- Museum number
- 1904,0706.41
- Description
-
Half of a silk textile panel; Intended as a sleeve ornament on a tunic; Purple and white, weft-faced compound 1:2 twill, single ends in main warp, S twill with 2 lats; At bottom are two scenes repeating in reverse, showing a mounted horseman riding over a spear-carrying soldier; Plant forms and symmetrical abstract desgin based on plant forms; has borders; Warp: S twist, c.21 tpc; Weft: no twist, c.100 tpc (50 passes); Edges: all cut; Sewing: none surviving but three of the turned under edges would have been sewn down; Inscription in Greek (ZAXAPIOY)
- Production date
- 8thC (first half)
- Dimensions
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Height: 47.50 centimetres (inc. mount)
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Height: 30.60 centimetres
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Weight: 1399 grammes (inc. mount)
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Width: 39.50 centimetres (inc. mount)
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Width: 23 centimetres
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Depth: 2 centimetres (inc. mount)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
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See A F Kendrick, 'Catalogue of Textiles from Burying-Grounds in Egypt,' III, V & A, no 800, Pl XXII; M Martiniani-Reber, 'Societies sassanidas, coptes, et byzantines, Lyon, Musee historique des tissues, 1986, nnos 72 and 82.
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Previous location Gallery 41, case 25; A nearly identical textile is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inv. 303-1887 and probably the other half of this panel - the angle of the cut across the middle matches, as does the change in twill direction on the left side, the V&A tunic retains a complete set or ornaments of this pattern, although in bad condition, note fringe at bottom of V&A piece; Other examples of this design at MHT, Lyon 910.III 11 (29.241) and 982III 21 (40.459). Many examples of the group of tunic ornaments as a whole, all probably from Akhmim. The Maastrict Diosures (?) silk has a closely related border and is probably similar in date. Information from hero Granger-Taylor (12.11.1989)
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2012 12 Mar-8 Jul, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA, Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition (7th-9th Century).
2010 26 Feb-13 Jun, Germany, Bonn, Kunst and Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Byzantium: Splendour and Daily Life
2003 15 May-30 Sep, London, The British Library, The Painted Labyrinth: The World of the Lindisfarne Gospels
1993 1 Apr-7 May, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, The Byzantium Bridge between East & West: Trade & Manufacture 300-1453 AD
- Condition
- Good, although discoloured in places.
- Acquisition date
- 1904
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1904,0706.41