Textile
date: label: Date
content: 16th century
notes: label: Catalogue Status
content: Research in Progress
label: Description
content: Episode from the story of Laila and Majnun; repeated in reversed rows in pale golds and tans and very pale turquoise on dark brown ground (originally yellow, salmon, light green, light blue and white on black ground). Laila in a houdah on a camel led by a turbaned servant; inscription in cartouche on side of houda: Amal: Ghiyath, meaning, "The work of Ghiyath". Majnun seated, holding a gazelle; flowering plants and birds and animals, including spotted leopard, stag, roaring lion, antelope, dog, fill the ground. Certain details like lion, houdah peak, faces, parts of plans show traces of gilt foil applied to vellum and wound on silk core; metal traces are so scant, however, that to superficial glance, all areas appear to be in silk.
label: Description
content: *NOTE: A pair of lovers whose story was told by Nizami, a famous Persian poet (1140-1203), in his "Khamsa" and who were thereafter popular subjects in miniatures, pottery, and personage textiles. Parental opposition separated the lovers, and Majnun wandered in the desert writing poetry, alone except for the wild creatures he tamed. Laila seeks him there and finds him with a gazelle whose eyes remind him of her.
place: label: made in
content: Indo-Persia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection
label: See more items in
content: Textiles Department
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of John Pierpont Morgan
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 1902-1-780
objectType: label: Type
content: woven textiles
label: Type
content: Textile
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Medium: silk, gilded parchment wrapped around silk core Technique: compound satin weave
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 64 x 28 cm (25 3/16 in. x 11 in.)