Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 A.D. )

L21cm; W59cm

        This textile has a grid of hexagons for ground, known as the turtle shell pattern. The shells are filled with six-petal petite flowers. Large floral medallions of 16.5cm in diameter are placed on top of the gird and offset in alternating pairs. These are called "petalled medallions" or "petalled floral roundels" due to the petal-like lobes that shape their basic forms. They emerged as a new style of medallions during the Yuan dynasty. Placing roundels or medallion-like large motifs on top of a busy ground of small grid-work is a design format called jin di kai guang or"adding splendor to a ground of tiny geometrics". Examples of this design approach are also found on murals such as the one at the Yonglegong monastery in Shanxi. This is a typical lampas weave, a new structure that emerged during the Yuan. The warps in this example are in yellow while the wefts are in groups of blue and yellow. Another textile of very similar qualities with confronting griffins is found at theJininglu ruins left from the Yuan dynasty in Inner Mongolia, where the similarities were identified to be the weave structure, the petalled medallions on a turtle shell ground and the colors and style employed in both textiles. They might have been produced by the same workshop. (XZ)