A fine and very rare silk kesi panel, Central Asia, Yuan dynasty, 13th ct. or early. Photo Nagel

Woven with gold lions, leaves, palmettes, buds and smaller flowers in a repeating pattern of parallel rows, which face first left, then right. The lions with curly coats and manes, their mouths open and tongues protruding; their bodies worked in gold thread, made from gold leaf on an animal substrate and edged in red silk, now faded; their manes in polychrome silks. The leaves, palmettes and flowers in naturalistic colours, edged in reddish-orange silk, or gold thread, all set against a dark brown ground, the left selvedge preserved, originally, the panel formed part of the yardage for a costume. 54 x 31,8 cm R. Estimate 25 000/35 000 €

Provenance: Property of Lisbet Holmes, then by descent through her family

For an identical example of this design in The Cleveland Museum of Art, U.S.A., see: When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles, by James C.Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, no. 19. (Accession no. 1991.3 ) Exhibition catalogue for The Cleveland Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibitions 1997/1998. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with The Cleveland Museum of Art, published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1997. ISBN no.0-87099-825-0, the textile carbon 14 dated with 95% confidence to 1039-1386

Another example from a private collection, the kesi panel including a cloud collar decorated with birds in flight and flowers, illustrated in the above catalogue, p. 80.

Nagel. "Asian Art". 2012/11/02 http://www.auction.de/