| Description |
“Tunic fragments, yoke and shoulder ornaments. The pieces are extremely discolored. The original color scheme was undoubtedly white with purple figures accented in red. The purple has now turned dark brown. From the remains it can be determined that the tunic had a deep yoke with several horizontal bands. The principal band holds an arcade, really a series of aediculae, each occupied by a dancer, nude except for a floating scarf worn over the shoulders. Two bands above this contain lozenges, the band below it, a chain of trefoils. On either side of the yoke were clavi of which but one now remains. These contained two sizes of linked cartouches, the larger enclosing dancers similar to those in the yoke arcade, the smaller, busts. A second fragment of the same tunic has the remains of a square that may be from the shoulder area. It bears a geometric pattern of lozenges. The technique used is tapestry in wool and linen on paired linen warps. Open slits in the uppermost yoke band enhance the decorative effect of the ornamentation. All yarn is S-twist. Sixth century. Related example: Paris, Louvre inv. 4307 (Du Bourguet 1964, no. C 32). Remarks: Nude dancers as decorative motifs area a common feature in Coptic textiles, persisting even after the Muslim conquest. Nudity symbolizes spiritual purity when it appears in a religious context as may be the case here, indicated by the placement of the figures in an architectural context that suggests a side aisle of a church nave. [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 # 31, pp. 116, 120-123.] |
