Jin-silk with Confronted Oxen in Floral Roundels

On this piece of jin-silk fragment there are four relatively complete floral medallions remaining, each decorated with Kufic script and a pair of confronted oxen looking back towards each other. Among the four roundels there are smaller floral medallions, a composition that is consistent with other Tang-dynasty jin-silk pieces of such kind. This piece was made of typical weft-faced compound twill with an orange-red foundation woven with mixed red and yellow silk threads. Such a technique had been seen on the Tang-dynasty jin-silk pieces unearthed in China’s northwestern region.