Tapestry Border
11th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
European tapestries dating from as early as the eleventh century are extremely rare, so it is difficult to be certain where this piece was woven. It is a fragment of a larger hanging, which formerly hung in the choir of St Gereon's Church, Cologne, and may have been woven in that city.
Other surviving fragments of the tapestry in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremburg, and the Musee des Tissus, Lyon, show a design of roundels containing griffins attacking bullocks. This was possibly based on an eighth century Byzantine silk found in a tomb in St Ursula's Church, Cologne.
Other surviving fragments of the tapestry in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremburg, and the Musee des Tissus, Lyon, show a design of roundels containing griffins attacking bullocks. This was possibly based on an eighth century Byzantine silk found in a tomb in St Ursula's Church, Cologne.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Tapestry woven in wool |
| Brief description | part, 1000-1100, German; lion mask and scrolls, from church of St. Gereon |
| Physical description | Border from a tapestry. It depicts a lion's-head mask; from its mouth sprout symetrical stems with quatrefoils. The ground is white, with blue scrolls outlined in red; the lion masks are white, and the quatrefoils are yellow, both outlined with purple. |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | Three other pieces of this tapestry are known, in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremburg; the Musee des Tissus, Lyon; and formerly in the Berlin Schlossmuseum. The tapestry formerly hung in the choir of St Gereon's Church, Cologne, and was dispersed by Dr Franz Bock, from whom this piece was purchased. |
| Historical context | The St Gereon tapestry is the earliest surviving example of a small group of Romanesque hangings, and the only one of purely decorative design. |
| Summary | European tapestries dating from as early as the eleventh century are extremely rare, so it is difficult to be certain where this piece was woven. It is a fragment of a larger hanging, which formerly hung in the choir of St Gereon's Church, Cologne, and may have been woven in that city. Other surviving fragments of the tapestry in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremburg, and the Musee des Tissus, Lyon, show a design of roundels containing griffins attacking bullocks. This was possibly based on an eighth century Byzantine silk found in a tomb in St Ursula's Church, Cologne. |
| Bibliographic reference | George Wingfield Digby, Victoria and Albert Museum : The Tapestry Collection Medieval and Renaissance, (1980) cat,. no. 10. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 8241-1863 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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