Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Unable to open [object Object]: HTTP 0 attempting to load TileSource: https://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/iiif/18733025/info.json
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
This object does not yet have a description.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1931.35.8
Title
Rosette
Classification
Textile Arts
Work Type
tapestry
Date
4th-5th century
Places
Creation Place: Africa, Egypt
Period
Byzantine period, Early
Culture
Byzantine
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/215277

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Linen and wool, tapestry woven
Technique
Tapestry
Dimensions
10.16 cm (4 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Charles Bain Hoyt
Accession Year
1931
Object Number
1931.35.8
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Description
Red rosette with yellow center and green details. Green lines separate the flower into four heart-shaped petals. A plain linen ground is visible around the edges. This textile has warps of undyed linen and wefts of dyed wool. The warps are doubled up in this tapestry fragment, but would likely have been regrouped in the areas of plain/tabby weave that would have undoubtedly surrounded this rosette in the complete textile.

Red rosettes divided into four heart-shaped petals by a green cross, like this one, were favorite design elements in Late Antiquity around the Eastern Mediterranean, and can be found in floor mosaics as well as textiles. Such rosettes are often sprinkled throughout the plain linen ground of large decorative hangings, furnishings, and shawls.
Commentary
The mummy known as ‘Euphemia,’ excavated at Antinoopolis by Albert Gayet, is draped with a mantle decorated with red rosettes and purple bunches of grapes. This textile has been radiocarbon dated to 233-410 CE with a 95.4% probability. Similar rosettes feature with the borders of extremely fine wall hangings in the Textile Museum in DC (71.118) and the Dumbarton Oaks Collection (37.14) datable to the fourth or fifth century CE.

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu