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Sleeve from a Tunic

700s
(750–1258)
wool; plain weave with slit-tapestry weave
Overall: 31.7 x 34.3 cm (12 1/2 x 13 1/2 in.); Mounted: 41.3 x 46.4 cm (16 1/4 x 18 1/4 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1982.107.c
Location: not on view
Public Domain
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Description

Classical figures and winged animals remained popular during the early Islamic period. The nude male may portray Dionysus, Greek god of wine; he holds his thyrsus, a staff ornamented with ivy leaves and pine cones, as he pours liquid from a small jug for the panther. These colorful designs would have decorated the front or back of a tunic and one sleeve. Elaborate embellishments were cherished. Thus, once a tunic began to fray, its decoration was sewn onto a new one, as seen on this winter-weight woolen tunic cloth. Its finely detailed motifs, some with eccentric drawing, are woven in tapestry weave, the equivalent of painting with weft thread; discontinuous horizontal wefts are interlaced only where needed in the design.
Sleeve from a Tunic

Sleeve from a Tunic

700s

Egypt, Umayyad period (661–750) or Abbasid period (750–1258)

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