Catalog Number
|
Catalog Number |
CAS 0389-2414 | |
| 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. 900-1000 CE | |
| Collection Name | Rietz Collection of Textiles | |
| Materials | Linen; Wool | |
| Description | “Decorated band fragment. The piece has borders ornamented with motifs of fish. In one section the fish motif is interrupted by a rectangular panel containing six ovals. The latter may depict gems in broad settings. The middle of the band is filled with an overall pattern of symmetrical floral motifs. The ground is red; the jewels are green; and the design is worked in tan, blue-green, and black. The weave is tapestry, wool and linen [S-twist] weft on two-ply Z-twist warp, 10 x 66 [warp : weft per square cm]. Tenth century. Remarks: The fish may or may not symbolize Christ; their association with jewels suggests that their meaning has religious connotations. The tight placement of the motifs and the minimum of background are in marked contrast to earlier Coptic design habits and may be the result of Arabian influence. [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 # 45, pp. 136, 149.] | |
| Dimensions (cm) | Width = 33.0, Length = 8.0 | |