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Details
LOT 0490
Large Mounted Egyptian Coptic Textile
CIRCA 5TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.
34 in. (345 grams total, mount: 86.5 cm).
Possibly a fragment of a cloak, wool on linen, S-twist tapestry, decorated with a band of lanceolate leaves and two bigger opposed leaves in red, green and yellow colour.
Provenance
Acquired 1970s-1996.
Property of a North American collector.
London collection, 2016.
Literature
Cf. Calament, F., Durand, M., Antinoé, á la vie, á la mode, visions d’élégance dans les solitudes, Lyon, 2013, cat.44-45, for similar.
Footnotes
A. Gayet, who excavated the Necropolis of Antinoe, showed that the cloaks of Coptic-era nobles could be ornate, with decoration applied or woven into the fabric. Realised in dark blue, red, orange, yellow, green, brown and off-white linen and wool, the leaves are usually positioned inside a central medallion, also lanceolate, divided by a small leaf surmounted by a flower.
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