Not currently on display at the V&A

Fillet

4th Century - 8th Century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Fillet or headrest. The core is a rounded, tapering pad of hair wrapped in rough linen (10tpc stretched at one place, 20tpc at one end). This pad has then been wrapped in brown leather, with some black staining. The fillet is held together with modern wire.

The leather has thee openwork medallions, roughly 4.5 cm diameter, each representing a cross pattee within a circle, stitched on with a running stitch. Each end of the fillet has openwork, soft-edged triangles leading to the tapering point. The design is held within a border of embroidered interlaced guilloche design.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Leather wrapped linen and hair, decorated with stitching and openwork
Brief description
Fillet or headrest, leather stuffed with linen and hair, Akhmim, Egypt, Late Antique, possibly 4th - 8th Century
Physical description
Fillet or headrest. The core is a rounded, tapering pad of hair wrapped in rough linen (10tpc stretched at one place, 20tpc at one end). This pad has then been wrapped in brown leather, with some black staining. The fillet is held together with modern wire.

The leather has thee openwork medallions, roughly 4.5 cm diameter, each representing a cross pattee within a circle, stitched on with a running stitch. Each end of the fillet has openwork, soft-edged triangles leading to the tapering point. The design is held within a border of embroidered interlaced guilloche design.
Dimensions
  • Length: 850mm
  • Centre width: 40mm
  • Centre thickness: 32mm
Styles
Object history
Purchased from Caspar Purdon Clarke
Association
Bibliographic reference
For a similar example see J. Strzygowski, Catalogue Général des Antiquités Égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Koptische Kunst (Vienna, 1904), 165, Pl. 10, No. 7246 (dated there to the 6th - 8th Centuries).
Collection
Accession number
372-1887

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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