| Description |
“Composite textile fragment. The foundation textile is red brown (sic) and ornamented with a large roundel flanked by two smaller ones, medium red in color, one containing a Greek cross in a circle, the other an eight-petaled rosette, both worked in dark yellow. The large roundel has a yellow ground and originally may have contained the motif of a peacock with outspread tail. The circle was cut out of the center of this roundel, leaving a yellow band and the ‘eyes’ of the peacock’s tailfeathers (sic). The band encloses two figures wearing halos worked in white, black, light green, and yellow on a pink ground. The weave is linen and wool tapestry on linen warp, some of it dyed, 9 x 32 [warp : weft per square cm]. This textile is actually made up of parts from two or three textiles trimed (sic) to shape and pasted together. The warp of the figured portion runs at right angles to the warp of the foundation textile and is of a different color. All yarn is S-twist. Sixth century (?) (sic). Remarks: At first glance this pastiche appears to show a depiction of Christ and a disciple. The piece is a model example of the pitfalls that await collections who fail to inspect textile specimens through a magnifying glass, examining both sides and paying special attention to repairs that may disguise the addition of unrelated material. [Regarding textiles in this group, DL Carroll # 27-40 (CAS 0389-2378, -2380, -2385, -2386, -2388, -2400, -2404, -2412, -2429, -2430, -2433, -2451, -2452, -2539, -2584, -2585):] By the sixth century two basic types of textile ornaments were used to decorate garments. One, which was in use before the fourth century, was essentially monochrome. Designs in the monochrome class were both non-representational and figurative - the latter included a wide range of subject matter: plant, animal, human, and mythological. The second type is polychrome. Polychrome textiles had been made earlier, but not for use as garments. Extant examples are thought to have been decorative hangings, woven pictures as it were, that are commonly called tapestries. The use of what are essentially miniature tapestries for embellishing clothing is believed to have begun in the sixth century and to have lasted well into the Muslim 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 # 38, pp. 116, 132-133.] |
