Lot 29
A Sogdian silk samite fragment with winged horses Central Asia, 7th-9th Century
25 October 2021, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£15,000 - £20,000
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A Sogdian silk samite fragment with winged horses
Central Asia, 7th-9th Century
Central Asia, 7th-9th Century
of irregular square form, woven in red, blue and cream silks, depicting a large roundel and two partial roundels, enclosing a winged horse with front leg raised, the roundel borders with twisted rope motifs, a foliate medallion to the top right, the interstices with floral designs, mounted
39.5 x 36.7 cm.
39.5 x 36.7 cm.
Footnotes
Medallion silks are first seen in Sassanian art on the robe of Khusraw II 'Parviz' (r. AD 590-628) on the rock relief at Taq-I Bustan in western Iran. A wall fresco at Afrasiyab (a suburb of Bokhara) depicts three ambassadors wearing tailored silk robes with bold designs of pearl roundels and ogival forms bearing animal motifs (see Sumner, Christina and Guy Petherbridge, Bright Flowers. Textiles and Ceramics of Central Asia, Sydney, 2004, p. 19). The exact location of manufacture of textiles of this type is not recorded. However, given the high cost of thread, probably imported from China, and the skill of the workmanship, it seems likely that production would have been limited to court workshops. Textiles with a single winged horse are in the Musée Guimet and the Musée des Tissus, Lyon (Pope, Arthur Upham, A Survey of Persian Art, reprint, Ashiya, 1981, Vol. VII, Pl. 202B; and Tuchscherer, Jean-Michel, Etoffes Merveilleuses du Musée Historique des Tissus, Lyons, 1976, cat. No. 29) and in Francesca Galloway, Asian Textiles, Indian Miniatures & Works of Art, London, 2000, pp.4-7, no.1. For a similar panel sold at Christie's, see Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 6th October 2011, lot 6.