Description:
Textile fragment of woven linen with central section of red with white medallions; border on two long sides of purple and black pattern with small amount of yellow-beige.

Label Text:
Installed in Art Before 700 CE, Spring 2025 Label Text:

Egyptian Textiles

Burial in the arid Egyptian climate helped preserve these early textiles, and though they are frayed and their colors have faded, they have retained much of their original impact. The fragments incorporate a variety of motifs derived from Greco-Roman, Christian, and Persian art, including scrolling vines, geometric designs, and a variety of stylized animals. Evidence of Egypt’s role as a cultural crossroads can also be seen in the materials used to make the textiles: while the undyed linen is an indigenous Egyptian material, the use of multicolored wool was introduced into Egypt through the Greek conquest of the area in the fourth century BCE.

Some of the fragments appear to have been taken from garments such as tunics, which usually had decorative bands (like those seen on the right) at their hems, necks, and sleeves. After removing textiles from burial sites, excavators and dealers would often cut them up, selling the decorated sections and disposing of the plain parts. These early excavation and collecting practices have left gaps in our understanding of the original contexts and functions of these remarkable weavings.

[Displayed with 2019.3.10, 2019.3.3, 2019.3.2, 2019.3.6, 2019.3.5, and 2019.3.4]

Tags:
ancient; archaeology; textile fabrics

Subjects:
archaeological objects; Civilization, Ancient; Textile fabrics; Linen

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=MH+1928.1.A.SVI

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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