Square Ornament from a Tunic
700–799
- Medium
- Silk; complementary weft-faced twill weave with inner warps (samite)
- Dimensions
- Overall: 23.5 x 24.2 cm (9 1/4 x 9 1/2 in.); Mounted: 31.1 x 31.8 cm (12 1/4 x 12 1/2 in.)
- Genre
- Textile
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Styles
Tags
Egypt or Syria, Umayyad period (661–750) or Abbasid period (750–1258)
About
The folded edges on all four sides of this luxury silk fragment indicate that it decorated a unisex linen tunic. The symmetrical deer with suckling fawn flanking a simplified central tree of life continues an ancient theme in a naturalistic style. The roundel is connected on all four sides and displays heart-shaped floral borders. This fragment is said to have been found in Akhmim, Egypt, south of Cairo, where, during the 1880s, numerous related silk fragments were excavated.