Catalog Number
|
Catalog Number |
CAS 0389-2434 | |
| 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 | Wool | |
| Description | “Square tunic ornament. What little remains of the tunic has a dark yellow ground. The square ornament is dark blue with cream-colored motifs. It has a narrow, spiral-wave border and a center design of a small square containing a tiny Greek cross framed by a larger one in outline. Twelve squares fill the remainder of the space, each with a filler motif, hooked crosses alternating with a motif of a four-petaled rosette with symmetrical tendrils. The material is wool and the weave tapestry, 9 x 70 [warp : weft per square cm]. Single rows of twining accentuate some of the straight lines of the design, and the whole ornament is edged by a double row of twining. All yarn is S-twist. Tenth century. Remarks: The dark yellow ground may signify that this was made during one of the periods after the Arab Conquest when Christians were expected to wear distinctive garments. The inconspicuous cross motif and the hooked cross, a disguised form of cross, indicate that the original owner was most probably a Christian. [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 # 66, pp. 136, 176-177; color plate, p. 144.] | |
| Dimensions (cm) | Width = 14.0, Length = 14.0 | |