Cloth of gold with felines and eagles 1225-1275 Northeast Iran Lampas: silk and gold thread Overall: 170.5 x 109 cm (67 1/8 x 42 15/16 in.) Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1990.2 DESCRIPTION Mongol taste for luxury was equated with gold, symbol of imperial authority, power, and legitimacy. This splendid cloth of gold-exceptionally large and luxurious-may have enriched the interior of a palace or a majestic tent. The golden pattern, although tarnished on the faded red silk ground, features scalloped medallions with felines whose long tails terminate in dragons’ heads amid elegant floral vines. Double-headed eagles form interstitial motifs on the floral ground. A radiant gold-on-gold band of pseudo-Arabic script enriches the top, woven with gold strips wrapped around a silk core on a ground of flat strips of gold, immediately beneath the pattern testing area. CITATIONS Wardwell, Anne E. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 123 www.jstor.org Wardwell, Anne E. "Two Silk and Gold Textiles of the Early Mongol Period." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 10 (1992): 354-78. Reproduced: cover, p. 359-61, 377-78; Mentioned: p. 354-78 www.jstor.org Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles. 1997. p. 128, 133-4, 154-5 Highet, Juliet. "Silks from Islamic Lands." The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries 17, issue 5 (March 2014):16-18. 16 EXHIBITION HISTORY Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991). When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian & Chinese Textiles from the Cleveland and Metropolitan Museums of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (March 2-May 17, 1998). Luxuriance: Silks from Islamic Lands, 1250-1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 14, 2013-June 23, 2014).