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A New Visual Language Transmitted Across Asia
Textile with coiled dragons [China] Frieze tile with phoenix [Iran (probably Takht-i Sulayman)] Canopy with phoenixes [China] Yamantaka Mandala with imperial portraits [China] Footed cup [Iran] Bowl with three fish [Iran]


Jar with lion-head handles

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Wine jar with lion-head handles, Yuan dynasty (1279–1368)
China
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Vase
 Inner Mongolia Museum, Hohhot
Vase, Yuan dynasty (1279—1368)
China
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Textile with winged lions and griffins
 The Cleveland Museum of Art
Textile with winged lions and griffins, mid-13th century
Central Asia
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Three belt plaques
 The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London
Three belt plaques, 13th century
Southern Russia or Central Asia
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 In the creation of luxury textiles and objects for the Mongol elite, Chinese artists developed a visual language that was an effective means of establishing their rule and consolidating their presence throughout the vast empire. A number of motifs that were part of the existing artistic repertoire were adopted as imperial symbols of power and dominance—the dragon and the phoenix, for example, two mythical beasts that integrated the ideas of cosmic force, earthly strength, superior wisdom, and eternal life. The Mongol versions of the creatures are the highly decorative sinuous dragon with legs, horns, and beard and the large bird with a spectacular feathered tail floating in the air (12.49.4). In Iran, these motifs were often paired and became so popular with the Ilkhanids that they eventually lost their original meaning, becoming part of the common artistic repertoire in the first half of the fourteenth century.

Other motifs of this period that were familiar throughout the Asian continent are the peony, the lotus flower (91.1.559), and the lyrical image of the recumbent deer, or djeiran, gazing at the moon. The flowers, often seen in combination and viewed from both the side and top, provided ideal patterns for textiles and for filling dense backgrounds on all kinds of portable objects. The djeiran became widespread in the decorative arts because of the well-established association of similar quadrupeds with hunting scenes.

For the semi-nomadic Mongols, portable textiles and clothing were the best means of demonstrating their acquired wealth and power, so it is reasonable to assume that the main mode of transmission of motifs such as the dragon and peony was through luxury textiles. The most prominent clothing accessories were belts of precious metal (gold belt plaques, The Nasser D. Khalili Collecdtion of Islamic Art). Many of the textiles illustrated here prove transmission from east to west, yet in some instances, exemplified by the Chinese silk with addorsed griffins (cloth of gold: winged lions and griffins, The Cleveland Museum of Art), the origin of the image is clearly Central or western Asia. The Mongol period is unique in art history because it permitted the cross-fertilization of artistic motifs via the movement of craftsmen and artists throughout a politically unified continent.


West Asia, Iran, Animal, Mythological, Trade and Travel (1000-1400 A.D.), Floral Motif, Textile, Textile, Silk, West Asia, Textile, Silk, East Asia, Tapestry, Silk

Department of Islamic Art, Department of Islamic Art

The Art of the Book in the Ilkhanid Period, Courtly Art of the Ilkhanids, Folios from the Great Mongol Shahnama, Folios from the Jami' al-tavarikh, Ilkhanid Period, The Legacy of Genghis Khan, The Mongolian Tent in the Ilkhanid Period, The Nature of Islamic Art, The Religious Art under the Ilkhanids, Takht-i Sulayman and the Tile Work of the Ilkhanid Period, Yuan Dynasty, Abridged List of Rulers: China, Abridged List of Rulers: Islamic World,

Central and North Africa, 1000-1400 A.D., China, 1000-1400 A.D., Iran, 1000-1400 A.D., Iraq, 1000-1400 A.D.,

West Asia, 1000-1400 A.D., West Asia, 1400-1600 A.D.