Coptic Textile Panel, ca. 4th- 5th Century AD:

Coptic textile featuring four dancers red, black, brown, and green.

Coptic textiles are among the great heritages from antiquity and one of the finest groups of textiles in the history of art. Found by archeologists in great numbers-- the industry was state-controlled and has an enthusiastic Empire-wide market -- these textiles include (often only in fragments) wall hangings, blankets, and other larger pieces, but are for the most part trimmings that were applied to costly garments. Both lay and clerical robes in the late Roman period were basically of plain un-patterned cloth but were adorned with highly decorative vertical bands, squares, ovals, and circles sewn onto certain areas (shoulders, sleeves, etc.). All the designs in the present volume are based on such garment trimmings, most of them from clothing found on bodies in burials discovered in Egypt in 1884 by the Great French archeologist Gaston Maspero. (M. Gerspach, who selected the designs for the original edition, about 1890, was director of the Gobelins, the French national tapestry works).

Dimensions: Length: 13 1/4 inches (33.5 cm), Width: 6 3/4 inches (17 cm)

Reference No: EW1807

PROVENANCE:

Alex Malloy collection, USA, acquired in the 1960's.


OUR GUARANTEE:
We hereby certify the above item to be authentic and due diligence conducted to ensure stated provenance. We strictly adhere to the code of Conduct established by the Association of Dealers & Collectors of Ancient & Ethnographic Art and have established, to the best of our ability, the object(s) have not been illegally obtained from the country of origin, excavation, architectural monument, public institution or private property.

With some losses and fragmentary edges, but overall intact.