Silk Fragment with Lions and Pomegranates

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Among Christian and Muslim communities of 15th-century Spain, textiles were symbols of wealth and status, and buyers crossed political and religious borders to purchase sought-after fabrics. This silk was woven in Granada—stronghold of the ruling Nasrid dynasty and an important center of silk production. Featuring a repeat pattern of stylized pomegranates and crowned lions, this design was evidently immensely popular,　since more than twenty lion and pomegranate silks survive in museum collections around the world. These other examples reveal that weavers occasionally altered the colors or details of this basic pattern, attesting to the mass production of this and other fabric designs in late medieval Spain. The textile’s design also might give us clues to its date of production. While the pomegranate is the emblem of Granada, the crowned lions could imply that the textile was woven after the defeat of the Nasrids by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492. Granada continued to be a major center of silk weaving after its annexation to Castile.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art