Cloth with Border of Peacocks and Vegetation

17th-18th century

Cloth with Border of Peacocks and Vegetation, 17th-18th century. Italy, 17th-18th century. Plain weave linen with needle lace, burato (twined ground and darned in one direction); bleached linen (est.); overall: 80.3 x 334.3 cm (31 5/8 x 131 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 1916.1884 This large cloth shows a repeated pattern of confronted peacocks flanked by decorative motifs. More birds appear in the register above, and a pattern of four-legged animals is in the register below. Based on the ancient belief that the peacock’s flesh never decayed, they became a symbol of immortality and the Resurrection of Christ.