Fragment of a Tunic Clavus
Accession number | BZ.1953.2.26 |
---|---|
Attribution and Date |
Egypt,
7th–10th c.
|
Measurements |
H. (weft) 30.4 cm × W. (warp) 11.6 cm (11 15/16 × 4 9/16 in.) |
Technique and Material |
Tapestry weave in polychrome wool |
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 narrow band consists of a design rendered in tapestry weave in beige and blue-purple. The center of the design is dominated by a riding horseman, with pairs of quadruped animals stacked above and below. A round vine-scroll pattern at the top and bottom of the fragment is filled with floral or animal motifs. The decorative area is framed by a striped edge with a palmette border.
The shape and design of this fragment indicate that it was once part of a tunic’s clavus. The design features highly stylized renditions of a hunter set amidst an inhabited vine scroll. A nearly complete example of a tunic with similarly abstracted design motifs on its clavi is preserved in Riggisberg, and is radiocarbon dated to the fifth to seventh century.Riggisberg, Abegg-Stiftung, inv. 31: S. Schrenk, Textilien des Mittelmeersraumes aus spätantiker bis frühislamischer Zeit (Riggisberg, 2004), 152–55, no. 51. A number of fragments in Paris share iconographic and stylistic similarities with the Dumbarton Oaks piece.Paris, Musée du Louvre, AF 6193, AF 6243, AF 6007, E 26485, E 26486, (among others); former accession numbers X4910, X4964, X4690, AC 519, AC 520: P. du Bourguet, Musée national du Louvre: Catalogue des étoffes coptes (Paris, 1964), 357–64, G 40, G 41, G 45, G 57, G 58. Another fragment at Dumbarton Oaks (BZ.1953.2.7) features a similar design aesthetic.
—Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, May 2019
Notes
Accession number | BZ.1953.2.26 |
---|---|
Attribution and Date |
Egypt,
7th–10th c.
|
Measurements |
H. (weft) 30.4 cm × W. (warp) 11.6 cm (11 15/16 × 4 9/16 in.) |
Technique and Material |
Tapestry weave in polychrome wool |
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. |
Washington, DC, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Ornament: Fragments of Byzantine Fashion, September 10, 2019—January 5, 2020.
Accession number | BZ.1953.2.26 |
---|---|
Attribution and Date |
Egypt,
7th–10th c.
|
Measurements |
H. (weft) 30.4 cm × W. (warp) 11.6 cm (11 15/16 × 4 9/16 in.) |
Technique and Material |
Tapestry weave in polychrome wool |
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. 141.
Accession number | BZ.1953.2.26 |
---|---|
Attribution and Date |
Egypt,
7th–10th c.
|
Measurements |
H. (weft) 30.4 cm × W. (warp) 11.6 cm (11 15/16 × 4 9/16 in.) |
Technique and Material |
Tapestry weave in polychrome wool |
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. |