c. 1500
Textile fragment with a Mudejar pattern depicting the Tree of Life and lions on a red ground. Repeat pattern of "pairs of lanceolate leaves with their stems joined to form a small arch, the leaves sweeping outward, curving downward and then turning inward, their lengthened tips meeting and rising within the centre of a triangular enclosure. The merged leaf tips become a conventional palmette, at the base of which are plant forms. At each side of the palmette, which is intended to represent the tree of life, are crowned lions". (See Fig. 116, p. 184 of "Silk Textiles of Spain" by Florence Lewis May.
91.4 x 43.2 cm (36 x 17 in.)
Paul J. Sachs, Cambridge, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1931
Textile fibers
20th centuryCroatianSilk
18th centuryEuropeanLinen
19th centuryTurkishSilk
17th centuryItalianSilk ikat in plain weave
19th-20th centuryUzbekFiber
ItalianSilk
18th centuryBritish