Fragment

This large, rectangular silk fragment preserves a row and a half of medallions in beige and salmon-pink. The central field of each medallion features a flowering plant with two pairs of spade-shaped leaves, while their borders consist of abstracted floral designs resembling waves. Lacy, eight-pointed stars ending in flower blossoms appear in the spaces between the medallions.

Two-colored silks like this (see also BZ.1946.15, BZ.1953.2.126, and BZ.1956.2) are usually associated with Akhmīm, Egypt, where they were found in large numbers.For a list of many examples, along with radiocarbon dating and dye analyses, see A. De Moor, S. Schrenk, and C. Verhecken-Lammens, “New Research on the So-Called Akhmim Silks,” in Textiles in situ: Their Find Spots in Egypt and Neighbouring Countries in the First Millennium CE, ed. S. Schrenk (Riggisberg, 2006), 85–94. The textiles were recently discussed by T. K. Thomas, “Silks of the Panopolis (Akhmim) Group,” in Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition, 7th–9th Century , ed. H. C. Evans and B. Ratliff (New York, 2012), 154–59, no. 103A–G. Some feature figural designs at center, while others, like this, exhibit purely floral designs, most featuring flowering trees or palmettes. Radiocarbon dating of various examples suggests that while figural scenes were popular at earlier dates, examples with floral motifs came to dominate over time, possibly in response to changing attitudes about the representation of human beings with the rise of Islam (see BZ.1946.15 for discussion). Several fragments in Antwerp with the same design and a few fragments with the same color range have been radiocarbon dated to the early Islamic period, with a range between the seventh and tenth centuries.Antwerp, Katoen Natie, 657/DM 33D and 151/DM 33 C: A. De Moor, “Radiocarbon Dating of Ancient Textiles: State of Research,” 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), 102–3, figs. 7–8.

Dumbarton Oaks’ large fragment is especially valuable among the many examples with this design in that it preserves multiple medallions in a large sheet, and completely preserves spindly floral motifs in the interstitial spaces between the medallions. Creases and pin-point marks at even intervals around the edges indicate this fragment was once hemmed.

—Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, May 2019

Paris, Musée des arts décoratifs, Exposition internationale d'art byzantin, May 28–July 9, 1931.

Washington, DC, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Ornament: Fragments of Byzantine Fashion, September 10, 2019—January 5, 2020.