Catalog Number
|
Catalog Number |
CAS 0389-2401 | |
| Category | Textiles | |
| Object Name | Coptic textile fragment | |
| Culture | Coptic Egyptian | |
| Global Region | North Africa | |
| Country | Egypt | |
| State/Prov./Dist. | ||
| County | ||
| Other Geographic Data | Assuit | |
| Maker's Name | Unknown | |
| Date of Manufacture | ca. 1000-1100 CE | |
| Collection Name | Rietz Collection of Textiles | |
| Materials | Wool | |
| Description | “Section of a tunic sleeve. The sleeve has a plain beige ground with a rectangular red-purple insert. The insert is bordered top and bottom with a band of small crosses and is divided into three parts. An oval in the middle panel contains an equal-armed cross, a lesser oval with (sic) a small cross at the center. The arms of the main cross are decorated with a stylized vine with leaves, grape clusters, and tendrils. The side panels are divided down the center by a band of small crosses and are filled with motifs that vaguely suggest crosses and anchors. The piece is wool, tapestry weave with different thread counts in the ground and ornament, [respectively] 12 x 32 [warp : weft per square cm] and 11 x 64 [warp : weft per square cm]. There are some embroidered details. Three selvedges are preserved. The side selvedges were woven over two warp bundles to make a firm edge. The upper selvedge was finished by twisting unused warp ends in such a way as to form a corded edge. All yarn is S-twist. Eleventh century. Remarks: The somewhat obscure nature of the Christian symbols may have been a response to a ruling that required Christians to signify their religion by their dress combined with a desire on the part of the wearer to make such indicators as inconspicuous as possible. [Regarding textiles in this group, DL Carroll # 41-72 (CAS 0389-2382, -2384, -2389, -2390, -2391, -2392, -2393, -2396, -2399, -2401, -2405, -2409, -2410, -2411, -2414, -2415, -2416, -2417, -2419, -2420, -2422, -2423, -2424, -2427, -2434, -2435, -2436, -2453, -2454, -2457, -2579, -2580, -2581, -2582, -2599):] After the Arab conquest in the mid-seventh century, Coptic textile design changed its character, moving ever more distant from its classical Roman and Greek sources. In part, this was a reaction against Byzantine culture, associated in the Coptic mind with oppression. Contributing to the change may have been Islamic prohibitions against depicting human and animal figures. Such figures when they appear in Coptic textiles of the later periods become increasingly abstract to the point of being virtually unrecognizable.†[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 # 67, pp. 136, 176, 179; color plate, p. 145.] | |
| Dimensions (cm) | Width = 25.0, Length = 28.0 | |