Textile ArtsByzantine5th-6th century

Fragments of a Textile Hanging with Female Busts

5th-6th century

Description

This fragmentary tapestry-woven textile depicts five female busts representing well dressed woman interspersed with stylized pink and green palmettes. The exact orientation of these heads is uncertain, but this was most likely a hanging depicting a secular theme and hung in a domestic space. All the women are dark-haired and wear headdresses topped with crowns; what are either veils or haloes are covered in large round pearls. Though the busts may appear identical at first glance, they are marked by subtle variations in eye color, expression, and details of tunics and jewelry. All of their elaborate robes vary in decoration—some are woven with flower patterns, others are studded with jewels. Each woman registers a somewhat different expression. The most prominent feature of the faces is the eyes, with arched brows. Four of the women look to their left, while the rightmost returns their gaze. In the four women who look to the right, eye color alternates between blue and brown. This pattern of female busts alternating with flowers seems to have been a common decorative trope in Byzantine interior spaces in Egypt and is attested in several media including architectural friezes. Such luxuriously dressed women may represent general ideas of prosperity, luxury, or feminine beauty. Their appearance is reminiscent of the (typically female) personifications of natural elements or beneficent concepts common to Late Antique art, such as the seasons, Earth, Renewal, and Enjoyment. In this particular textile, they may also represent tyche figures or empresses because of their turreted crowns. There are areas of plain woven linen above and below the tapestry band.

Classification

Textile Arts

Technique

Woven, tapestry weave

Medium

Wool and linen

Culture

Byzantine

Period

Byzantine period, Early

Century

5th-6th century