Brocade with Soaring Phoenixes among Clouds, Jin dynasty (1115-1234)..Silk and gold thread; tabby, brocaded. Overall: 56.2 x 62.2 cm; Mounted: 69.5 x 74 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1994.292.

Textiles like this, which were probably exported from China to Iran, helped transmit the phoenix motif into Ilkhanid decorative arts.

The gold-brocaded designs of Jin brocades, such as this example with graceful phoenixes soaring into clouds, are typically asymmetrical. Moreover, they have no frame or border, and appear to have been cut out of larger decorative images.