Velvet Fragment with Silver Ground
Former TitleFragment
CulturePersian
Dateearly 17th century
MediumSilk, silk pile, and metal-wrapped silk
DimensionsOverall: 11 3/8 × 7 1/2 inches (28.89 × 19.05 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number31-126/32
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionCream background, all over floral, leaf and medallion design in blue, black and brown velvet and tarnished silver.Exhibition HistoryNo exhibition history known at this time.
Silk velvets and brocades produced during Persia's Safavid Dynasty (1501-1722) were among the most luxurious and expensive textiles of their time. In 1598, Shah Abbas I (r. 1588-1629) conquered the silk-producing provinces on the Caspian Sea, bringing the Iranian silk industries there completely under Persian control. Manufacture of high-quality textiles intended for both local and export markets flourished. Velvets, such as this example, were made by adding supplemental silk warp threads to the weave. These additional threads were pulled up from the weave and cut to create a raised pile surface.
Marzcell von Nemes (born Mózes Klein, 1866-1930), Budapest, Munich, Venice, and Paris, by 1930;
Purchased at Nemes’ posthumous sale, Sammlung Marczell von Nemes: Textilien, Skulpturen, Kunstwewerbe, Munich, June 16, 1931, lot 269 Sammlung von 345 Stoffmustern, through Harold Woodbury Parsons, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931 [1].
[1] Auction catalogue accessed online, September 4, 2019, https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/helbing1931_06_16bd2
Michele Valentine, "Collecting Textiles in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century International Art Market: Two Ongoing Provenance Case Studies from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art," Orientations 53, no. 3 (May/June 2022): 63, (repro.).
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