| Description |
“A pair of fragmentary sleeves with decorated inserts [CAS 0389-2451, 0389-2452]. The decorative motifs are worked in brown on a tan ground. The organization of the design of each sleeve forms a rectangle consisting of two bands with borders of reversed scallops. Each band is divided into two sections, each section containing depictions of a pair of worshippers (?) (sic) inside of an Ionic building with a decorated pediment. At least three of the pediments contain female busts, possibly of goddesses. A second pair of figures (spirits) floats vaporlike (sic) in the air above the roof. The peak of the roof is ornamented with a palmate acroterion. All of the full-length figures have one hand raised, and the ones at ground level are depicted with crossed legs. The technique is tapestry, woven entirely in wool, 10 x 28-34 [warp : weft per square cm]. The selvedges were woven with extra warps, for reinforcement. All yarn is S-twist. Eighth century or later. Related examples: Two similarly decorated textiles are in Moscow, Pushkin Museum inv. #6962 and 610 (Shurinova 1967, no. 137, 168). Remarks: There are several possible interpretations of the subject matter used to ornament these sleeves. Figures with crossed legs are fairly common in Coptic textiles: the position is believed to indicate the activity of dancing. A Gnostic text, the Acts of John, tells how the disciples under the direction of Jesus danced with him the night before his arrest (Pagels 1981:89). The purpose of this dance was to make the individual one with Christ. It is therefore probably that the representations of dancers, both male and female, referred to such a belief. In this example there is, in addition to the dancers, a sense of dualism conveyed by the many pairs of beings and buildings in the design. Manichaeanism, which in Egypt merged with Gnosticism in the later Coptic period, stressed dualism, and may have been the religion of the wearer for whom the garment was woven. [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 # 33B, pp. 116, 124, 127.] |
