Fragmented Tapestry Roundels
5th-6th century
These two roundels, perhaps from a tunic, depict central nude figures holding fruit and shields, with each accompanied by a bird. The yellow, red, and green color scheme is typical of textiles from this period, as are the vegetal and animalian motifs. The artist attempted, with some success, to replicate the iconography in mirror image on each roundel. The figures, as well as the type of fruit, are ambiguous. Does this pair represent Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden? Or, are they manifestations of the Greek goddess Persephone, who was associated with the pomegranate in Hellenic mythological traditions?
Compare the color scheme and motifs to 83.486 at the Walters Art Museum.
Artwork Details
Title:
Fragmented Tapestry Roundels
Date:
5th-6th century
Geography:
Egypt
Repository:
McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Accession Number:
McMullen 2018.2
Tellalian Number:
Tellalian 1978-00450
Donor:
Barbara and Donald Tellalian
Provenance:
Purchased from Charles Dikran Kelekian, Ancient Arts, New York, NY on 25 November 1978. Provenance unknown prior to Kelekian family.
Exhibition History:
McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College. Roman in the Provinces: Art on the Periphery of Empire, 14 February - 31 May 2015. https://www.bc.edu/sites/artmuseum/exhibitions/rip/
Publication History:
Nicgorski, Ann M. “The Fate of Serapis: A Paradigm for Transformations in the Culture and Art of Late Roman Egypt.” In Roman in the Provinces: Art on the Periphery of Empire, edited by Lisa R. Brody and Gail L. Hoffman, 153–66, plate 141. Boston College: McMullen Museum of Art, distributed by the University of Chicago Press, 2014.
Conservation History:
No known conservation history