LOT 0731

Egyptian Coptic Tunic and Tapestry Textile Fragments with Animals and Geometric Ornamets

CIRCA 7TH-8TH CENTURY A.D.

5 7/8 - 8 5/8 in. (27 grams total, 15-22 cm).

Comprising: a tapestry fragment (part of a pillow?) decorated with red bands and alternating figures of cups in green, red, blue, purple and yellow wool on linen; a large fragment of a segmentum from a tunic in coarse wool, consisting of a central medallion with a bird in red, yellow, light blue and yellow colour, with the borders decorate with meanders, tapestry, S-swift; a large portion of a tapestry with a central medallion ornamented with animals (lion, fish, birds) surrounded on the outside by dancing human figures and birds, one side circumscribed by a red stripe with vegetal ornaments, in red, blue-purple and yellow wool. [3, No Reserve]

Acquired 1970s-1996.
Property of a North American collector.
London collection, 2016.

Cf. Calament, F., Durand, M., Antinoé, á la vie, á la mode, visions d’élégance dans les solitudes, Lyon, 2013, cat.73, for similar textiles.

Large fragments of Coptic textiles display figures associated with the Dionysian retinue (lions, birds); however, they may date to the early period of the Islamic conquest, when tunic ornamentation began to take on an increasingly abstract and geometric character, preserving only stylised traces of the ancient Pagan symbology.