Cleveland Museum of Art

Wall cover with flora, peacocks, and portrait medallions

Date

1800s

Medium

taffeta, hand-painted, block-printed: silk and pigments

Culture

Iran, Qajar period (1779-1925)

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The European fashion of installing Chinese export silks with painted decoration as luxurious wall coverings may have inspired this exceptional Iranian silk. European engravings, which had flooded the Iranian market by the 19th century, most likely inspired the pattern. This rare silk fabric with painted figural and foliate decoration may have been a luxurious wall covering in a palace or grand mansion in the city of Kashan where mural paintings display similar 19th-century designs. Glistening silver pigment originally formed the palmette-leaf compartment outlines (now mostly deep yellow) that display colorful blossoming plants enlivened with now tarnished silver peacocks. At their junctures, portrait medallions of Iranian princesses are distinctly Qajar in attire and style, as are the composite blossoming plants.

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