A circular textile fragment with irregular borders depicting flowers in a vase in purple on a yellowed white ground with a red border.
after treatment Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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after treatment Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The motif in the woolen, tapestry-woven fragment is circular with some small losses throughout revealing underlying red warp yarns. The motif , a base of flowers surrounded by a circle with scallops around the exterior, is in purple on an undyed ground that has yellowed. The roundel is bordered by plain red the same color as the warp yarns, though it largely missing on the right side of the fragment.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1917.110
Title
Roundel: Flourishing Vine
Classification
Textile Arts
Work Type
textile
Date
5th-6th century
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Africa, Egypt (Ancient)
Period
Byzantine period, Early
Culture
Coptic
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/213695

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Wool
Dimensions
16.5 x 16.5 cm (6 1/2 x 6 1/2 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Denman W. Ross
Accession Year
1917
Object Number
1917.110
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
In the roundel, a stylized and symmetrical vine with large leaves and grape clusters grows from a volute krater with a footed base. The border is formed by a design of two alternating motifs: a pair of leaves on a single stem and a triangle topped with a circular shape. The flying shuttle technique creates details in the vine, krater, and border, using a buff colored supplementary weft. Red wool warps are visible in areas where the tapestry wefts have been lost. A red ground with red wool warps and wefts surrounds the roundel.

Publication History

  • Ioli Kalavrezou, Byzantine Women and Their World, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2003), p. 155/fig. 80

Exhibition History

  • Byzantine Women and Their World, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/25/2002 - 04/28/2003
  • 32Q: 3740 Egyptian, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/20/2019 - 11/15/2021

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu