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Details
LOT 0431
Egyptian Coptic Textile Fragment Group
CIRCA 5TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.
2 7/8 - 6 1/8 in. (40 grams total including package, 7.2-15.7 cm).
Comprising a fragment of a clavus in white and purple linen and wool, S torsion, the central scene representing a dancer; a small fragment of a double segmenta, ornamented with vegetal embroidery; two orbiculi, one embroidered with a flower inside a rondo and with a cross in the centre, the other with a simple vegetal ornament. [4, No Reserve]
Provenance
Acquired 1970s-1996.
Property of a North American collector.
London collection, 2016.
Literature
Cf. Del Francia Barocas, L., Museo dell'Alto Medioevo, Roma, I materiali Copti, p.100-101, for similar textiles.
Footnotes
The segmentum with the dancer was probably part of the vertical clavus of a tunic; it is highly probable that the embroidery refers to the Dionysian cycle, with dancers, animals and probably, in the missing parts, hunters.
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