Embroidered Tapestry
7th-8th century
This vibrant fragment depicts what appears to be a fruit basket in a central square, although the iconography is ambiguous and abstracted. Twelve circles surround the basket, eight of which contain stylized Greek or Coptic crosses, and four of which contain green and yellow dots.
Fruit is an especially common motif found on textiles from this period, and often suggests prosperity, Bacchic revelry, or material abundance. An almost direct iconographical match to this embroidered fragment (38.679) may be found at the Brooklyn Museum. The twelve circle pattern, with eight crosses and four dots, is also found on BZ.1953.2.85 in the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Collection.
Artwork Details
Title:
Embroidered Tapestry
Date:
7th-8th century
Geography:
Egypt
Classification:
Textile
Materials:
Linen and wool
Dimensions:
24 x 21 cm (9.5 x 8.25 in)
Repository:
McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Accession Number:
McMullen 2018.29
Tellalian Number:
Tellalian 2013-00600B
Donor:
Barbara and Donald Tellalian
Provenance:
Purchased at auction, Artcurial, Paris, France on 11 April 2013. Middle East and Islamic Arts, Lot #85. Previously in the collection of "J.D.W."
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 144. Boston College: McMullen Museum of Art, distributed by the University of Chicago Press, 2014.
Conservation History:
Unknown date: Windsor Conservation Center, Dover, MA