Fragment of a woman’s (?) mantle or cloak

Inventory number: FT 125
Photo Michel Lechien, Musée royal de Mariemont

The spearhead shape encloses a network of foliated scrolls and stylised green and yellow vine leaves, surrounded by a red ribbon and a frieze of purplish wave scrolls that unfold in a different direction on each side.

Origin:

Egypt

Date:

5th - 6th century

Material:

Linen and wool

Dimensions:

Warp: 8.5 cm, weft: 16 cm

Comparisons:

Ethnographic Museum, Stockholm, inv. MME 1969:736.
V&A, London, inv. 75-1886.
Louvre, inv. X 4905.
Rietberg Museum, Zurich, inv. RGa 632.
Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, inv. Ko 169.
Form and treatment of this textile are similar to the decoration of a woman’s mantle discovered in tomb C370 in Antinopolis, dated between the end of the 5th and early 7th century.

Provenance:

Collection Coptic textiles Fill-Trevisiol: donation

Location:

Musée royal de Mariemont

Inwoven (?) linen and woollen tapestry

I. No ground weave


II. Tapestry areas

Warp:

natural-coloured linen S

Weft:

red, yellow, purple, green, orange wool S: +/- 50/cm; natural-coloured linen S: +/- 40/cm

Weave:

extended tabby 2/2

Ribs per cm:

7-8

Special techniques:

slit tapestry, eccentric weft

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