A SILK SAMIT TEXTILE FRAGMENT, NEAR EAST (?), 12TH CENTURY OR EARLIER. Photo Sotheby's

the fragment woven with red and cream silk threads with horizontal registers of winged horses in convoy; 50.5 by 26cm. Lot Sold: 25,000 GBP

NOTE: This textile is derived ultimately from a Sasanian stylisation of the classical Pegasus motif. Similar winged horses appear on an early eighth-century silk fragment in the Horyu-ji, Nara, Japan (Hayashi 1975, no. 82) and a seventhcentury Central Asian textile illustrated in Hali, July 2006, fig. 4. The distinctive geometric designs on the horse's body, tassels to the neck and legs, and a crescent rosette crown are typical Sogdian motifs. These decorative devices can be traced to sixth- and seventh-century frescoes in western China (Beurdeley 1985, pp. 116-117).

Sotheby's. Arts of The Islamic World. London | 06 Apr 2011 - www.sothebys.com