Egyptian textile museum
Tunic
Dated back to 6th–7th century Found in Egypt during the Byzantine period and is Coptic in style…
Made of Wool, linen; plain weave, tapestry weave Dimensions are 6 5/16 in. high 5 1/16 in. wide (16 cm high 12.9 cm wide)
Richly Decorated Tunic, 660–870 A.D. Egypt, Eshmunein. Tapestry weave in polychrome and undyed wool on plain-weave ground of undyed wool; applied borders with pattern and brocading weft in polychrome wool and undyed linen. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Tapestry-woven wool inserts incorporate figural and floral motifs rendered with subtle colorations to provide shading and detail. Sections of tapestry were rendered either as squares or circular roundels placed toward the hem, cuffs, and collar of the garment; or as clavi—long strips placed vertically from the shoulders downward. These sections comprised the majority of cost for producing decorative garments, and were often recycled and restitched when the linen became worn.
Annunciation, 8th-9th century. Made in Alexandria or Egypt, Syria, Constantinople (?). Weft-faced compound twill (samit) in polychrome silk. Vatican Museums, Vatican City (61231)
The importance of iconography on textiles used as garments cannot be underestimated. Messages of identity and potency of the person underneath the cloth were delivered through this versatile medium. The pagan era of the early centuries A.D. featured depictions of gods and were adorned with vegetal motifs representing abundance or fertility, which probably functioned in a talismanic capacity. Weavers producing textiles for Christian patrons replaced gods with saints, prophets, and biblical scenes, such as the Annunciation.
Tunic
Date: 6th–7th century Geography: Egypt, Eshmunein Medium: Wool Dimensions: 60.62 in. high 41.00 in. wide (154 cm high 104.1 cm wide) Classification:
met museum
Textile Fragment
Date: 8th–9th century Culture: Byzantine Medium: Wool Dimensions: 6 3/8 x 13 7/16 in. (16.2 x 34.2 cm)
met museum
Textile Fragment
Date: 8th century Culture: Byzantine Medium: Wool Dimensions: 6 5/16 x 5 15/16 in. (16 x 15.1 cm)
met museum
Classification: Textiles
Often the shoes are hidden in Byzantine art under the long robes. Red shoes were reserved for the emperor, the Sebastocrator wore blue shoes, the Protovestiarios green.
The mosaics of Ravenna Emperor men wear sandals with white socks.
In later times, boots are also known to extend to the knee. Among the crown jewels are some shoes . These are not the shoes of a particular emperor, but official insignia that were like the other imperial regalia passed from one incumbent to the successor. They are richly decorated with pearls and precious stones and embroidered consuming.
The common people were either barefoot or wore sandals. The sandal was already in antiquity the popular footwear. Shepherd will often Cuculi shown
The central motif of a cross suggests that this pair of leather shoes was made for a priest, although they could also have been worn by an upper-class man. Many poor people in this period went barefoot, including shoemakers, while those who could afford to wore sandals (government officials); slippers (monks and clergy); or boots (soldiers and laborers).
6th Century (Late Antique)
Technology partially gilded leather
walters art museum
Nowadays the sakkos is the priestly vestment par excellence in the Orthodox Church, though its origins are in the imperial wardrobe [vestiario]. Its introduction into the ecclesiastical vestments is attested only from the 15th century. It was mainly used as a patriarchal garment, though it was in more general use in the late Byzantine period as an episcopal vestment. The sakkos is a short, wide tunic in the shape of a T, with short, broad sleeves. The two parts which go to make up the garment are sewn together at the shoulders, while the sides remain open and are tied together with cords or ribbons.
The Byzantine Museum sakkos is made of red silk with a linen lining. It is open at the sides and joined in places with ribbons from which little bells hang down. It has images embroidered on both sides. On the front is the image of Christ the Vine: Christ, placed at the point where the criss-crossing branches of the vine meet, is blessing. In the rounded shapes produced by the ends of the tendrils the apostles are depicted in busts. This subject, with its salvationist, eucharistic and eschatological content, helps to put across the eucharistic message, being a reminder of the divine eucharist (since the wine is the blood of Christ). On the left sleeve is depicted the
of the Annunciation and on the right sleeve is the Virgin. On the other side the sakkos develops the iconographic subject "The Prophets Above". An enthroned Virgin and Child are flanked by busts of the prophets in a foliate scroll. Above the Virgin's head is a seraph holding two rhipidia. The scene is inscribed: ΜΑΡΙΑ ΚΥΡΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΑΜΠΕΛΩΝ (Mary Our Lady of the Vines). The composition underlines Mary's role in the Incarnation of Christ, a role which had already been foreseen by the prophets of the Old Testament. In the lower part of the textile is a two-headed eagle, symbol of Byzantium and of the universality of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the years after the Fall of Constantinople.
The sakkos comes from Mesembria in Eastern Roumeli (now Bulgaria). It has been dated to the 17th century and has been attributed to an Epirote workshop.
BTZANTINE MUSEUM
Vatican Sakkos. Byzantine (Constantinople or Thessalonike), ca. 14th century Blue silk with silver, silver-gilt, and colored silk threads
Persian-Style Riding Coat, 443–637. Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin—Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, Berlin (9695)
The Persian-style riding coat found draped on the shoulders of a man in a tomb near Antinoë (Egypt), shown above, exemplifies this style of dress. Its flared tailoring, turquoise-dyed woolen threads napped to create a fleecy effect, and finely woven decorative bands all indicate the high rank of the wearer. The curiously long sleeves can be compared, if tentatively, to the garment of a figure in the wall hanging with figures in elaborate dress in the exhibition, specifically the third figure from left in the top row. Framed by a halo and wearing elaborate jewelry, the figure in the hanging uses the extra-long sleeve of his turquoise coat to cover his hands as he holds up a vessel in offering.
Dress
Date: 4th century Geography: Made in, Kharga Oasis, Byzantine Egypt Culture: Coptic Medium: Linen
met museum
Child's Tunic
Date: 4th-7th century Geography: Made in, Kharga Oasis, Byzantine Egypt Culture: Coptic Medium: Tapestry weave in purple-colored wool on plain-weave ground in undyed linen; single weft entry in red wool along right edge, and single weft entries along inside of clavi and left edge in purple-colored wool Dimensions: 17 11/16 x 19 11/16 in. (45 x 50 cm) Classification: Textiles
met museum
Tunic
Date: 4th–7th century Geography: Made in, Kharga Oasis, Byzantine Egypt Culture: Coptic Medium: Plain weave in undyed linen; self-bands
This plain tunic typifies Roman-style woven-to-shape tunics. These shirtlike garments were woven in a large cross shape, folded in half, and sewn together. Most commonly made of linen or wool, they could be long or short, with or without sleeves. Simple tunics, like the one seen here, were generally layered under more elaborate ones decorated with symmetrical ornaments.
met museum