Catalog Number
|
Catalog Number |
CAS 0389-2376 | |
| 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. 400-500 CE | |
| Collection Name | Rietz Collection of Textiles | |
| Materials | Linen; Wool | |
| Description | “Rectangle cut from a mantle (?) (sic). The principal motif is a star, dark purple on a plain ground, originally white but now discolored. The eight-pointed star was constructed from two overlapping squares. The top square has a cable border and a center roundel containing an intricate knot pattern delineated in linen thread. The corners contain ivy leaves and tendrils worked in two colors of yarn, saffron and cream. The colors were woven in separate shots, two saffron, one cream, and repeat (sic). The small roundel in the center was worked in the same way and in the same colors. Only the corners of the bottom square are visible - they contain vine leaves. From one of these depends, or extends, a rinceau band with a vase motif at the end. The ground is linen rep, 18-26 x 9 [warp : weft per square cm]; the motif is tapestry, wool and linen weft on grouped linen warps, 5 x 36 [warp : weft per square cm]. The surface of the tapestry motif is ornamented in weft-float patterning carried out in two gauges of linen yarn. The piece retains one selvedge, most probably the right-hand one. The sequence of weaving appears to have been as follows: (1) An area of rep was woven up to the bottom of the main motif. (2) Warps to be used for the tapestry portions were selected and a second set of heddles put in place. In doing this, the selected warps were doubled or tripled, in no obvious sequence, and the unneeded warps left to float at the back. (3) Woven next were a few centimeters of tapestry, complete with weft-float ornament. (4) Concurrent with the weaving of the tapestry, a corresponding number of centimeters of rep were woven, filling the space on either side of the tapestry insert. The shots for the rep cross the warp in a straight line and pass under the tapestry insert and behind the unused warps. A number of these are still extant; others appear to have been cut away. Small, irregular spaces around the tapestry inserts are filled in with tapestry worked in the same linen yarn used for the rep portions of the piece in order to make these filler areas less conspicuous. (5) Steps 3 and 4 were repeated until the tapestry insert was completed. After the shape of the insert was established, the weaver appears to have woven the tapestry in sections in order to define the inner forms of the design; for example, the two lower corners of the square section were worked slightly ahead of the center roundel, building up an arc into which the center roundel fits. This helps retain the symmetry of the roundel, always in danger of becoming an oval under the downward action of the beater as the weft is compressed. The use of grouped linen warps for the tapestry portions of a two-fiber textile are clearly visible in [this specimen] where the wool weft has disintegrated. All yarn is S-twist. Fifth century. Related examples: Paris, Louvre AC 181 (Du Bourguet 1964) and Moscow, Pushkin Museum inv. #320 (Shurinova 1967:54). Remarks: A star motif of identical form decorates the mantle of the principal court lady of the empress Theodora shown in the sixth-century apse mosaic of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy. [This] textile may have been part of a similar, though earlier, woman’s mantle. Note the protective interlace in the middle, here relegated to a relatively minor part of the design, The ivy leaves are a Classical motif that refers sometimes to the god Dionysus and his maenad followers, and sometimes to his follower, Orpheus, around whom an important cult developed in the late Roman period. Orphism is related to Pythagoreanism, which holds that numbers and geometric constructions have esoteric meanings and powers. Some late Roman or Coptic geometric ornaments may have been inspired by Pythagorean philosophy. 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 # 8, pp. 82, 92-93.] | |
| Dimensions (cm) | Width = 33.0, Length = 54.0 | |