Square tapestry panel: couple in conversation

Classification

tunic

Culture

Coptic (culture)

Dimensions

17 x 14 cm

Date

5th century A.D.

Period

Late Antique Period (mid-3rd–mid-5th centuries); Early Byzantine Period (mid-5th century A.D. – 639)

Material

wool ; linen

Iconography

male figure?; female figure?; clothing ; shield ; spear?; hare ; lion ; scroll motif ; running-wave border

Production place

Egypt

Present location

Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts, Collection of Classical Antiquities

Provenance

Budapest, Hungarian National Museum

Inventory

51.219

Hyp-150

Condition

Right corner damaged.

References

Szilágyi J. Gy. 1988a, 124.; Török 1993 II, 31–32, T 43.; Török 2005a, 76, 42. sz.; Török 2005b, 95, no. 42.

Unbleached linen warp, purple wool weft.

Framed by scroll with figures of lions pursuing hares, a central panel encloses a medallion in which two seated figures are represented. The textile is probably contemporaneous with fine fifht-century renderings of the tunic decoration type with central medallion displaying a Classical-style scene of figure, and framed with a peopled scroll.