| Description |
“Mantle (?) (sic) fragment. What remains of the garment is a band with dark yellow ground and brownish purple ornamentation. It has a compound border composed of a plain solid-color band edged with an outer band of two-pronged forks alternating with triple-dot clusters. The interior motifs consist of repeated units: an amphora from which grows a double vine with long, elaborate tendrils, which form enclosures for a mythical monster and a centaur. Each amphora sits on a rounded base decorated with a pair of fish and a pair of birds. The piece is tapestry, normal in weave, but exceptionally fine. All yarn is S-twist. Seventh century or later. Remarks: The design recalls Roman architectural plaster decoration. Like the previous example [CAS 0389-2416], the figures are subordinate to the geometric and floral motifs. The figures appear to have no special significance but are completely decorative in intent. [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 # 49, pp. 136, 153-154.] |
