Textile Fragment
ca. AD600-900 (made)
| Place of origin |
Compound silk weave, samite fragment. Possibly Egyptian/Byzantine, ca. AD600- 900. Height of 83mm with width of 133mm at base. The base is a border edge. The fabric is of light and dark brown (coffee coloured) silk and is discoloured, with holes. The decoration consists of a long spade shaped leaf (50mm x 25mm) repeated in the darker thread. Thread dia. approx. 0.25mm. 2191A-1900 is less discoloured but appears to be originally from the same piece of fabric.
Samite (twill woven silk) was thought to originate from Persia under Sassanian rule (AD224-651). It was commonly decorated with pairs of animals and birds and set in pearled lotus roundels. It is often found in Western burials, within church possessions and along the Silk Road. Byzantine weaving workshops took on the samite technique to make it an essential weave of the period. It was a luxury textile of the Middle Ages brought to Europe when the Crusades opened up direct contact with the East. It was forbidden to the middle classes of France under the sumptuary rules c. 1470.
Samite (twill woven silk) was thought to originate from Persia under Sassanian rule (AD224-651). It was commonly decorated with pairs of animals and birds and set in pearled lotus roundels. It is often found in Western burials, within church possessions and along the Silk Road. Byzantine weaving workshops took on the samite technique to make it an essential weave of the period. It was a luxury textile of the Middle Ages brought to Europe when the Crusades opened up direct contact with the East. It was forbidden to the middle classes of France under the sumptuary rules c. 1470.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Woven silk |
| Brief description | Compund silk weave fragment. Possibly Egyptian/Byzantine, ca. AD600-900. |
| Physical description | Compound silk weave, samite, fragment. The base is a border edge. The fabric is of light and dark brown (coffee coloured) silk and is discoloured, with holes. The decoration consists of a long spade shaped leaf (50mm x 25mm) repeated in the darker thread. Thread dia. approx. 0.25mm. 2191A-1900 is less discoloured but appears to be originally from the same piece of fabric. |
| Summary | Compound silk weave, samite fragment. Possibly Egyptian/Byzantine, ca. AD600- 900. Height of 83mm with width of 133mm at base. The base is a border edge. The fabric is of light and dark brown (coffee coloured) silk and is discoloured, with holes. The decoration consists of a long spade shaped leaf (50mm x 25mm) repeated in the darker thread. Thread dia. approx. 0.25mm. 2191A-1900 is less discoloured but appears to be originally from the same piece of fabric. Samite (twill woven silk) was thought to originate from Persia under Sassanian rule (AD224-651). It was commonly decorated with pairs of animals and birds and set in pearled lotus roundels. It is often found in Western burials, within church possessions and along the Silk Road. Byzantine weaving workshops took on the samite technique to make it an essential weave of the period. It was a luxury textile of the Middle Ages brought to Europe when the Crusades opened up direct contact with the East. It was forbidden to the middle classes of France under the sumptuary rules c. 1470. |
| Bibliographic reference | Fragment with this pattern depicted in R. Forrer, Romische und Byzantinische Seiden-Textilien aus dem Graberfeld von Achmim-Panopolis (Strasbourg, 1891), pl. VIII.1 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 2191B-1900 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
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