Late Roman and Byzantine textiles from Egypt

Furnishing textiles in museums and collections

fig 1 Letter of Albert Gayet to Soler Vilabella from August 25th, 1907.

Furnishing textiles in museums and collections89

1 This article is part of activities of the Projects I+D+I ‘Technological and chronological characterisation of ‘Coptic’ textile productions: backgrounds of Early Medieval Spanish textile manufactures’ (Caracteriza-ción tecnológica y cronológica de las producciones tex-tiles coptas: antecedentes de las manufacturas textiles alto medievales españolas: HUM2005-04610).

2 The term ‘Coptic’ textiles is used to refer to Late Antiquity textiles found in Egypt.

3 Turell 2005: unpublished Master dissertation. Ab-stract published in Turell 2006, 100–106.

4 Views about these collections are in: Rodríguez 1994; Cat. Granada 1997; Cat. Tarrasa 1999; Rodríguez 1999; Rodríguez 2001a; Rodríguez 2001b; Rodríguez 2002; Turell 2004; Cabrera 2005; Turell 2006;Rodríguez/Cabrera 2008.

5 Rodríguez 2001a.6 Rodríguez 2001a.7 Cabrera 2005: unpublished Master presentation.

Abstract published in Rodríguez/Cabrera 2008.8 Carbonell 2008, 125–131.9 Thanks to Luis Turell’s studies (Turell 2005) of the

documents given by Soler Villabella to the Montserrat Monastery, it is known that the Montserrat Monastery does only keep a part of its entire collection that originally included also Pre-Columbian textiles. A summary of this study has been published in Turell 2008, 113–124.

10 Turell 2005, unpublished Master presentation.11 Legado Soler Vilabella, Montserrat Museum, letter

MC-12: Turell 2008, 116.12 Legado Soler Vilabella, Montserrat Museum, letter

MC-13: Turell 2008, 116.

1 IntroductionUntil recently, the main research topics on ‘Coptic’ textiles2 have been decoration and iconography. For more than a decade, various topics such as use and function, raw materi-als, textile techniques or absolute chronol-ogy have started to be the focus of various research projects. The development of these different perspectives is partially due to ad-vances in analytical techniques.

The interpretation of the use of textiles is conditioned by the context in which the discov-ery has been done. In the case of textiles found in Egypt, between the Late Roman Empire and the Islamic period, they came mainly from funerary contexts. Nevertheless, even if the ultimate use of these textiles was for funerals, there is no need to consider that their manufac-ture was originally oriented to this function.

This is especially important in the case of textiles conserved in museums, whose fu-nerary origin is generally assumed, although there is not always data to confirm this.

In this article we explain the research being carried out into ‘Coptic’ textiles in the Spanish collections. We present some cloths that we believe can be considered furnishing textiles. It is worth mentioning that almost all the pieces presented are unpublished; those already published provided new results thanks to the studies carried out during two research projects (CAM 06/0036/2003d and I+D+I, MEC, HUM2005-04610, the last one funded by Spanish Education and Science Ministry).

The hypothesis about their use is open to new contributions and parallels in all aspects presented: use, weave, raw materials and chronology.

2 The collectionsThe ‘Coptic’ textiles currently being studied are mainly fragments, with the exception of some textiles from the Museo del Monaste-rio de Montserrat.3 Their fragmentary state, largely made up of decorated parts only, can be explained through their origin. These were from private collections whose owners prob-ably acquired the textiles from art markets, where the most eye-catching parts were provided and the damaged ones eliminated, fragmenting the original pieces.

The ‘Coptic’ textiles from other muse-ums, included in this paper, come from private collections acquired by museums as donations or purchases since the end of the 19th cen-tury.4 In the case of the Museo Arqueológico Nacional of Madrid 5 and the Museu Tèxtil i d’Indumentària of Barcelona, the collections were acquired very early on, between 1880 and 1913. In the case of the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas (Madrid)6 and the Museo Nacional de Cerámica,7 the textiles were acquired more recently, 1964 and 1950 respec-tively. The ‘Coptic’ textiles from the Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil of Tarrasa come from different collections that were acquired between 1946 and 1968.8

Due to the number of items,9 their conservation state or their size, the collection of ‘Coptic’ textiles from the Museo del Mon-asterio de Montserrat has a value that goes beyond a strictly material one, also because its provenance is known and well documented. This museum keeps part of the personal col-lection of a Catalan connoisseur, Ramón Soler Vilabella.

The origin of this collection dates back to the end of the 19th century and the begin-ning of the 20th century, when the so-called peak of ‘Clothing Archaeology’10 took place. Coinciding with the World Exposition of Paris, Ramón Soler Vilabella, a textile engineer and collector from Barcelona, met Albert Gayet, thus marking the start of a close friendship that would last until his death. In 1907 the first written document of the relationship between Soler Vilabella and Albert Gayet appears in letterform. Though Soler Vilabella already knew that Gayet had an arrangement with the French Government for the next exca-vation campaigns, in a letter dated August 22nd, 1907,11 he proposed to buy ‘Coptic’ textiles – specifying a shawl or a tunic – com-ing from excavations carried out in Egypt. Gayet in his letter from August 25th, 190712 (fig 1) answered that it was not possible to grant his request, as the materials obtained in the campaigns had been distributed to differ-ent museums of Paris. Gayet then proposed an interesting alternative: to form a society with other members (amateurs and collectors) to organise the next campaign. In the end, this

Ana Cabrera, Luis Turell, Pilar Borrego, Silvia Saladrigas and Laura Rodríguez

Late Roman and Byzantine textiles from Egypt: some examples of furnishing textiles from Spanish public collections 1

Late Roman and Byzantine textiles from Egypt: some examples of furnishing textiles from Spanish public collections Furnishing textiles in museums and collections 90

13 Turell 2008, 117.14 Soler Vilabella, unpublished personal memories,

Montserrat Museum, pp 5–6: ‘The writer had the main sponsorship of the next campaign of 1908; its result is the great majority of pieces he kept as a memory. They have been inventoried and described in the following pages and plates, certified by the copy of the letter attached in which Mr. Gayet notifies the expedition’s consignment’.

15 Ripoll 2004, 169.16 Howarth/Leaman 2001, 410.17 Kurtz/Boardman 1971, 207–217; Toynbee 1993, 35.18 Gerontius, Vie de sainte Mélanie, 69, SC 90 (ed.

Gorge 1962).19 This terminology was used in the description of

Hypatius’ funeral by Callinicus, Vie d’Hypatios, 51, 10, SC 177 (ed. Bartelink 1971).

of textiles in funeral constructions. Again it refers first of all to the delimitation of spaces: a cloth separates the deceased from the living world, here acting as a cover for the coffin. However, at the same time this cloth has a high ornamental and signalling value: it is the clearest part of the element that dominates the whole ceremony that is the deceased in its coffin. The predominance of one function over another depends only on morphological and constructive characteristics of the coffin. However, the ornamentation of the textiles that covered the coffins or the body had to be present, to a greater or lesser extent, in every funeral ceremonies.

The use of the shroud is documented in Ancient Greece and Rome,17 as well as in the Jewish tradition. The clothed body is wrapped in the shroud at the moment it is placed in the coffin or in the same sepulchre. A more detailed description of this practice can be found in Life of Saint Melanie (385–439 ad), in which there is mention of a linen shroud used to wrap her body, over her clothes: Οθόνην δὲ οὐκ ἔλαχεν πλὴν τοῦ σινδονίου ὄπερ ἔξωθεν αὐτῆς ἐνετυλίξαμεν.18 The written sources are not explicit about the typology of these shrouds: linteum, linteamen and οθόνη, the most common terms, generally identify gar-ments or fine linen wrappers. Another term that is often used, σινδών, usually refers to sheets.19

The abundant materials from the ‘Coptic’ necropolises enable us to examine the characteristics of these textiles. In this way, the morphology of the textile seems to be linked not only to the same practice of wrapping the deceased in a shroud, but it is also used as part of a domestic trousseau or as a clothing piece. We were able to glimpse the concrete function of these textiles be-cause of their typological details and of a similar use – as domestic trousseaus or as garments – to that of their contemporary counterparts. However, it is worth mention-ing that the study of the textiles’ possible function is only an approximation because, in many cases, their fragmentary state makes a definitive interpretation difficult. Our new approach, never used in Spain before, brought to light unpublished textiles or collections and

society was not formed. In a subsequent let-ter, Soler Vilabella explained to Gayet that he was unable to find more members to form the society he had previously proposed. However, Soler Vilabella was willing to personally sup-port his next campaign.13

As a result of this campaign, and thanks to a contribution of 1000 francs to Gayet’s mission in Antinoopolis, a large part of textiles from Soler Vilabella’s collection was acquired at unknown dates after this campaign.

This is confirmed by his own words: ‘Cupo a quien escribe el principal mecenazgo de la campaña siguiente de 1908, y fruto de ella son la mayor parte de piezas que a título de recuerdo obtuvo y aparecen inventariadas y descritas en las páginas y láminas siguientes, autenticadas por la carta cuya fotocopia se inserta y en la que Mr. Gayet avisa el envío de la expedición’.14

3 Furnishing textilesThe textiles that we present next have been selected on the basis of their possible value and architectural functionality: tablecloths, wall-hangings, curtains or hangings, bed covers or cushions, etc. These are some of the functions we could assign them due to their size, the parallels we found in the iconography of Late Antiquity, the information provided by sources or the similarities with other textiles whose function is known.

Regardless of the main use of these textiles, we should also consider their funer-ary function. Textile’s funerary functions are not limited to the clothing of the deceased, but on some occasions to the construction of the burial itself.

The functions of the textiles in funeral structure were essentially two: delimitation of spaces and ornamentation or signalling of sur-faces.15 Space delimitation in graves refers to a physical shaping of the symbolic separation between the worlds of the living and the dead. This is the function of the shroud – the large textile in which the corpse is wrapped16 – used as a unique container for the buried body when there was no coffin or sarcophagus.

In case a coffin was used for the burial, the use of cloth during the movement and ex-hibition also combine the two main functions

Late Roman and Byzantine textiles from Egypt: some examples of furnishing textiles from Spanish public collectionsFurnishing textiles in museums and collections91

fig 3 Drawing of fig 2. © P. Borrego

fig 2 Curtain or hanging, Museo del Monasterio de Montserrat, inv. 2.

© Museo del Monasterio de Montserrat

20 Rodríguez 2001a; Cat. Granada 1997; Cat. Tarrasa 1999.

21 Concerning the functionality of the curtains to delimit spaces, see Ripoll 2004, 169–182.

22 Ripoll 2004, 169.

used to separate spaces and to limit the excess of internal light.21 According to Ripoll22 follow-ing iconographic parallels on various monu-ments of art, curtains were usually richly decorated, tied in the middle and hanging around a column. We should stress that rep-resentations of curtains were decorated with differently coloured wool and various motifs, plant, floral and also figurative ones.

This is the case of the piece no 2 of the Museo del Monasterio de Montserrat (figs 2 and 3), a large textile – 130 cm with selvedge

yielded more in-depth studies of other textiles that had been already published.20

One of the most important functions of the textiles, apart from their use as clothes, is their use as a domestic trousseau, which still exists to the present day. Therefore, the tex-tiles could have been used as curtains, table-cloths, towels, bed covers, cushion covers, etc.

3.1 Curtains and hangings As well as having an ornamental function when the textile was decorated, curtains were

145 cm

130

cm

46 c

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fig 5 Detail of fragment fig 4.figs Hemp fibres used in fragment fig 4 during the test6a–b with Schweitzer reactive. Photo Dr. E. Parra

fig 4 Fragment of bed cover or -spread, Museo Arque-ológico Nacional of Madrid, inv. 16266.

© Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid

23 Similar pieces published at Bourguet 1964, 215–216, E74, E77 and E118; Baginsky/Tidhar 1980, 67, no 71.

24 This use is documented in Serapios’ and Leukyoné’s burials, as is the one from Thaias. The bibliography concerning this topic is large. It is worth mentioning the review by Calament 1996, 27–32 on Gayet’s first publication (Gayet 1902); see also: Calament 2005.

25 Rodríguez 2001a.26 Lafontaine-Dosogne 1988, figs 5–6; see also Cat.

Mariemont 1997, 140–141, no 9.27 The dot’s fibre was analyzed with Schweitzer reacti-

ve. The analysis was made by Dr. Enrique Parra.28 Cabrera 2005, Master dissertation, unpublished;

Cabrera/Rodríguez 2008.29 In this sense it is worth highlighting the word pallia, a

large rectangular cloak that could have been used as an altarpiece or perhaps related to ornamenta eccle-siae in sources like the Liber Pontificalis, (ed. Duches-ne 1886–1892): Lib. Pont. LXXVIII: (…) obtulit super altare ipsius pallium aurotextilem. See some examples referred to big size cloths in Lib. Pont. XLVII, LVIII to LXII.

30 We refer to the representations in the wall mosaics of the basilicas of San Vitale and San Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna (Italy); and furthermore we refer to the scene in the Ashburnham Pentateuch or in the Rossa-no Gospels.

31 Ripoll 2004, 175–176.

edge and 145 cm in height – that could be in-terpreted as a curtain.23 It is a linen tabby and barred ground decorated with a row of flow-ers in woollen tapestry of different colours. The radiocarbonic dating provides a likely chronology of the 4th to 5th century (BP: 1660 ± 40/260–520 ad). On this textile, marks of its use as a shroud can be clearly observed.24

In the collection of the Museo Arque-ológico Nacional of Madrid25 there is another piece which is worth mentioning. It is a frag-ment of textile (Inv. 16266) (fig 4), a tapestry cloth with a band decoration (51 x 41 cm), whose closest parallel can be the linen hang-ings with a patterned decoration (as the Brus-sels’ one).26 As this cloth is a woollen tapestry its use as a bed cover or bed spread cannot be excluded. This piece stands out for the use of hemp (figs 5 and 6a–b) in the dots that deco-rates one of the bands.27 The piece is radiocar-bon dated from the beginning of the 3rd to the late 4th centuries (see table on p. 99).

Another cloth with a possible furnish-ing function is a looped weave located at the Museo Nacional de Cerámica of Valencia.28 It is a linen tabby (fig 7a–b), with a supplemen-tary looped weft in linen decorated with a woollen tapestry band, which is unfortunately not well preserved. The possible use of this piece is not very clear, since it could be inter-preted as a cover, a hanging or a curtain. This second option would be confirmed by its small cord that fits with the way of gathering the curtains, as it is possible to see in the mosaics and other representations. The radiocarbon analyses provide a likely chronology of the 3rd to 4th century (Years BP: 1750 +/- 40/210 to 390 ad).

3.2 Tablecloths and liturgical clothsThe textiles used as tablecloths, both in do-mestic contexts and in religious ceremonies, were well documented in written29 and artistic sources.30 In the case of the cloths used in re-ligious ceremonies, the tablecloths employed in altarpieces stand out. According to Ripoll31 these cloths are divided in different types: the floor-length ones – like the one that can be seen on the paten from Stuma of the Archaeo-logical Museum of Istanbul – and those that cover part of the altar – like the one that ap-


fig 8 Tablecloth, Museo Monasterio de Montserrat, inv. MOBM-5.

© Museo Monasterio de Montserrat

figs Drawings of fragment of tablecloth fig 8.9a–b © P. Borrego

figs Fragment of a furnishing textile, Museo Nacional7a–b de Cerámica of Valencia, inv. 529. © Museo Nacional de Cerámica y Artes Suntuarias, Valencia

32 Ripoll 2004, fig 9.33 Ripoll 2004, figs 3–9.

pears in the mosaic of San Vitale. The majority of artistic representations of the tablecloths used as altarpieces show decorations on a dark background, with only one or two colours.32 Conversely, the curtains’ decorations are mul-ticoloured. Furthermore, the tablecloths are usually decorated with geometric or vegetal patterns, again in contrast to the curtains that show a number of motifs: vegetal, geometric and figurative decorations.33

In the case of the cloths of the Span-

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fig 11 Fragment of liturgical veil or a chalice cloth, Cen-tre de Documentaciò y Museu Textil, Tarrasa, inv. 34.

© Centre de Documentaciò y Museu Textil, Tarrasafig 10 Reconstruction of fragment fig 8

© P. Borrego

34 There is a similar textile depicted by Bourguet 1991, 273; Bourguet 1964, 105, C50.

35 See endnote 29.36 With thanks to Prof. Sabine Schrenk for her explana-

tory commentaries about this topic.37 This kind of practices are documented by various

authors, as in the case of bishop Athanasius of Alex-andria who gave to Saint Paul the Hermit a pallium ad corpusculum deum, or in the well known case told by Saint Gregory of Tours about a textile that covered Saint Martin’s grave, widely studied by Ripoll 2004, 169–183.

38 Cat. Tarrasa 1999, 136.39 There are various parallels for this kind of jewelled

crosses. It is worth mentioning for its similarity to the embroidery no 318 of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Kendrick 1921, 15, no 318, pl V).

drances of the shroud, we suppose that it was used to cover the coffin, or the already shroud-ed corpse. The presence of textiles decorating and framing the top of graves can testify that the use of textiles in cultural celebrations in a funerary context was a well-established habit in the Late Antique Mediterranean and its origin was not strictly Christian.37

A textile that could be considered a possible liturgical veil or a chalice cloth is piece no 34 from the Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil of Tarrasa (figs 11 and 12a–b). It is a woollen textile38 in tabby decorated with woollen tapestry and linen details. The twist of the warp threads and the Z-weave stand out. The decoration is composed of four roundels with a jewelled cross39 surrounded by two birds in its upper part and two goats in the lower one. The upper and the lower ends

ish collections, one piece can be classified as possible tablecloth (200 x 107.5 cm), and that is the fragment MOBM-5 (figs 8 and 9a-b). It presents decorations in tapestry and linen flying shuttle appliquéd onto tabby ground, consisting of two orbiculi joined by two clavi situated at both sides of the textile.34 These two sides are formed by double lines of in-terlaces in its interior. The whole is flanked by a double stripe of wine scroll decoration. Iconographic parallels close to this kind of decorated textile are known: in each case they correspond to altarpieces,35 even if, ac-cording to the reconstruction of the textile, its use as a bed cover cannot be excluded either (fig 10).

Its funerary origin confirmed this piece could also be considered evidence of reus-ing a textile within a domestic function for a funeral aim. Even if the best parallels led us to an original liturgical use, we cannot affirm that this would be the case of this piece due to its chronology.36 The two 14C datings of this textile – one of the basic textile (Years BP: 1770 ± 40/140 to 380 ad) and the other of the decoration (Years bp: 1690 ± 40/250 to 420 ad) – tell us that this piece could have been manufactured some time between the middle of 3rd and the 4th century.

Therefore, as the piece does not present the common marks (fig 2) of the hin-

5 cm

4.7 cm

17.6 cm

19 cm

14.5 cm200 cm

20.5 cm

21.4 cm

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fig Details of fig 11.12a–b

40 Ripoll 2004, 175; see also endnote 39. Megaw/Haw-kins 1962: ‘Immediately behind it and extending to the back edge of the altar is a rectangle of dark purple. This may represent the veil or diskolymma which is placed over the asteriskos to cover the paten after the Fraction, or possibly the aer with which both paten and chalice are covered after removal of their separate veils on arrival at the altar’.

of the cloth present a horizontal band with flowers and birds. Underneath this decora-tion, there is a white silk band used as the start and the end of the textile. This cloth is finished off with fringes made with the same threads of the warp (on both sides, above the fringes there is a band with alternating flowers, ducks and birds). Its size (86 x 52 cm) suggests that it was used as a liturgical veil, possibly called diskokalymma. This could

be associated with the chalice cloth used in Catholic liturgy, rather than with a clothing piece, since it would have been too small to be used as a shawl. However, it could be a veil. The red colour of the cloth could be related to Paulos Silentarius description of Saint Sophie in which he affirms that the altar was covered by a purple coloured textile with very rich gold embroidery.40

Furthermore, within the Spanish


fig 13 Big roundel in tapestry, Museu Tèxtil i d’Indumentaria of Barcelona, inv. 27894.

© Museu Tèxtil i d’Indumentaria

and 40 cm. Therefore, it should be supposed they were used in bigger elements or that they would have been visualised from a larger distance, as it could be the case of some types of furnishing textiles.

At the moment, only two of these pieces have been radiocarbon dated, obtaining a chronology of 40–250 ad for the first one, and 250–430 ad for the second piece. Pres-ently, we are working on the study of dyes and textile technique. These dates confirm that this kind of furnishing textiles decoration endured for over three centuries. Even if the decorative motifs are slightly different – geo-metric motifs on earlier textiles and vegetal patterns on later ones – continuity both in the decorative pattern and in the function of these

collections we find big roundels or orbiculi decorated on a brown or dark blue wool-len tapestry that, considering their big size, should belong to hangings, tablecloths, bed covers, etc. These big roundels are docu-mented in many Spanish collections: at the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas of Madrid, the Museo Arqueológico Nacional of Madrid, the Museu Tèxtil i d´Indumentaria of Barcelona (fig 13), the Museo Episcopal of Vic and Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil of Tarrasa. The big size of these orbiculi stands out when we compare them to the ones used in tunics: all of them exceed 40 cm in diameter (in this case 56 cm of diameter); the biggest one reaches 60 cm, opposite to the roundels of tunics whose dimensions vary between 15


fig 15 Drawing of taqueté technique. © P. Borrego

fig 17 Drawing of wool and linen loops of fig 16. © P. Borrego

fig 16 Fragment of bed cover or -spread, Museo Arque-ológico Nacional of Madrid, inv. 15052.


fig 14 Mattress cover or cushion (15.5 x 18 cm), Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, inv. 15064.


41 Cf. the Clarysse/Geens, 38–47 in the present volume.42 This would be the case of textile no 537 from the

Victoria & Albert Museum (Kendrick 1921, 73, no 537, pl XXV; Ripoll 2004, 177–179).

43 Kendrick 1920, 42–43, nos 6 and 8; 50, no 33, pls III and VIII. – Cat. Vienna 2005, 170–171, no 104.

big roundels seems to be clear.3.3 Covers, cushions

and other furnishing textilesThere are various cloths that were possibly used as bed covers, mattress covers stroma or cushions (fig 14), as for example the taqueté fabrics (fig 15). Some fragments of these types of cloths appear in the Spanish collections. The Greek word that could be used to define this kind of textiles is amphitaroi,41 a word that describes a textile that can be seen from both sides, a characteristic of the taqueté textiles. These taqueté cloths are woollen textiles that, for their characteristics, could also have been used as cushions or pillows.42

A fabric that could be considered a bed cover from the Museo Arqueológico Nacional is a linen tabby (50.5 x 36 cm) with weft-loop decoration in wool and linen (fig 16). Wool and linen weft loops create bicoloured motifs: a circle in which is traced an eight-pointed star. The woollen loops are short; meanwhile the linen loops are long and short (fig 17). Related pieces are kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Museum for Ap-plied Arts in Vienna.43 The radiocarbon dating ranges from the middle of the 3rd to beginning of the 5th century.

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figs Brocaded linen tabby, Museu Tèxtil 18a–c i d’Indumentaria of Barcelona, inv. 36401. © Museu Tèxtil i d’Indumentaria. Technical drawings

by P. Borrego

Another fragment from the Museu Tèx-til i d´Indumentaria of Barcelona (inv. 36401) is a linen tabby brocaded with woollen wefts (fig 18a–c).44 Its small size (33.5 x 22.5 cm) suggests it could be a towel or a little table-cloth. The dated for brocaded textiles is a long period, following to Roberta Cortopassi, from the 4th to 10th centuries ad.45

4 ConclusionsThe textiles we have presented in this paper are still being studied, but we thought it was important to show part of our research to bring to your attention other collections and exchange ideas and points of view that can help us know more about these pieces. The formal comparison among the different pieces shows morphological and technological het-erogeneity that can be explained only by their original functionality or by their relation with the funeral ritual they are associated with. Hence, written and iconographic sources are indispensable references to study and dis-cuss the original functions of textiles. This is especially the case with functions that may have shifted or were unrecorded due to badly documented or unknown recovery contexts or provenance which are keys to establish the functions and chronologies of the materials studied. With respect to the textiles presented in this paper, we can affirm that the new dat-

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44 Similar pieces published in Cat. Mariemont 1997, 216–217, no 102; Cat. Nantes 2001, 48, no 21; Corto-passi 2008, 2–6.

45 Cortopassi 2008, 3.46 The fibre was analyzed through observation in the

polarised light optical microscope of the transmission type, while the mordant required using a Phillips XL-100 scanning electron microscope equipped with an EDX microanalyser. The dyes were studied through high-performance liquid chromatography, extracting threads with a thickness varying between 5 and 1 mm by means of 100 µL of methanol/hydrochloric acid/water 1:2:1. Concerning the analyses of mordant, it is worth noticing that the most common metals – ex-cluding those coming from ambient pollution, as silicon, calcium or magnesium – are aluminium, iron and copper. Therefore, it is logical to suppose that the most employed mordant for the textiles classified as ‘Coptic’ consists of alum, ferrous sulphate and copper sulphate. It is surprising that mordants were also used for white-based warps and textiles, as shown by the detection in these materials of some or all the above-mentioned elements.

table Radiocarbon dating, dye and fiber analysis46

Dye and fibers analysis made by Dr. Enrique Parra, except dye and fiber analyses of MNCV 529 made by Dr. Andrés Sánchez by TLC. Radiocarbon dating made at Beta Analytic laboratories at Miami and London.

ing methods – consistently shedding more light – show the materials’ wide chronologi-cal range, demonstrating a large continuity in manufacturing techniques and in the iconog-raphy used for each of them. Their functions are starting to become clearer. The handiness of the materials – together with the evident needs that can be inferred from the liturgical-architectural, domestic and funerary contexts and that are contrasted with the written and iconographic sources – allowed us to approach with precision the functionalities of each tex-tile studied in this research.

Inv. no 14C conventional Radiocarbon date/ fibers mordant colour/dyes 2 sigma calibration (95.4 % probability)

MNAD 13963 – linen and wool purple indigo + madder

MAN 16266 BP 1750 ± 40/210–390 ad wool, linen alum orange weld + madder and hemp brown madder

MNCV 529 BP 1750 ± 40/210–390 ad linen and wool alum? red madder green indigo + safflower orange madder + weld

MAN 15052 BP 1490 ± 40/450–640 ad linen and wool alum, ferrous sulphate purple woad + indigo mixture of red and blue threads

MMM-5 linen base: BP 1770 ± 40/140–380 ad linen and wool alum, ferrous sulphate, purplish brown madder + indigotine cupric sulphate Wool decoration: BP 1690 ± 40/250–420 ad

MMM-2 BP 1660 ± 40/260–520 ad linen and wool alum, ferrous sulphate, green weld cupric sulphate red madder

Late Roman and Byzantine textiles from Egypt

Documents