A silk dragon-medallion patterned square fragment
元 絲織團龍紋殘片
The fragment is of approximately square shape woven with one complete and three partial many-lobed oval medallions showing coiled two-horned three-clawed dragons, flames licking their flanks, amid clouds, all on a ground of lotus foliage and Precious Emblems. The decoration is executed in rose-coloured silk reserved from the weft of flat silvered paper strips.
Provenance:
Sotheby’s New York, 12th September 2018, lot 251.
Textiles with lobed medallions arrived in China during the Sui and Tang dynasties and were translated into brocades by Chinese weavers, a style that continued to be popular into the Yuan dynasty. For a related gold-faced paper and silk woven brocade fragment from the Amy S. Clague Collection, with similar decoration of dragons and also dated to the Yuan dynasty, see Weaving China’s Past, Phoenix Art Museum, catalogue no. 2.
Dimensions: Height: 40 cm, 15 ¾ inches. Width: 43 cm, 17 inches
Date: Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)
Stock No. 2264
Price: On Request