| Description |
“Tunic clavus fragment. The clavus has a rounded end and a border of reverse arcade. The interior contains a three-part cartouche composed of a lozenge flanked by circles, all with foliage embellishments and a dwarf (?) (sic) enclosed in an oval frame of oak leaves and acorns. The clavus terminates in a short stem ending in an oval containing a cluster of three leaves. The design is carried out in brownish purple on a tan ground. Linen rep, 11 x 8 [warp : weft per square cm]; wool tapestry, 7 x 48 [warp : weft per square cm]. The rep foundation textile has shadow stripes made of pairs of bundled weft shots. Three shadow (sic) stripes lie under the clavus, a fourth lies directly alongside. The tapestry clavus was cut from another garment, the edges turned under and then stitched to the rep ground. All yarn is S-twist. Seventh century or later. Remarks: The decoration of the clavus is descended from the monochrome ornaments of the early period of Coptic weaving, but the quality of the design is closer to the early Medieval period. The monochrome textile ornament had a long life in Egypt. The human figure is nearly overwhelmed by the large scale of the surrounding foliage and the boldly outlined cartouches. [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 # 48, pp. 136, 152-153.] |
