Catalog Number
|
Catalog Number |
CAS 0389-2406 | |
| Category | Textiles | |
| Object Name | Coptic textile fragment | |
| Culture | Coptic Egyptian | |
| Global Region | North Africa | |
| Country | Egypt | |
| State/Prov./Dist. | ||
| County | ||
| Other Geographic Data | unknown | |
| Maker's Name | Unknown | |
| Date of Manufacture | ca. 370-435 CE | |
| Collection Name | Rietz Collection of Textiles | |
| Materials | Linen; Wool | |
| Description | “Pallium ornament. The dark purple rectangle has a wide border of two plain bands edging a third band decorated with widely spaced circles. The circles contain four-petaled rosette filler-motifs. In the center of the rectangle is an elaborate curvilinear geometric interlace. The rectangle was worked in wool and linen on grouped linen warps, 6 x 40 [warp : weft per square cm]. The weave is tapestry. The lines of the design were carried out in weft floats and embroidery done during the course of the weaving. Three techniques: tapestry, ressort, and embroidery, are skillfully combined in the decoration of [this specimen]. All yarn is S-twist. Late fourth or early fifth century. Remarks: In antiquity, this piece was cut from the garment it decorated originally and applied to another. White pallia ornamented with large purple rectangles were worn by court officials in late antique times, as evidenced by works of art; for example, the apse mosaic of the emperor Justinian and his court in San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy (Grabar 1966:158-164; Paolucci 1978:46, 47, 50, 51). [This] example is earlier, judging from the style of the interlace design. The interlace design, like that of Number 4 [CAS 0389-2377], may have been intended to avert, or divert, the evil eye, protecting the wearer of the ornament from its baleful effects. A highly placed official would need such protection, given the rough nature of the politics of the period. The textiles in this group [DL Carroll # 1-16 (CAS 0389-2375, -2376, -2377, -2394, -2397, -2398, -2402, -2403, -2406, -2407, -2413, -2421, -2425, -2426, -2583, -2586)] are the earliest in the collection and belong to the period dominated by Rome. A number of them represent types of garments that could have indicated social rank or would have been appropriate wear for persons with high positions in the extensive bureaucracy of the period.†[From Looms and Textiles of the Copts by Diane Lee Carroll (San Francisco, CA: Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences, No. 11, 1988); Catalog # 7, pp. 82, 90-91; color plate, p. 68.] | |
| Dimensions (cm) | Width = 34.0, Length = 39.0 | |