
-
Textile fragment
Unknown - Enlarge image
Textile fragment
- Place of origin:
Egypt (made)
Akhmim (found) - Date:
4th Century - 5th Century (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Plain woven linen, tapestry woven wool and linen
- Museum number:
349-1887
- Gallery location:
In Storage
Tapestry, a very ancient and widespread technique of pattern-weaving, was extensively practised in the Byzantine empire. Many examples have been found in Egyptian graves, where they served as wrappings for the dead. This fragment, which comes from the burial-grounds at Akhmîm in Upper Egypt, was probably part of a curtain originally intended to hang in a doorway or between columns, perhaps at an altar. The jewelled cross symbolising the Christian faith, with alpha and omega for the Almighty and birds representing the souls of the faithful, was framed in a wreath of flowers and borne aloft by a pair of winged victories or angels, crowned with jewelled diadems.