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Textile Fragment

6th Century - 7th Century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

A strip of compound woven silk. Egyptian; Qau-el-Kabir, ca. AD300-600. The decoration is in blue, pink and green on a cream background. Pyramid outlines are formed with lines of blue scrolling waves. In between these are trees and beneath these are pyramids in pink with green squares and four green swastikas around them. Below this strip is a line of geometric shapes.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Weft-faced compound twill
Brief description
Fragment from a textile, weft faced compound twill silk, Egypt, Antaeopolis / Qau-el-Kabir, possibly 6th-7th Century
Physical description
A strip of weft-faced compoud twill silk, likely from the trimming of a tunic. The decoration is in blue, pink and green on a cream background, and consists of chevrons edged with blue wave scrolls and alternating floral and geometric (red, blue and green swastika) motifs. Below this is a narrower band of alternating green and white squares and diamonds on a red ground.
Dimensions
  • Length: 320mm
  • Height: 30mm
Style
Gallery label
SILKS - 4th-7th century.
1\2 weft-faced compound twill. Warp / silk, proportion 1 main to 1 binding. Weft of silk in 2-4 colours, 1 pick of each in turn. This was found at Qau-el-Kebir near Asyut.
Credit line
Given by the British School of Archaeology in Egypt
Object history
Found at Qau el-Kebir / Antaeopolis, 1922 excavation season.

Fragments of the same border, excavated at the same time, were given to the Fitzwilliam Museum and Whitworth Museum; the Whitworth fragment preserves parts of the woolen tunic which this silk band trimmed (for discussion of the group see reference field below).
Production
Found at Qau el-Kebir / Antaeopolis, near Asyut, but may have been imported from elsewhere.
Summary
A strip of compound woven silk. Egyptian; Qau-el-Kabir, ca. AD300-600. The decoration is in blue, pink and green on a cream background. Pyramid outlines are formed with lines of blue scrolling waves. In between these are trees and beneath these are pyramids in pink with green squares and four green swastikas around them. Below this strip is a line of geometric shapes.
Bibliographic references
  • G. Brunton, Qau and Badari III. British School of Archaeology in Egypt 1926 (London, 1930): 26, Pl. 51.5.
  • For discussion of the group of excavated fragments to which the V&A example belongs, see: F. Pritchard, "Foreign Influences on the Textiles from Antaeopolis (Qau el-Kebir and Badari) Dating to the 6th and 7th Centuries", pp. 51-64 in A. de Moor, C. Fluck and P. Linscheid (eds), Egypt as a Textile Hub: Textile Interrelationships in the First Millennium AD (Tielt: 2019)
Collection
Accession number
T.231-1923

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Record createdJanuary 22, 2009
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