Lot 21
RARE SILK WOVEN BAG
LIAO DYNASTY, 11TH-12TH CENTURY
£4,536
Fine Asian & Islamic Works of Art
Auction: 4 November 2022 from 10:00 GMT
Description
遼 絲織束口袋 含白玉環
of rectangular form, composed of sections of fine woven silk, with a fastening cord attached to the upper side of the bag, two white circular jade fittings to hold the fastening cord, decorated with large rhombus with palmette to centre and floral buds in corners, lotus flowers and clouds, lining of brown gauze
Dimensions
Provenance
Provenance: Private Scottish collection, acquired from Centasia Metals Limited, Cyprus on 19th July, 1998, with an original invoice Ref.65L43
Published: Mikhail Baskhanov, Maria Baskhanova, Pavel Petrov & Nikolaj Serikoff, 2012. Arts from the Land of Timur: An Exhibition from a Scottish Private Collection. London: Black Gull Books, pg. 194
Exhibited: Arts from the Land of Timur: An Exhibition from a Scottish Private Collection, Edinburgh 2012, no. 412
Footnote
Note: This silk bag, originally purchased in 1998 as a Qarakhanid silk bag, Inner Asia, 12th-13th century, later exhibited in the Arts from the Land of Timur exhibition in 2012 and catalogued as a Semirechye piece, has been suggested by several Asian art specialists to be a Liao dynasty textile after the exhibition.
Roughly a thousand years old, this fine silk bag is a rare survivor and a testimony to the extensive trade network passing through Central Asia during the eleventh/twelfth century. The quality of the silk and craftsmanship itself, largely lost today, further bears witness to the importance of the silk-route from China. Comparable flower pattern is illustrated in Liao Textiles and Costumes, Zhao Feng (ed.), Hong Kong, 2004, fig. 183; an embroidered bag with similar form and fasten-cord design in the Mengdiexuan Collection, Hong Kong is also illustrated in the same book, fig. 302.
A further comparable weft-faced compound twill with flowers, cranes, and clouds decoration, dated to the Liao dynasty, 10th century, is in the Cleveland Museum of Art, inv. nos. 1992.112a
