Harvard Art Museums > 1977.216.2208: Looped Fragment with Rabbit Textile Arts Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Looped Fragment with Rabbit , 1977.216.2208,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 18, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/290922. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1977.216.2208 Title Looped Fragment with Rabbit Classification Textile Arts Work Type textile Date 4th-7th century Period Byzantine period Culture Coptic Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/290922 Physical Descriptions Medium Wool and linen, tapestry weave set into fabric of linen loops Technique Woven with pile Dimensions 28.5 × 19.3 cm (11 1/4 × 7 5/8 in.) Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, Bequest of John H. Treat Esq. Accession Year 1977 Object Number 1977.216.2208 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description An inhabited vine scroll motif runs along the tapestry band incorporated into this loop pile fabric. The fragmentary scroll contains a foliate design composed of yellow, red, green, and blue yarns and a lively rabbit whose mouth opens to reveal a red tongue. This scroll would likely have extended further to the left with depictions of other animals and plants. Commentary Rabbits were a favorite motif on Early Byzantine textiles and were symbolic of fertility and abundance, as they continue to be in some contexts today. A very similar textile is Brooklyn Museum 08.480.52; our fragment likely once belonged to this textile. The Brooklyn fragment is from Akhmim and formerly of the De Potter Collection. For more information, see Deborah Thompson’s Coptic Textiles in the Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, 1971), cat. no. 12. Exhibition History 32Q: 3740 Egyptian, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/20/2018 - 11/28/2018 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/20/2024 - 05/05/2024 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
