Inscriptions, Iconography, and Individuals in Early Byzantine Egyptian Textiles (original) (raw)
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Hidden Stories/Human Lives: Proceedings of the Textile Society of America 17th Biennial Symposium, October 15-17, 2020., 2020
A small but distinct group of early Byzantine textiles from Egypt (dating between the fourth and sixth centuries) uses woven words and textual symbols for their primary decoration. Ornamented with bold letterforms created in brilliant colors, these objects are all inscribed with personal names—the names of individual men and women for whose lives we possess no other certain evidence. Far from simple labels indicating ownership, these names are integral parts of the textiles’ design and function both as text and as image. Investigating the epigraphic nuances, iconography, styles, and formats of these textiles will allow us to make some inferences about the identities and roles of these people in Late Antique Egyptian society. It will also shed light on some of their hopes and beliefs, for the inscriptions and iconography of these textiles can be interpreted as woven wishes for blessings and protection. This paper will consider this group of textiles as part of the tradition of protective inscriptions widespread in the ancient and Byzantine worlds but known primarily from more durable materials such as jewelry, carved inscriptions, and metalwork
Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Medieval Egyptian Tombs
Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Medieval Egyptian Tombs, 2021
Social Fabrics looks at tiraz—highly prized textiles enhanced with woven, embroidered, or painted inscriptions in Arabic—to trace the structure of medieval Egyptian society during a transformative period. It reveals a story as interwoven and complex as these delicate objects themselves. A foundational introduction to the topic, this exhibition catalogue combines richly illustrated entries with essays on the history of Egypt at the time, the meaning and materiality of tiraz, and the history of collecting these objects in US institutions. Created throughout the region (including lands now in Iran, Iraq, and Yemen) in the centuries following the Arab Muslim conquest of Egypt, inscribed textiles were a visual form of communication in a society that was ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse. Those with inscriptions regulated by the government were particularly valued, proclaiming their owners’ membership in the ruling elite.
TEXTILES IN ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN ICONOGRAPHY
2022
This volume provides an ambitious synopsis of the complex, colourful world of textiles in ancient Mediterranean iconography. A wealth of information on ancient textiles is available from depictions such as sculpture, vase painting, figurines, reliefs and mosaics. Commonly represented in clothing, textiles are also present in furnishings and through the processes of textile production. The challenge for anyone analysing ancient iconography is determining how we interpret what we see. As preserved textiles rarely survive in comparable forms, we must consider the extent to which representations of textiles reflect reality, and critically evaluate the sources. Images are not simple replicas or photographs of reality. Instead, iconography draws on select elements from the surrounding world that were recognisable to the ancient audience, and reveal the perceptions, ideologies, and ideas of the society in which they were produced. Through examining the durable evidence, this anthology reveals the ephemeral world of textiles and their integral role in the daily life, cult and economy of the ancient Mediterranea
Textiles and Architecture in Graeco-Roman and Byzantine Egypt
A comparison between the Greek and Latin vocabulary on textiles in the house (curtains, tapestry, cushions etc.) and the objects presented in paintings, drawings and inscriptions, and preserved in ancient houses. As test cases are presented luxury beddings in the Zenon archive (3rd cent. BC) and monastic and church inventories (christian Egypt)
A note on two unpublished Coptic textiles from Belgrade, Zograf 41 (2017), 19-25.
This text presents to the academic public two so-far unpublished pieces from the collection of Coptic textiles housed at the Museum of Applied Art in Belgrade. The aim of this text is to identify the motifs represented on them, as well as to propose a possible iconographic and iconological reading of their imagery. Both pieces of Coptic textile presented here display a number of iconographic subjects typical of Late Antique Egypt such as the Dionysiac thiasus and other subjects related to Dionysos – vines, lions, panthers and other animals, as well as the so-called Coptic horseman. They are typical of the visual idiom which survived from the classical period into Late Antique Coptic Egypt and was taking on new meanings in the context of religious and cultural syncretism.
"Coptic and Byzantine Textiles found in Egypt: Corpora, Collections, and Scholarly Perspectives"
Egypt in the Byzantine World, 2007
About 125 years ago, explorers, entrepreneurs, and fellahin in Egypt began to unearth astonishing quantities of textiles, mainly from burials in cemeteries at monasteries and cities, as at Panopolis and Antinoopolis (Figs. 7.1-3). The discoveries were variously categorized as late antique and early Christian, late Roman and Byzantine, and Coptic, and to this day terminology remains at issue. 1 The early textile finds were chiefly items of clothing and, to a lesser extent, furnishings executed in a range of materials and techniques; however, it was the ornamental tapestries of wool, understood to be local products, and the rarer compound weaves of silk, 2 understood to be imports, that especially captured attention in popular and scholarly arenas. The first private and museum collections, and collections associated with the textile industry, typically acquired these textile artefacts with little or no information about their archaeological contexts and in fragmentary condition . 3 In 1971 one scholar estimated that there were 150,000 such textiles in collections worldwide. 4 By then the collection
Dressed in Myth: Mythology, Eschatology, and Performance on Late Antique Egyptian Textiles (2015)
Antike Mythologie in christlichen Kontexten der Spätantike, ed. H. Leppin (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, Millennium-Studien vol. 54), 263-296, 2015
Among the rich corpus of archaeological finds from late antiqueEgypt,todaytextiles tend to occupy an obscure and isolated place in scholarship. This obscurity is disappointing for several reasons, not least because of the extraordinary number of textiles that have survived, but alsosince the initial wave of discoveries of such textiles in the late 19 th and early20 th centuries elicited such enormous enthusiasm and popular appreciation. The period witnessed ab umper crop of textile finds from the dry climate of the Egyptian desert.I ti se stimatedt hat up to 150,000 specimens were found during this period,¹ although the exactn umber remains impossiblet od etermine, as fragments that originallyb elonged to the samep iece of textile were, as per standard practice, dispersedt od ifferent museums making it very difficult to know which fragments (so-called "orphans")b elong together.
The authors for the fi rst time publish and make an attempt of attribution of the Egyptian late antique tunic – an undyed linen woven-to-shape tunic with woven-in tapestry decorations from the Late Antique – Early Islamic necropolis at Deir al-Banat (Fayoum). The paper contains technical description of the weaving features as well as description of the composition on the tapestry inserts. The state of preservation of the object allows us to propose graphical reconstruction of the tunic. Two clavi (a width of 5–6 cm and a length of about 77 cm) and front panel woven in tapestry technique have survived. Dionysian motives, i.e. representation of the procession with dancers-warriors are coarsely woven in high-stylized manner on the front panel, clavi and tabulae. Three dancing fi gures of warriors wearing a sword and a vestigial yellow cloak with shields in their left hands are represented inside arcade ornamented with stylized grapevine leaves. The Dionysian motives have particular meaning being symbols of resurrections and fertility. The date of 6th – 7th century AD is proposed for this tunic based on analogies in museum collections. Deir al-Banat tunic is a remarkable example of the Egyptian Early Medieval weaving with its high stylization and intentional carelessness in details and complete compositions. Key words: Late Antique – Early Islamic textiles, Egypt, textile production, ‘Coptic’ textiles, linen tunics, Deir al-Banat, Fayoum