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Details
LOT 0493
Egyptian Coptic Textile Fragment Group
CIRCA 4TH CENTURY A.D.
7 5/8 - 9 3/4 in. (63 grams total including package, 19.5-25 cm).
Comprising: fragment from a wide tunic segmentum in red granate and coarse linen, S torsion, embroidered with stylised birds and plants inscribed in tondos; fragment of another segmentum in red, blue and green wool, with representations of buds. [2, No Reserve]
Provenance
Acquired 1970s-1996.
Property of a North American collector.
London collection, 2016.
Literature
Cf. Forrer, R., Die Graeber und Textilfunde von Achmim Panopolis, Strassburg, 1891, pl.VII nos.8 and 13, for similar figures of birds and plants.
Footnotes
Similar figures are widely present in Coptic textiles, repeating a pattern in which flowers are usually paired with bird figures. This decoration is typical of tunics, but it was also used in large-scale textiles intended for domestic or funerary furnishings.
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