<div class="description">
<p>Brocade with Djeiran Gazing at the Moon
Tabby, brocaded; silk and gold thread
</p><p>Jin Dynasty (1115-1234)
</p><p>The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund  1991.4
(Cat. no. 29)
</p><p>The mysterious image of a deerlike animal gazing up at the moon among
clouds has been variously interpreted over many centuries. The animal,
lying down with one foreleg extended and looking back, originated as a
djeiran, or Central Asian antelope. Commonly appearing on Sogdian silver
from the 600s onward, the motif migrated via the trade routes to northern
China. There, during the Jin and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties, it was very
popular and always depicted with the moon supported by clouds. Chinese
writers often identify the djeiran as the mythical rhinoceros (xi'niu) that
is said to gaze at the moon, or as the cow of Wu "panting upon seeing the
</p>
moon."</div>
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