Catalog Number
|
Catalog Number |
CAS 0389-2433A,B | |
| Category | Textiles | |
| Object Name | Coptic textile fragments (2) | |
| 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. 500-635 CE | |
| Collection Name | Rietz Collection of Textiles | |
| Materials | Linen; Wool | |
| Description | “Two square garment ornaments. The ground is ecru and the design elements are purple with touches of crimson. In the center of each square is a smaller square of solid purple. This is bordered by an inhabited rinceau, the tendrils forming roundels. Each of these contains either a lion wearing a red collar or a hound with red ribbons streaming from its neck. Interstices are filled with small floral motifs. The ground is linen near-tabby, 25 x 22 [warp : weft per square cm], and the ornamentation is wool and linen tapestry woven on grouped linen warps, 10 x 80 [warp : weft per square cm]. From the reverse of the better-preserved square it can be seen that the tapestry section was woven on a limited number of the available warps, the unused ones left to float at the back of the tapestry portion. The tapestry was woven with weft that was separate from that of the tabby ground. The unwoven tabby weft was allowed to float behind the unused warp, making two layers of floats and one layer of tapestry, three layers in all. All yarn is S-twist. Sixth or early seventh century. Remarks: The streamers worn by the hounds reflect Persian influence. They are thought to indicate that the wearers possessed supernatural or other special attributes. Collars on animals - in this example, lions - have a different meaning; they represent control of the wilder aspects of animal nature. [Regarding textiles in this group, DL Carroll # 27-40 (CAS 0389-2378, -2380, -2385, -2386, -2388, -2400, -2404, -2412, -2429, -2430, -2433, -2451, -2452, -2539, -2584, -2585):] By the sixth century two basic types of textile ornaments were used to decorate garments. One, which was in use before the fourth century, was essentially monochrome. Designs in the monochrome class were both non-representational and figurative - the latter included a wide range of subject matter: plant, animal, human, and mythological. The second type is polychrome. Polychrome textiles had been made earlier, but not for use as garments. Extant examples are thought to have been decorative hangings, woven pictures as it were, that are commonly called tapestries. The use of what are essentially miniature tapestries for embellishing clothing is believed to have begun in the sixth century and to have lasted well into the Muslim 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 # 29, pp. 116, 118-119.] | |
| Dimensions (cm) | Width = 18.0, Length = 12.0 | |