'Pyrenees' Peacock tapestry

The tapestry belongs to the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan in Madrid. It was first purchased by Don Manuel Gómez Moreno in 1926 from a church in the Pyrenees. It may have come from the of Cathedral of Roda de Isábena (Huesca) which  played a very important role in the 5^th century, and where other fragments of tapestry have been found dating back to the Omeyyad Caliphate era.

The fabric was made in the latter half of the tenth century, possibly in Cordoba. It was long thought to belong to a head-dress, perhaps a turban. However, recent studies of the weaving technique used tend to reject this hypothesis and favours the idea that it was trimming for another fabric. It is stiff as the weave is very finely woven

In al-Andalus, quality textiles were produced for the royal court. During the Cordoba Caliphate, fabric and embroidery was produced in royal factories (tirâz), and this presumably came from there. Its craftsmanship and exquisite decoration make it the most beautiful of all surviving Spanish tapestry textiles.

The peacock is a traditional motif in Islamic iconography. As such, it may have had connotations with Paradise. Here they are highly stylised, and set within circular medallions joined by a wheel marking a departure from Sassanid beaded wheels. They are framed within a band of alternating plant and bud motifs. In between, 8-pointed half stars formed by a beaded ribbon from which drifts a flower bedecked tendril.  

The detail is executed in white silk yarn.thread cream pale blue and navy, yellow green and red,  still astonishingly vivid.

The peacock motif and the rows of wheels are of Sassanid tradition, transmitted to Byzantium, Egypt, Iraq and then spread to the West[1]. Stone sculptures from the Visigoth period prove that these motifs had reached the Iberian peninsula before the Muslim settled there in the eighth century[2].

The acclimatisation of the mulberry bush and the advent of Oriental silkworm farming techniques in al-Andalus during the Emir /Caliphate era saw the development of silk factories. Some silk was even exported to the Orient as Ibn Hawkal testified in the tenth century - "In Cordoba they make excellent costumes and capes in soft silk [which…] are sent to Egypt and to the furthest frontiers of the Khorassan province"

Papal registers and other documentary sources also provide proof of the immense popularity of fabrics made in al-Andalus in the Christian world during the Middle Ages[3].

Several fragments of similar cloth have survived – in a reliquary housing the Treasures of Léon Cathedral, fragments of the mitre of San Valero found in the cathedral of Roda de Isábena, of Burgo de Osma and that in the cathedral of Sens, all attributed to the Caliphate era[4]. The Museum of Berlin and the Vatican Museum house fragments of fabrics with similar peacocks and medallion motifs, testifying to the influence of Sassanid textiles.

The motifs on the 'Pyrenees' tapestry can be found on other al-Andalus artefacts, like ivory boxes and caskets[5], as well as on the green and brown pottery of the Omeyyade Caliphate era[6].

The peacock motif continued to appear on al-Andalus textiles, like the late seventeenth century chasuble in the Treasury of Saint-Sernin de Toulouse[7]. Sculpted stucco peacocks in various poses also adorn the cloister of the Burgos Monastery of Las Huelgas built under San Fernando de Castile, presumably by Muslim craftsmen.  

[2] Op. cit., Partearroyo, C., (01) p.263.

[3] Partearroyo, C. (1992), p. 108.

[4] Partearroyo, C. (2001), p. 263.

[5] Like that of al-Mughîra in the Louvre, Paris (Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. 4068) or that of Leyre in the Museo de Navarra (Museo de Navarra, Pampelona), no reference number

[6] Like the pieces inv. 63030 in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid and inv. MA/MV/1104 in the Museo Arqueológico in Cordoba.

[7] Musée de Cluny, Paris, inv. Cl. 12869. cf. Al-Andalus : the Art of Islamic Spain,, (1992), p. 318 ;  Desrosiers, S., (2004), n°132.