Tabula with a huntsman appliquéd on a tunic (?)

Inventory number: FT 48
Photo Michel Lechien, Musée royal de Mariemont
Photo Michel Lechien, Musée royal de Mariemont

In the central square, surrounded by a wavy grapevine, a medallion frames a horseman turning on his mount, beneath which runs a hare being hunted. Same clothe (?) as FT 47.

Origin:

Egypt

Date:

4th - 6th century

Material:

Linen and wool

Dimensions:

Warp: 21 cm, weft: 33 cm

Comparisons:

Textile Museum, Washington, inv. 71.6: horseman.
The horseman motif, inherited from the hunts illustrated in mosaics and on sarcophagi of the Roman period, were greatly appreciated by the Egyptians. Their furnishing and clothes fabrics often had designs of hunters, saintly knights or warriors on horseback.
MFA, Boston, inv. 01.8353: hunters and lions.

Provenance:

Collection Coptic textiles Fill-Trevisiol: donation

Location:

Musée royal de Mariemont

Blue woollen tapestry sewn on a linnen ground weave

I. Ground weave

Warp:

natural-coloured linen S: 23/cm

Weft:

natural-coloured linen S: 11/cm

Weave:

warp-faced tabby

II. Tapestry areas

Warp:

natural-coloured wool 9/cm

Weft:

black wool S: +/- 60/cm; natural-coloured linen S: 55/cm

Weave:

weft-faced tabby

Sewing Yarn:

black wool S2Z and linen 2S

Special techniques:

slit tapestry, eccentric weft, flying thread brocading for details only, vertical weft; brocading

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