Textile Fragment thumbnail 1
Textile Fragment thumbnail 2
Not on display

This object consists of 2 parts, some of which may be located elsewhere.

Textile Fragment

7th Century - 10th Century (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown (maker)
Place of origin
Egypt (made)
Akhmim (made)

Roundel from a tunic, in bichrome samite (weft-faced compound twill) woven in brown and cream/buff silks. At the centre is a geometric tree/vine with grapes and leaves, representing the tree of life. On either side are two pairs of spade-shaped leaves with further trees within them. The roundel is surrounded by a circular border (approximately 20mm wide) with a stylised, wave-like floral motif.

Object details

Categories
Textiles
Archaeology
Africa
Object type
Textile fragment
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Textile Fragment
  • Backing
Materials and techniques
Silk samite
Silk (Textile)
Weaving
Brief description
Textile fragment, roundel from a tunic, compound twill samite in brown and buff silk, Egypt, possibly Akhmim, 7th - 10th Century
Physical description
Roundel from a tunic, in bichrome samite (weft-faced compound twill) woven in brown and cream/buff silks. At the centre is a geometric tree/vine with grapes and leaves, representing the tree of life. On either side are two pairs of spade-shaped leaves with further trees within them. The roundel is surrounded by a circular border (approximately 20mm wide) with a stylised, wave-like floral motif.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 160mm
Style
Egyptian
Gallery label
SILKS, 7th - 9th century.
Object history
Roundels such as this would have been cut from larger sheets with multiple rows of medallions. For an intact sheet of this sort see Dumbarton Oaks BZ.1977.2.
Association
Wallis
Bibliographic references
  • A similar piece to this, in the Metropolitan Museum, is depicted in H.C. Evans and B. Ratliff, <i>Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition 7th-9th Century</i> (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012): 148. There is is described as "roundel with Central Asian style 'candelabra tree'. 7th-9th century." A further similar piece to this, with the colours inverted, is Dumbarton Oaks BZ.1953.2.126.
  • For the dating of the Abegg-Stiftung pieces see S. Schrenk, <i>Textilien des mittelmeerraumes aus spatantiker bis fruhislamischer zeit (Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung, 2004), 321-323. The V&A's piece is similar to both cat. no's 147 and 148: No. 147 C14 dated to AD793-995 (100% probability) and no. 148 C14 dated to AD664-827 (93.3% probability). Further similar examples in Antwerp (657/DM 33D and 151/SM 33C) have also been carbon dated to between the 7th - 10th Centuries; see A. De Moor, "Radiocarbon dating of ancient textiles: State of research", in A. de Moor and C. Fluck, <i>Methods of Dating Ancient Textiles of the 1st Millennium AD from Egypt and Neighbouring Countries: Proceedings of the 4th Meeting of the Study Group “Textiles from the Nile Valley"</i> (Tielt, 2007), 102-3, Figs. 7-8;
  • Two colour silks like the present example have often been attributed to Akhmim; see A. De Moor, S. Schrenk, and C. Verhecken-Lammens, “New Research on the So-Called Akhmim Silks,” in S. Schrenk, Textiles in situ: Their Find Spots in Egypt and Neighbouring Countries in the First Millennium CE (Riggisberg, 2006), 85–94.
Collection
Middle East Section
Accession number
118-1891

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O352744/textile-fragment-unknown/
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