| Description |
“Piece cut from a woman’s mantle or veil. This piece is decorated with four dark purple squares symmetrically arranged on a plain, light tan ground. The squares are patterned with geometric designs worked in tan. The ground is linen rep, 26 x 20 [warp : weft per square cm], the tapestry squares are wool on linen warp. The yarn is fine and so densely packed that the thread count cannot be determined. The weft-float patterning of the surface was worked in two gauges of linen yarn. The rep ground has fringed edges and decorative ridges made from groups of bundled weft yarns placed at intervals. The sequence is as follows, from one preserved edge to the other: fringe, 2 cm, plain weave, 2 cm. In the center of this latter is a ridge composed of four shots of bundled wefts. Next is 2 cm of bare warp followed by 1 cm of plain weave. Last there is a group of ridges about 2 cm wide containing three smaller groups, each formed from three shots of bundled weft. After this is 59 cm of plain weave, and then the edge treatment is repeated in reverse, ending with fringe. The other two edges have been cut with shears, most certainly in recent times. The tapestry squares are approximately 13 x 13 cm and are placed in the corners of an imaginary square 48 cm on a side. Their decoration was precisely worked in two gauges of natural-color linen yarn. They originally were part of [an older] linen textile that was slightly coarser than the one they now decorate. The cut edges were neatly turned under and the square whip-stitched in place. At some point in this operation the cloth behind the squares was trimmed away. All yarn is S-twist. Late fourth or early fifth century. Remarks: Fringed veils sparsely ornamented with colored squares are worn by the female martyrs shown in procession on the upper left side of the nave of Sant’Appollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy; this depiction lends support to the identification of [this] fragment as part of a woman’s garment (Paolucci 1978:58). 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 # 9, pp. 82, 94-95.] |
