Curator

  • Art Institute Chicago
  • Harvard art museum
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A circular textile fragment with irregular borders depicting flowers in a vase in purple on a yellowed white ground with a red border.

Roundel: Flourishing Vine

Coptic

In the roundel, a stylized and symmetrical vine with large leaves and grape clusters grows from a volute krater with a footed base. The border is formed by a design of two alternating motifs: a pair of leaves on a single stem and a triangle topped with a circular shape. The flying shuttle technique creates details in the vine, krater, and border, using a buff colored supplementary weft. Red wool warps are visible in areas where the tapestry wefts have been lost. A red ground with red wool warps and wefts surrounds the roundel.

Wool

Byzantine period, Early

Textile Arts