Fragments of Tunic Clavi
| Accession number | BZ.1953.2.7 |
|---|---|
| Attribution and Date |
Egypt,
7th–10th c.
|
| Measurements |
Each: H. (weft) 40.0 × W. (warp) 14.3 cm (15 3/4 × 5 5/8 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. |
These rectangular fragments feature a design rendered in tapestry weave in beige, red, and dark purple-blue. The design is dominated by a stylized vine scroll motif, with sinuous tendrils growing from vases and populated with small hunters, seminude figures, quadrupeds, leaves, and flowers. The borders of the clavi consist of a scalloped pattern interspersed with floral motifs.
It is difficult to tell whether these fragments are parts of two different clavi, or one clavus now separated in two. Because of their design similarities with numerous related fragments in other collections, we can guess that the Dumbarton Oaks textiles were once part of a tunic decoration. 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 purple tunic with a related design in Madrid was dated to the fifth through seventh centuries as well.Madrid, Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, Cas-1: A. Cabrera and L. Rodríguez, “The Collection of Coptic Textiles in the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, Madrid: The Results of the Dye Analysis and 14C Testing,” 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), 137, fig. 8. A number of fragments in Paris share iconographic and stylistic similarities.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.1953.2.26) features a similar design aesthetic.
—Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, May 2019
Notes
| Accession number | BZ.1953.2.7 |
|---|---|
| Attribution and Date |
Egypt,
7th–10th c.
|
| Measurements |
Each: H. (weft) 40.0 × W. (warp) 14.3 cm (15 3/4 × 5 5/8 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.1953.2.7 |
|---|---|
| Attribution and Date |
Egypt,
7th–10th c.
|
| Measurements |
Each: H. (weft) 40.0 × W. (warp) 14.3 cm (15 3/4 × 5 5/8 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. 142.
D. Thompson, “‘Miniaturization’ as a Design Principle in Late Coptic Textiles of the Islamic Period: Observations on the Classification of Coptic Textiles,” JARCE 22 (1985): fig. 12.
| Accession number | BZ.1953.2.7 |
|---|---|
| Attribution and Date |
Egypt,
7th–10th c.
|
| Measurements |
Each: H. (weft) 40.0 × W. (warp) 14.3 cm (15 3/4 × 5 5/8 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. |