Author
Unknown
Publication Place
Akhmim (made) Egypt (made) -
Subject
Textiles Archaeology Africa Death
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
Height: 125mm, Width: 85mm
Library
Victoria and Albert Museum
Library Asset ID
338-1887
Record ID
338-1887
Library Location
Middle East Section
Notes
Compound woven silk, samite. Possibly Egyptian or Byzantine, ca. AD600-900. The piece has been attached to cardboard. The background is of small cheques in brown and white. Circles (10mm diameter) lie evenly across the fabric and contain either a trefoil/club motif or a geometric motif of a central dot with four arrow heads pointing in towards the dot. Samite (twill woven silk) was thought to originate from Persia under Sassanian rule (AD224-651). It was commonly decorated with pairs of animals and birds and set in pearled lotus roundels. It is often found in Western burials, within church possessions and along the Silk Road. Byzantine weaving workshops took on the samite technique to make it an essential weave of the period. It was a luxury textile of the Middle Ages brought to Europe when the Crusades opened up direct contact with the East. It was forbidden to the middle classes of France under the sumptuary rules c. 1470.
İlişki
Caspar Purdon Clarke
Malzemeler ve teknikler
Woven silk Silk (Textile) Weaving Dyeing
Fiziksel açıklama
Compound woven silk, samite. The piece has been attached to cardboard. The background is of small cheques in brown and white. Circles (10mm diameter) lie evenly across the fabric and contain either a trefoil/club motif or a geometric motif of a central dot with four arrow heads pointing in towards the dot.
