THREE COPTIC DECORATED TEXTILE FRAGMENTS INCLUDING A DECORATIVE MEDALLION FROM...
THREE COPTIC TEXTILE FRAGMENTS INCLUDING A DECORATIVE MEDALLION FROM A TUNIC (ORBICULUS)
Egypt, c.4th - 6th century
The first composed of linen woven with burgundy wool, featuring frenzied stylized figures riding within a medallion in one portion and shown in profile in another segment of the fragment, possibly originally part of a tunic, the second, also possibly originally part of a tunic, consistent with designs found in the earliest Coptic textile decorations, which typically consist of monochrome geometric patterns, most commonly rendered in purple against a plain linen ground, and the third a fragment of tunic decoration featuring a mythological animal in reserve on a black background - ornamental medallions (orbiculi) and bands (clavi) often featured designs inspired by nature, classical imagery or classical mythology.
Largest fragment approximately 15.4cm x 11cm, smallest 7cm x 6.5cm, largest total including frame 28.7cm x 22.8cm, smallest 22.5cm x 18cm
Textiles of this type are believed to have been made by Copts (Christian Egyptians) as well as by other weavers across the Byzantine Empire. The patterns and motifs found in Coptic and Byzantine textiles influenced the visual vocabulary of the early Islamic period, and are largely distinguished by motifs derived from Classical and Hellenistic artistic traditions. By the 5th century, Christian iconography was also fully incorporated. Tunics were usually produced from plain, unbleached linen and embellished with decorative motifs woven in coloured wool. These textiles have been preserved over time thanks to the arid climate and the continuation, within Christian communities, of the Egyptian funerary custom of burying the deceased fully clothed, often wrapped in large textile coverings. They were produced in structured, specialized workshops that remained active into the early Islamic era.
For a similar example:
Museo del Tessuto e della Tappezzeria, Vittorio Zironi, Bologna, Italy, Acc. no. 2106.
Literature;
Landry, W., and Rameau, AL., Richard, A.,Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Mediterranean Antiquities, Vol. 4: The Coptic Textiles. Leiden: Brill, 2019.
Lee Carroll, D, Looms and Textiles of the Copts: First Millennium Egyptian Textiles in the Carl Austin Rietz Collection, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988.
Thomas, T. K., Textiles from Medieval Egypt, AD 300–1300 in the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2001.
THREE COPTIC TEXTILE FRAGMENTS INCLUDING A DECORATIVE MEDALLION FROM A TUNIC (ORBICULUS)
Egypt, c.4th - 6th century
The first composed of linen woven with burgundy wool, featuring frenzied stylized figures riding within a medallion in one portion and shown in profile in another segment of the fragment, possibly originally part of a tunic, the second, also possibly originally part of a tunic, consistent with designs found in the earliest Coptic textile decorations, which typically consist of monochrome geometric patterns, most commonly rendered in purple against a plain linen ground, and the third a fragment of tunic decoration featuring a mythological animal in reserve on a black background - ornamental medallions (orbiculi) and bands (clavi) often featured designs inspired by nature, classical imagery or classical mythology.
Largest fragment approximately 15.4cm x 11cm, smallest 7cm x 6.5cm, largest total including frame 28.7cm x 22.8cm, smallest 22.5cm x 18cm
Textiles of this type are believed to have been made by Copts (Christian Egyptians) as well as by other weavers across the Byzantine Empire. The patterns and motifs found in Coptic and Byzantine textiles influenced the visual vocabulary of the early Islamic period, and are largely distinguished by motifs derived from Classical and Hellenistic artistic traditions. By the 5th century, Christian iconography was also fully incorporated. Tunics were usually produced from plain, unbleached linen and embellished with decorative motifs woven in coloured wool. These textiles have been preserved over time thanks to the arid climate and the continuation, within Christian communities, of the Egyptian funerary custom of burying the deceased fully clothed, often wrapped in large textile coverings. They were produced in structured, specialized workshops that remained active into the early Islamic era.
For a similar example:
Museo del Tessuto e della Tappezzeria, Vittorio Zironi, Bologna, Italy, Acc. no. 2106.
Literature;
Landry, W., and Rameau, AL., Richard, A.,Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Mediterranean Antiquities, Vol. 4: The Coptic Textiles. Leiden: Brill, 2019.
Lee Carroll, D, Looms and Textiles of the Copts: First Millennium Egyptian Textiles in the Carl Austin Rietz Collection, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988.
Thomas, T. K., Textiles from Medieval Egypt, AD 300–1300 in the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2001.
