Fragment of a Hanging or Cover

A square tapestry panel is inserted into a linen loop-pile weave. At the center of the fragment is a crux ansata in an orange-ochre color with a yellow dot in the loop. The motif appears within a dark purple circle at the center of a larger circle with a radial arrangement of alternating amphorae and baskets, from which vine tendrils emerge. These motifs surrounding the crux ansata are woven in dark purple, with details carried out with a fine thread on a light-colored background. Vine leaves and little scrolls fill the spandrels between the circle and the square that frames it. The central design is surrounded by a wide band occupied by twelve interlocked circles in dark purple. The four circles in the corners enclose orange-ochre baskets containing different fruits or flowers in red, white, green, dark purple, and pink.

The remaining eight circles contain grapevines rendered in green and dark purple. Interspaces are filled with red and green leaves. The panel is framed by a series of dark purple half-circles bearing a filigree geometric ornament.

As expressions of prosperity and abundance, amphorae and baskets with vine branches and/or fruits are rich with Dionysian associations are among the most popular motifs on late antique tapestries from Egypt. They decorate household fabrics and clothing alike. In combination with a cross the vine gets a Christian connotation and becomes a symbol of resurrection. Here the cross takes the shape of the crux ansata, a cross with a loop above the horizontal beam, which developed from the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph “ankh,” meaning eternal life. Comparable tapestries showing a combination of the amphora-vine motif and a cross are found in Geneva and London, and numerous other fragments share similar technical, iconographic, or ornamental features.Geneva, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, inv. D876 (probably from a tunic): M. Martiniani-Reber, Tissus coptes (Geneva, 1991), 1:56, no. 100; 2:29, no. 100. London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. 355-1890 (from a tunic): A. F. Kendrick, Period of Transition and of Christian Emblems, vol. 2 of Catalogue of Textiles from Burying-Grounds in Egypt (London, 1921), 12, no. 308, plate III. A piece in Düsseldorf, Museum Kunst Palast, inv. 12683, lacks amphorae, but depicts both vine and cross; S. Hodak, Figürliche und ornamentale Purpur- und Buntwirkereien, vol. 2 of Die koptischen Textilien im Museum Kunst Palast Düsseldorf (Wiesbaden, 2010), 111–14, no. 20, plate 12. For a square tapestry with amphora and vine motifs inserted in a loop-pile weave, see Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, O.22198: P. Linscheid, Die frühbyzantinischen Textilien des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums (Mainz, 2016), 91, no. 66, plates 48.3–4. For a rectangular tapestry panel with large crux ansata surrounded by amphorae with vine and tendril, see London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. 259-1890: Kendrick, Period of Transition, 18, no. 327, plate X (probably from a hanging). For tapestry bands with cross between vine and birds, see London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. 1329-1888, 279-1891: ibid., 12, no. 307, plate II, and 14, no. 313, plate V (both from a tunic). For a similar interior framing zone, see London, Victoria and Albert Museum, inv. 746-1886: A. F. Kendrick, Graeco-Roman Period, vol. 1 of Catalogue of Textiles from Burying-Grounds in Egypt (London, 1920), 64, no. 56, plate XV; Krefeld, Deutsches Textilmuseum, inv. 00109: M. von Falck, ed., Ägypten: Schätze aus dem Wüstensand; Kunst und Kultur der Christen am Nil; Katalog zur Ausstellung (Wiesbaden, 1996), 312–13, no. 354, and A. Paetz gen. Schieck, Aus Gräbern geborgen: Koptische Textilien aus eigener Sammlung (Krefeld, 2003), 100, no. 207; Düsseldorf, Museum Kunst Palast, inv. 12686: K.-H. Brune, Wirkereien mit figürlichen Motiven, vol. 1 of Die koptischen Textilien im Museum Kunst Palast Düsseldorf (Wiesbaden, 2004), 36, no. 8; Düsseldorf, Museum Kunst Palast, inv. 12684: Hodak, Purpur- und Buntwirkereien, 160–64, no. 35, plate 19.

When the surrounding ground weave is missing, it is often not possible to determine with certainty whether the tapestry originally decorated a tunic or a furnishing textile. A smaller size (less than twenty centimeters) usually speaks for a fragment being a tunic decoration, but this cannot be taken as a rule. Like BZ.1953.2.89, the present example was once part of a furnishing textile, most likely a mattress covering or floor covering. Among tapestry weaves surrounded by weft pile it is exceptional because of the Christian symbol in the center of the tapestry decoration, which is usually occupied by secular figures (such as dancers, as in BZ.1953.2.89, or horsemen) or by heraldic motifs.See examples referenced in catalogue entry for BZ.1953.2.89, n9.

At present, only one other loop-pile fabric with a Christian motif in the tapestry decoration is known; it depicts the apostles Peter and Paul, who are identified by an inscription.Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, inv. 6847: C. Fluck, “Frammento di tela con raffigurazione di Pietro e Paolo,” in Pietro e Paolo. La storia, il culto, la memoria nei primi secoli, ed. A. Donati (Milan, 2000), 145, 215–16, no. 68.

—Cäcilia Fluck, May 2019

Washington, DC, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Cross References, March 26–July 31, 2011.

New York, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, Designing Identity: The Power of Textiles in Late Antiquity, February 25–May 22, 2016.

Washington, DC, The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt, August 31, 2019—January 5, 2020.