Silk Roads

Art across Asia and the trade routes

Silk, porcelain, glass and ideas travelled thousands of miles along the caravan routes between China, Central Asia, Persia and the Mediterranean. Here is what travelled, and what it changed.

Walk in The whole museum

When it’s on

In The Season’s hall, off the Hall: November 2026.

In the exhibition

Gold-patterned Silk with Falcons and Heraldry — 1360–1400, Silk, gold thread; a combination of two weaves (lampas)
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Royal Carpet with Silk and Metal Thread — 1600–1625, Cotton: warp; cotton and silk: wefts; silk: pile, asymmetrical knot; gilt- and silver-metal thread: brocaded
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Silk with Dogs and Birds amid Vines — 1350–1400, silk, gold thread; a combination of two weaves, 2/1 twill and plain weave (lampas)
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Silk fragment — 1100s, lampas: silk
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Exotic Gold-patterned Silk — 1360–1400, silk, gold thread; a combination of two weaves, 2/1 twill and 1/3 twill (lampas)
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Silk Decorative Tunic Band with a Hunter — 700s, Silk: complementary weft-faced twill with inner warps (samit)
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
17 Fragments — 18th century, silk, brocaded in silk and metal thread
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Cloth of Gold: Displayed Falcons — mid-1200s, Silk and gold thread, lampas
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Gaming Bag — 1675/1700, Silk, broken warp-chevron twill weave with supplementary pile warps forming cut solid pile; embroidered with silk and gilt-metal-strip-wrapped silk in laid work, couching, and padded couching; over leather; edged with silk, plain weave tape; drawstring of silk, oblique interlacing
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Fragment — 1575/1625, Silk, 4:1 satin weave self-patterned by reversing of faces (satin damask)
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Fragment — Late 14th/15th century, Silk and gilt-animal-substrate-wrapped linen, warp-float faced 3:1 twill weave with supplementary patterning wefts bound by secondary binding warps in (weft-float faced 1:3) twill interlacings (on reverse face secondary binding warps and supplementary wefts form detached interlacing)
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Nude Female Dancers from a Tunic — 700s, Silk; complementary weft-faced twill weave with inner warps (samite)
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Silk — 1650/1700, Persian silk. Ispahan
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Roundel from a Tunic with Palmette Tree — 650–850, Silk; complementary weft-faced twill weave with inner warps (samite)
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Silk curtain from the Alhambra palace — 1300s, lampas and taqueté: silk
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Alhambra Palace Silk Curtain — mid-1300s, silk; lampas weave
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Dragons Chasing Flaming Pearls — 1200s or earlier, silk and gold thread: tapestry
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Silk and Gold Textile — 1360–1400, lampas weave, silk and gold thread
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Poem on Imperial Gift of an Embroidered Silk: Calligraphy in Running-Standard Script (xingkaishu) — Wen Zhengming (1470–1559), c. 1525, Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Braid — 1650/75, Silk and silk-wrapped-hemp and silk-wrapped-linen cords, bobbin straight lace
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Silk fragment with scrolling vines, grape leaves, grapes, and birds — 1325–50, Silk: lampas weave
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
A Child’s Coat with Ducks in Pearl Medallions and a Child's Pants — 700s, silk; weft-faced compound twill, samit
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cap with Striped Inscribed Silk — 1300s, Silk
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Panel — 16th century, Silk and linen, satin damask weave
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Fragment — 1601/25, Silk and linen, compound weave
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Kesa — late Edo period (1789–1868), late 18th/early 19th century, silk and gilt-paper; compound satin weave
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Sericulture (The Process of Making Silk) — Liang Kai, early 1200s, Handscroll; ink and color on silk
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Silk and Gold Textile — 1420–1430, lampas weave, silk and gold thread
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Dalmatic with Apparel and Orphrey Band — 17th century, Silk and gilt-metal-strip-wrapped silk, plain weave with gilt-metal strip facing wefts and brocading wefts; apparels and orphrey bands: silk, plain weave with gilt-metal strip facing wefts; embroidered with silk and gilt-metal-strip-wrapped silk and cotton in satin, split, raised stem, and stem stitches; couching; edged with woven fringe
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Fragment — 1450-1500, Silk, plain weave with supplementary silk facing wefts, secondary binding warps tying supplementary gilt-metal-strip-wrapped silk patterning and brocading wefts forming weft loops in areas and supplementary pile warps forming cut voided velvet
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Portions of a Field Armor — Jacob Halder, c. 1588, Steel, brass, gilding, leather, and silk velvet textile
Original: The Art Institute of Chicago
Silk Velvet with Gold in Pomegranate Pattern — 1450–1500, silk, gold thread; velvet: cut pile in two heights, uncut pile loops, gold-thread loops
Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art

Where the works come from

Every work in the Mouseion is a real piece, out of copyright everywhere, shown from the open collections of the museums that hold it — each label names the original’s museum and links to its page there.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Open Access
The Art Institute of Chicago — public-domain collection
The Cleveland Museum of Art — Open Access
Wikimedia Commons — public-domain photographs of works held elsewhere