Volume 3 (2020)

First page of the paper.


A Re–Evaluation of a Hooded Tunic at the Benaki Museum

Tsourinaki, Sophia

Abstract:

The Benaki Museum comprises a fine collection of Late Antique textiles, covering a period that extends roughly from the 3rd to the 10th Century AD. The focus of this paper is set on a virtually complete child’s tunic with hood, which stands out for a number of reasons: 1. the examination of its subject matter and workmanship gives an impressive idea of the textile production in Egypt; 2. the stylistic analysis attests to the tenacity of the classical Hellenic tradition in the early Byzantine era. A full description of the garment is presented here, the weaving procedure and the type of loom used. For the scope of this study and in order to place the results in a broader historical and comparative context, the content of papyri from the Hellenistic–Roman Period was carefully examined.

Citation:

Tsourinaki, S. 2020. «A Re–Evaluation of a Hooded Tunic at the Benaki Museum», JHIE 3: 147–168

DOI:

10.5281/zenodo.4309203

Language: en

Submitted on 2017-08-10; accepted on 2020-08-10

References

  • Apostolakē, A.: Τὰ Κοπτικὰ Ὑφάσματα τοῦ ἐν Ἀθήναις Μουσείου Κοσμητικῶν Τεχνῶν, Αthens (Hestia) 1932. 
  • Badawy, a.: Coptic Art and Archaeology, Cambridge (The Massachusetts Institute of Technology) 1978.
  • Balty, J.: «Les mosaїques de Syrie au Ve siècle et leur répertoire», Byzantion LIV, 1984, 437-468.
  • Barber, E.J.W.: Prehistoric Textiles. The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, New Jersey 1991.
  • Bellinger, L.: «Craft Habits, 1: Loom Types suggested by Weaving Details», Workshop Notes 19, Washington DC 1959, 1-6.
  • Boardman, J.: Early Greek Vase Painting, 11th-6th Centuries BC: A Handbook, London (World of Art) 1998.
  • Boggensperger, I.: «How to Order a Textile in Ancient Times? The Step before Distribution and Trade», Textiles. Trade and Theories: From the Ancient Near East to the Mediterranean (Droß–Krüpe K. & Nosch M.–L., eds), Münster (Ugarit–Verlag / Krum – Emporion – Forum 2) 2016, 259-270.
  • Bogensperger, I.: «Purple and its Various Kinds in Documentary Papyri», Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe 1000 BC-AD 1000 (Nosch M.–L. et al., eds), Lincoln–London 2017, 235-249.
  • Bonner, C.: Studies in Magical Amulets, Ann Arbor MI (University of Michigan Studies / Humanistic Series 49) 1950, 95-103.
  • Cardon, D.: Natural Dyes: Sources, Tradition, Technology and Science, London (Archetype) 2007.  
  • Caroll, D.–L.: Looms and Textiles of the Copts. First Millennium Egyptian Textiles in the Carl Austin Rietz Collection of the California Academy of Science, San Francisco 1986.
  • De Jonghe, D., Darmen, S., Rassart–Debergh, M., De Moor, A. & Overlaert, B.: Ancient Tapestries of the R. Pfister Collection in the Vatican Library, Vatican (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) 1999.
  • De Moor, A., van den Berghe, I., van Strydonck, M., Boudin, M. & Fluck, C.: «Radiocarbon Dating and Dye Analysis of Roman Linen Tunics and Dalmatics with Purple Coloured Design», Archaeological Textiles Newsletter 51, 2010, 34-47.
  • Diadick Casselman, K. & Terada, T.: «The Politics of Purple: Dyes from Shellfish and Lichens», Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings, Lincoln NB (Textile Society of America / Paper 666) 2012, 1-11  [URL: http://digitalcommons.unl. edu/tsaconf/666]. 
  • Domyo, M.: «Late Sassanian Textile Designs in the Reliefs at Taq–I Bustan», CIETA – Bulletin 74, 1997, 19-27.  
  • Droß–Krüpe, K.: «How (not) to organise Roman Textile Production. Some Considerations on Merchant–Entrepreneurs in Roman Egypt and the Ἱστωνάρχης», Egyptian Textiles and their Production: « Word » and « Object », Lincoln NB (Zea Books) 2020, 128-138.
  • Dunbabin, K.–M.D.: The Mosaics of North Africa, Oxford 1978.
  • Égypte – TH: Égypte, la trame de l’Histoire, textiles pharaoniques, coptes et islamiques, Paris (Somogy Éditions de l’Art) 2002.
  • Emery, I.: The Primary Structures of Fabrics. An Illustrated Classification, Washington DC 1966.
  • Erikson, M.: Textiles in Egypt 200-1500 AD in Swedish Museum Collections, Göteborg (Röhsska Museet) 1997.
  • Farag, R.–A.: «Excavation at Abydos in 1977: A Byzantine Loom Factory», MDAIK 39, 1983, 57-61.
  • Forbes, R.–J. : Studies in Ancient Technology V, Leiden 1956.
  • Foucher: «Les mosaïques nilotiques africaines», La mosaïque Gréco–romaine: Colloques internationaux du Centre de la Recherche Scienti fi que, Paris 1965, 137-145.
  • Gerves, V.: «Medieval Garments in the Mediterranean World», Cloth and Clothing, London 1983.
  • Gonosova, A.: Beyond the Pharaohs: Egypt and the Copts in the 2nd to the 7th Centuries AD. Exhibition Catalogue, Providence RI (Rhode Island School of Design) 1989.
  • Hall, R.: Egyptian Textiles, Buckinghamshire (Shire Egyptology V4) 2001.
  • Henner, J., Fösrster, H. & Horak, U.: Christliches mit Feder und Faden. Christliches in Texten, Textilien und Altagsgegenständen aus Ägypten, Wien (Österreichische Verlagsgeselschaft C. & E. Dworak / Nilus 3) 1999.
  • Jeffreys, E.: Digenis Akritis, Cambridge (Cambridge Medieval Classics 7) 1998.  
  • Kemp, B.J. & Vogelsang–Eastwood, G.: The Ancient Textile Industry at Amarna, London (Egypt Exploration Society / Excavation Memoirs 68) 2001.
  • King, D.: «Roman and Byzantine Dress in Egypt», Costume: The Journal of the Costume Society 301, 1996, 1-15.
  • Kitzinger, E.: «The Horse and the Lion Tapestry at Dumbarton Oaks: A Study in Coptic and Sassanian Design», Dumbarton Oaks Papers 3, 1946: 1-72.
  • Koren, Z.C.: «Microscopic and Chromatographic Analyses of Decorative Band Colors on Nabatean cEn Rahel Textiles, Kermes and Shaded Bands», Atiqot 38, 1999, 129-136.
  • Korolli, A.: «Textile Production in the Papyri: The Case of Private Request Letters», Egyptian Textiles and their Production: « Word » and « Object », Lincoln NB (Zea Books) 2020, 116-127.
  • Lenzen, V.–F.: The Triumph of Dionysos on the Textiles of Late Antique Egypt, Berkeley l960, 14-15.
  • Maguire, H.: «Garments Pleasing to God: The Significance of Domestic Textile Designs in the Early Byzantine Period», Dumbarton Oaks Paper 44, Washington DC 1990, 215-244.
  • Maguire, H.: «Christians, Pagans and the Representation of Nature», Riggisberger Berichte 1, 1993, 131-160.
  • Manfredi, M. (ed.): Papyri Greek and Egyptian Edited by Various Hands in Honour of Eric Gardner Turner, London (EES / Greco–Roman Memoirs LXVIII) 1981.
  • Μαραβελια, Α.–Α.: Ἡ Μα γεία στὴν Ἀρχαία Αἴγυπτο : Μεταφυσικὴ Πεμ πτ ουσία τῆς Χώρας τῶν Θεῶν, Ἀθῆναι (Ἰάμβλιχος) 2003.
  • Martiniani–Rebert, M.: Lyon, Μ usée historique des tissues. Soieries sassanides, coptes et byzantines Ve-XIe siècles, Paris 1986.
  • Martiniani–Rebert, M.: Textiles et mode sassanides. Les tissues orientaux conservés au Département des Antiquités Égyptiennes, Paris (Musée du Louvre) 1997.
  • Mossakowska–Gaubert, M.: «Tunics Worn in Egypt in Roman and Byzantine Times: The Greek Vocabulary», Textile Ter minologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe 1000 BC - AD 1000 (Gaspa, S., Mischel, C. & Nosch, M.–L., eds), Lincoln NB (Zea Books) 2017, 321-345.
  • Mossakowska–Gaubert, M.: «A New Kind of Loom in Early Roman Egypt? How Iconography could explain (or not) Papyrological Evidence», Egyptian Textiles and their Production: « Word » and « Object », Lincoln NB (Zea Books) 2020, 13-21.
  • Muthesius, A.: «A Previously Unrecognized Lion Silk at Canterbury Cathedral», The Roman Textile Industry and its Influence: A Birthday Tribute to John Peter Wild (Roger, P.W. et al., eds), Oxford (Oxbow Books) 2001, 48-157.
  • Pfister, R.: «Les textiles du tombeau de Toutankhamon», RAA ΙΙ, 1930, 207-218.
  • Reinhold, M.: History of Purple as a Status Symbol in Antiquity, Latomus 116, Bruxelles 1970.
  • Russell, J.: «The Evil Eye in the Early Byzantine Society», XVI Internationaler Byzantinistenkongress: Akten II3, Wien (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften / JÖBG 323) 1982, 540-546.  
  • Rutschowscaya, M.–H.: Tissus Coptes, Paris (Adam Biro) 1990.  
  • Singer, C.: «The Herbal in Antiquity and its Transmission to Later Ages», JHS 47, 1927, 1-52.
  • Sijpesteijn, P.J.: The Wisconsin Papyri II, Zutphen (Terra Pub. Co) 1977.
  • Tsourinaki, S.: «Ένας Παιδικός Χιτώνας στην Κοπτική Συλλογή του Μουσείου Μπενάκη», Αρχαιολογία & Τέχνες 83, 2002, 29-36.
  • Tsourinaki, S.: «Late Antique Textiles of the Benaki Museum with Bucolic and Mythological Iconography», Europe, Hellas and Egypt: Complementary Antipodes during Late Antiquity. Papers from a Session held at the 8th Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists in Thessaloniki 2002 (Maravelia A.–A., ed.), Oxford (Archaeopress / BAR International Series 1218) 2004, 51-66.
  • Tsourinaki, S.: «Looped Pile Weaves in the Benaki Museum: Techniques, Technology and Looms», Ancient Textiles: Production, Craft and Society, Proceedings of the International Conference of Ancient Textiles, held at Lund and Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 19-23, 2003, (Gillis, C. & Nosch, M.–L. ed.), Oxford (Oxbow Books) 2003, 143-149.
  • Tsourinaki, S.: «Looped Pile Weaves in the Benaki Museum: More Observations on the Classification of Techniques and the Technology of Textiles», Modern Trends in European Egyptology, Papers from a Session held at the European Association of Archaeologists, 9th Annual Meeting in Saint Petersburg 2003 (Maravelia, A.–A., ed.), Oxford (Archaeopress / BAR International Series 1448) 2006, 71-78.
  • Tsourinaki, S.: «A Narrow–Sleeved Woolen Tunic from Byzantine Egypt», In Quest of Light: Mélanges in Honorem Ashraf A. Sadek (Maravelia, A.–A, ed.), Oxford (Archaeopress / BAR International Series 1960) 2009, 197-214.
  • Τσουρινάκη, Σ.: «Ένας Πρώιμος, Βυζαντινός Χιτώνας ως Τεχνολογικό Φαινόμενο και Βάση Δεδομένων», Ημερίδα Συντήρησης Υφάσματος, Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης, Θεσσαλονίκη, 2015, 21-27.
  • Τsουrιnάκi, S.: «Between Dionysos and Christ: Cosmological Images on a Funerary Textile of Hellenistic Inspiration», Li ber Amicorum – Speculum Siderum : N ū t Astrophoros : Papers presented to Alicia Maravelia (Guilhou, Ν., ed.), Oxford (Archaeo press Egyptology 17), 2017, 277-286.
  • Tsourinaki, S.: «The Use of Muricidæ and Other Purple Colourants during Late Antiquity», Environment and Religion in Ancient and Coptic Egypt: Sensing the Cosmos through the Eyes of the Divine . Proceedings of the 1st Egyptological Conference, Organized by the Hellenic Institute of Egyptology and the Writing & Scripts Centre of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, at the People’s University of Athens, under the High Auspices of His Eminence Mgr Damianos, Archbishop of Sinai. Athens: Wednesday 1st, Thursday 2nd & Friday 3rd February 2017 (Maravelia, A. & Guilhou, N., eds), Oxford (Archaeopress Egyptology 30) 2020, 453-474.
  • Wouters, J., van den Berghe, I., Richard, G., Breniaux, R. & Cardon, D.: «Dye Analysis of Selected Textiles from Three Roman Sites in the Eastern Dessert of Egypt: A Hypothesis on the Dyeing Technology in Roman and Coptic Egypt», Dyes in History and Archaeology 21, 2008, 1-16.
  • Winter, J.G. & Youtic, H.C.: «Cotton in Graeco–Roman Egypt», The American Journal of Philology LXV, Baltimore 1944, 249-258.
  • Wild, J.P.: «The Roman Loom in Western Europe: The Evidence of Art and Archaeology», Vlaamse Vereniging voor Oud en Hedendaags Textiel Bulletin 1992, 12-17.  
  • Wipszycka, E.: L’ industrie textile dans l’ Égypte romaine, Wrocław–Warsaw–Krakow (Archiwum Filologiczne 9) 1965.  
  • Ωρεσ Βυζαντιου: Ὧ ρες Βυζαντίου: Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέρες στὸ Βυζάντιο: Exhibition Catalogue, Athens (Ministry of Culture / ICOM) 2001.      
  •  
More papers from this issue