Roundel (Orbiculus)

Accession number	BZ.1953.2.118
Attribution and Date	Egypt, 7th–10th c.
Measurements	H. (warp) 18.0 cm × W. (weft) 24.0 cm (7 1/16 × 9 7/16 in.)
Technique and Material	Tapestry weave in polychrome wool and undyed linen on plain-weave ground in undyed linen
Acquisition history	Crocker Collection, San Francisco, Mrs. William Henry Crocker (Ethel Willard Sperry Crocker, 1861–1934); Loaned to the San Francisco Museum of Art until 1953; Gift of Mrs. Andre de Limur (Ethel Mary Crocker de Limur, 1891–1964), Washington, DC, in 1953; Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.

This medallion is woven in tapestry weave in beige, peach, red, crimson, orange, yellow, light green, dark green, green-blue, light blue, and dark blue. It has been cut from a surrounding plain-weave ground in pale beige, remnants of which are visible along the piece’s outer edges. A disk with vegetal motifs appears at center, surrounded in turn by elaborate plant motifs. The medallion’s frame consists of abstracted flower and grapevine motifs in a similar spectrum of colors, edged by an outer border of stepped blocks of color in the same range. Losses of the colorful wool weft are visible throughout, revealing the dark beige underlying warp.

This medallion likely came from a tunic; Deborah Thompson argued that it was part of a larger decorative band, but the surviving bits around the medallion’s edge suggest it was a single decorative element inserted in a plain-weave ground.D. Thompson, “Catalogue of Textiles in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection” (unpublished catalogue, Washington, DC, 1976), no. 96. Though the design is awkwardly skewed and clunky looking, it is in fact quite finely made, with an impressive array of colors arranged in unusual patterns and with a very dense weave structure. The angularity and abruptness of the curved areas of the weaving may be due to the particularly prominent weft, which is composed of plied threads.

—Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, May 2019

Notes

Accession number	BZ.1953.2.118
Attribution and Date	Egypt, 7th–10th c.
Measurements	H. (warp) 18.0 cm × W. (weft) 24.0 cm (7 1/16 × 9 7/16 in.)
Technique and Material	Tapestry weave in polychrome wool and undyed linen on plain-weave ground in undyed linen
Acquisition history	Crocker Collection, San Francisco, Mrs. William Henry Crocker (Ethel Willard Sperry Crocker, 1861–1934); Loaned to the San Francisco Museum of Art until 1953; Gift of Mrs. Andre de Limur (Ethel Mary Crocker de Limur, 1891–1964), Washington, DC, in 1953; Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.

D. Thompson, “Catalogue of Textiles in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection” (unpublished catalogue, Washington, DC, 1976), no. 96.

Accession number	BZ.1953.2.118
Attribution and Date	Egypt, 7th–10th c.
Measurements	H. (warp) 18.0 cm × W. (weft) 24.0 cm (7 1/16 × 9 7/16 in.)
Technique and Material	Tapestry weave in polychrome wool and undyed linen on plain-weave ground in undyed linen
Acquisition history	Crocker Collection, San Francisco, Mrs. William Henry Crocker (Ethel Willard Sperry Crocker, 1861–1934); Loaned to the San Francisco Museum of Art until 1953; Gift of Mrs. Andre de Limur (Ethel Mary Crocker de Limur, 1891–1964), Washington, DC, in 1953; Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.