| Description |
“Garment ornament. The form is a roundel. In the center is a representation of a mermaid holding a conch shell and being accompanied by a fish. The border is a stair-step jewel inlay design. The colors are light brown, cream, black, dark yellow, dull red, dull light green, and dull medium green. The weave is tapestry, wool and linen [S-twist] weft on two-ply Z-twist linen warp. Sixth or seventh century. Remarks: Representations of mermaid have a long history in ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern art. As symbols of belief, their significance is not clear, especially in Christian contexts. The stair-step border design is not particularly suitable for a woven roundel and may be derived from another form of art entirely. Stair-step inlays occur in gold and garnet jewelry of the fifth and sixth centuries, a fact that suggests a metalwork source for the motif. [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 # 40, pp. 116, 134; color plate, p. 74.] |
