eastern, 11th-12th century

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This reversible tapestry ( kesi ) fragment woven with silk and metal thread is a section from yardage likely intended for a garment, but no contemporary paintings exist to confirm this. The starting, bottom edge of the textile is preserved which indicates the bands at the base would have been the cuff ends of a garment. The design motifs of this kesi—a dragon at the top, bands of pearls and split palmettes, and tigers chasing deer with mushroom-shaped antlers—are a synthesis of Western and Chinese elements. The pearls, palmettes, and deer motifs originated in Iran and Sogdiana (an area east of the Caspian Sea and northwest of the Himalayas) but migrated east to China during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Although these motifs disappeared from Chinese art after the fall of the Tang, they survived in Central Asia. In contrast, the dragon is Chinese in origin, but here has a Central Asian form (particularly its extended snout). Two similar kesi in Cleveland’s collection include 1991.3 and 1988.33. All are roughly the same size and given their size all three rectangular fragments may have been used as sutra (prayer leaves) covers. All three have two vertical crease lines that divide the fragment roughly into thirds and differential fading between the central third and outer thirds, which further substantiates this possible usage.

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