Fragment of a Band

Accession number	BZ.1953.2.55
Attribution and Date	Egypt, 7th–10th c.
Measurements	H. (warp) 17.7 cm × W. (weft) 99.0 cm (6 15/16 × 39 in.)
Technique and Material	Plain-weave ground in polychrome wool with brocading 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 long rectangular band features a brocaded pattern on a plain-weave ground in red, green, and tan. The main field consists of a lattice design, with each arm composed of connected boxes meeting in diamond shapes at the intersections. Star patterns made up of eight large and small diamonds appear at the center of the lattice patterns. At the long edges, the green border comprises a zigzag pattern in alternating directions punctuated with rosettes.

The size and shape of this fragment suggest it was a tunic decoration, likely a thick band near the hem of the garment. A complete surviving tunic in Manchester preserves a bright red brocaded band along its lower edge; the shocking contrast of the green ground, purple clavi, and red brocaded decoration in this example is striking.Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, T.8539. The piece is radiocarbon-dated between 650–770 with 95.4% probability. See F. Pritchard, “¹⁴C Dating of a Group of Wool Tunics from Egypt Given by W. M. Flinders Petrie to The Whitworth Art Gallery in 1897,” in Methods of Dating Ancient Textiles of the 1st Millennium AD from Egypt and Neighbouring Countries: Proceedings of the 4th Meeting of the Study Group “Textiles from the Nile Valley,” Antwerp, 16–17 April 2005, ed. A. De Moor and C. Fluck (Tielt, 2007), 181, fig. 1. With its red ground and floral patterning arranged in lattices, the Dumbarton Oaks fragment likely emulates two-toned silks which often included similar features and were also sometimes applied as a tunic decoration along hemlines: an example of a two-toned silk still attached to its tunic in Antwerp gives a good sense of the kind of precious textiles this brocade may have emulated.Antwerp, Katoen Natie, 998-08. Radiocarbon-dating information taken from publicly available results published on “Textile Dates” database, Abteilung Christliche Archäologie, Universität Bonn, http://www.textile-dates.info/textile_list_start.php?textile_id=295. For a comparable example, see BZ.1953.2.54.

—Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, May 2019

Notes

Accession number	BZ.1953.2.55
Attribution and Date	Egypt, 7th–10th c.
Measurements	H. (warp) 17.7 cm × W. (weft) 99.0 cm (6 15/16 × 39 in.)
Technique and Material	Plain-weave ground in polychrome wool with brocading 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. 58.

Accession number	BZ.1953.2.55
Attribution and Date	Egypt, 7th–10th c.
Measurements	H. (warp) 17.7 cm × W. (weft) 99.0 cm (6 15/16 × 39 in.)
Technique and Material	Plain-weave ground in polychrome wool with brocading 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.