BYZANTINE SILK ON THE SILK ROADS: Journeys between East and West, Past and Present 9781350103740, 9781350099333, 9781350099302, 9781350099319

Table of contents :
Cover
Table of Contents
Notes on Contributors
Preface Sarah E. Braddock Clarke
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo
1 Silk Along the Silk Roads: Diversity and Eclecticism Sarah E. Braddock Clarke
2 Ancient Chinese Silk Textiles: Focusing on Warp-faced Silks Sae Ogasawara
3 A Study of Sassanian Brocade Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo
4 Byzantine Brocades: A Contribution from Art History Dr Tomoyuki Masuda
5 The Spread of Byzantine Silk Samite Towards the Jacquard Loom Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo
6 Four Categories of Ancient and Medieval Classical Figured Textiles: Considering Technical Innovations in the Prologue to the World History of Ancient and Medieval Figured Weaves Dr Kazuko Yokohari
7 Islamic Textiles Louise W. Mackie
8 On Medieval Lampas: Textiles in the Iberian Peninsula from the Al-Andalus Period Sílvia Saladrigas Cheng
9 Byzantine Court Dress Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo
10 Collections of Museums, Cathedrals and Churches Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo with Dominique Bénazeth, Toko Hirayama, Dr Rei Ito, Anne Hedeager Krag, Esclarmonde Monteil, Elena Ota, Alexandra Van Puyvelde, Kimberly Randall, Yoko Tanaka and Monica Vroon
11 Pattern and Colour in theByzantine Empire Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo
12 The Spread of Silk to Japan Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo
13 Warp-faced Brocade in Japan Shizuo Takata
14 Ancient Textiles Preserved in Japan, Reborn Kiyoshi Tatsumura
Byzantine Samite: Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo and Sarah E. Braddock Clarke
Glossary Sarah E. Braddock Clarke
Bibliography Sarah E. Braddock Clarke
List of Illustrations Sarah E. Braddock Clarke and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo
List of Maps Maps of East to West Silk Trade Routes –Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo
List of Tables Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo
Index Sarah E. Braddock Clarke

Citation preview

BYZANTINE SILK ON THE SILK ROADS

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BYZANTINE SILK ON THE

SILK ROADS Journeys between East and West, Past and Present Edited by SARAH E. BRADDOCK CLARKE AND RYOKO YAMANAKA KONDO

BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY VISUAL ARTS and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2022 Selection, editorial matter, Introductions © Sarah E. Braddock Clarke and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo, 2022 Sarah E. Braddock Clarke and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editors of this work. For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on pp. xv–xvi constitute an extension of this copyright page. Cover design: Adriana Brioso Cover image: Dolce & Gabbana Autumn-Winter 2013–2014, Milan, Italy. (© GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: HB: 978-1-3501-0374-0 PB: 978-1-3500-9933-3 ePDF: 978-1-3500-9931-9 eBook: 978-1-3500-9932-6 Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters.

Sarah E. Braddock Clarke: For Simon Andrew Clarke, Louis Braddock Clarke and Ellise Wedgwood Clarke – with love. Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo: For Hiroyuki Kondo, Professor Shintaro Yamanaka and Moegi Nishioka – with love.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Notes on Contributors Preface Sarah E. Braddock Clarke Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations

Introduction

5

ix xi xv

Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo

xvii

6 1

Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo

1

S ilk Along the Silk Roads: Diversity and Eclecticism

4

Sarah E. Braddock Clarke

2

 ncient Chinese Silk A Textiles: Focusing on Warp-faced Silks

7

Islamic Textiles83

8

On Medieval Lampas: Textiles in the Iberian Peninsula from the Al-Andalus Period97

23

3  A Study of Sassanian 30

Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo

4  Byzantine Brocades: A Contribution from Art History

Four Categories of Ancient and Medieval Classical Figured Textiles: Considering Technical Innovations in the Prologue to the World History of Ancient and Medieval Figured Weaves69 Dr Kazuko Yokohari

Sae Ogasawara

Brocade

The Spread of Byzantine Silk Samite Towards the Jacquard Loom46

Louise W. Mackie

Sílvia Saladrigas Cheng

9 40

Dr Tomoyuki Masuda

vii

Byzantine Court Dress108 Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo

10

Collections of Museums, Cathedrals and Churches132 Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo with Dominique Bénazeth, Toko Hirayama, Dr Rei Ito, Anne Hedeager Krag, Esclarmonde Monteil, Elena Ota, Alexandra Van Puyvelde, Kimberly Randall, Yoko Tanaka and Monica Vroon

11

Pattern and Colour in the Byzantine Empire256 Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo

12

The Spread of Silk to Japan266

13

Warp-faced Brocade in Japan276

14

Ancient Textiles Preserved in Japan, Reborn281

Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo

Shizuo Takata

Byzantine Samite: Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles 294 Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo and Sarah E. Braddock Clarke Glossary  322 Sarah E. Braddock Clarke Bibliography328 Sarah E. Braddock Clarke List of Illustrations340 Sarah E. Braddock Clarke and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo List of Maps Maps of East to West Silk Trade Routes – Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo List of Tables Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo Index370 Sarah E. Braddock Clarke

Kiyoshi Tatsumura

Table of Contents

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CONTRIBUTORS (LISTED IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE IN TEXT)

Sae Ogasawara is Emerita Professor at Japan Women’s University, Tokyo, and Honorary Fellow and Visiting Researcher at Tokyo National Museum. She graduated from the Department of Aesthetics and Art History, Tokyo University of the Arts – Faculty of Fine Arts and has worked as a researcher for Tokyo National Museum and lectured at Tokyo University of the Arts. A specialist in comparative studies of Japanese and Asian textiles, Sae Ogasawara has published widely on textile specialisms – dyed and woven techniques, medieval textiles, the Silk Road and Chinese costume including a contribution to Chinese Costumes: Seven Thousand Years of Chinese Costumes (2015).

Sarah E. Braddock Clarke is Senior Lecturer in Fashion Design at Falmouth University, Cornwall, and a freelance researcher, writer, curator and consultant. She gained her BA (Honours) Degree in Textile Design (specialism: Constructed Textiles for Fashion) from Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, where she was awarded an exchange with the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City, New York. She undertook her MFA Degree specializing in fibre at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her research lies in contemporary/ futures, Eastern/Western design with a focus on materials/ technologies and their applications to fashion/sportswear. She has published widely on textile, fashion and sportswear design and is co-author of Digital Visions for Fashion + Textiles: Made in Code (2012).

Dr Tomoyuki Masuda is a Professor in the Department of Art History at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, where he also gained his BA and MA Degrees. He undertook a Ph.D. at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, within the Department of Art and Archaeology. His professional career consists of Lecturer, Associate Professor and Professor at the Joshibi University of Art and Design, Suginami/Sagamihara, near Tokyo. Tomoyuki Masuda’s research interests focus on the history of Byzantine art and he has written several books on Byzantine art and early Christian art and iconography. He is co-author of History of Western Art, Middle Ages (2016).

Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo is Emerita Professor at Tohoku University of Art and Design, Yamagata, Japan, where she taught Textile Design and History of Decoration. She graduated in Woven Textile Design from Tama Fine Art College, Tokyo, Japan. An invited researcher at the Institute for European, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Waseda University, Tokyo, she is also a member of CIETA. Her particular research focus involves historical and primitive textiles and she has presented papers on Byzantine silk samite to the Institute for European, Medieval and Renaissance Studies and the Japan Society for Medieval European Studies; and published Living Memory of Sina Cloth (2011).

Dr Kazuko Yokohari researches historic textiles with a particular focus on the Silk Roads and has written many papers for Riggisberger Berichte (Abegg-Stiftung – a Swiss

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foundation concerned with historic textiles), the Ancient Orient Museum and the Research Center for Silk Roadology. She studied in the Department of Art History at Ochanomizu University, Tokyo and at Waseda University, Tokyo for her MA and PhD She has been Researcher at the Ancient Orient Museum, Tokyo, a private museum specializing in artefacts from the ancient Near East and Central Asia. Kazuko Yokohari is author of The History of Textile, Silk Road (2001). Louise W. Mackie is a researcher/writer on Islamic textiles. She is Emerita Curator of Textiles and Islamic Art at The Cleveland Museum of Art, and was Department Head and Curator of the Textile and Costume Department at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, and Curator of the Eastern Hemisphere Collections at The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. She served on the Advisory Committee of The Textile Museum and on the Conseil de Direction of CIETA. She co-founded the Textile Society of America and is a 2017 Fellow. She studied Art History at Wells College, Aurora, New York, gained her M.A. in Islamic Art from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and undertook graduate studies at the American University of Cairo, Egypt. Louise W. Mackie has published widely and is author of Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th – 21st Century (2015). Sílvia Saladrigas Cheng is a Textile Researcher/ Documentalist at the Textile Museum and Documentation Centre, Terrassa, near Barcelona, Spain. She gained her Degree in History of Art from the University of Barcelona and Postgraduate Degree in Textile Design from the University of Textile Technology Engineering of Terrassa. Sílvia Saladrigas Cheng studied the technique of historical textiles at CIETA

Contributors

and learned weaving on a pre-Jacquard loom at the Danish Weaving Center. She taught textiles/clothing history at Escola Massana, Barcelona and Escola Superior de Disseny, School of Design, Sabadell, Barcelona. She speaks on courses and at conferences on ancient textiles. Shizuo Takata is Director of The Takata Institute of Japanese Imperial Classical Costume, Tokyo, Japan which was established in 1346. This institute has made the classical costumes used by the Royal Family for ceremonies including enthronements and weddings at the Imperial Household in Japan. Such dedicated work includes the textile patterns and colour schemes for Japanese historic costumes. This institute has successfully restored the weaving of warp-faced brocade using an ancient loom, previously considered impossible. Respected for its meticulous attention to accuracy and detail, this institute investigates and restores historical costume and textiles for the Tokyo National Museum. Kiyoshi Tatsumura is President and Chief Executive Officer of Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd. in Kyoto, Japan that was established in 1894 by the founder Heizō Tatsumura, of whom Kiyoshi Tatsumura is a grandson. He graduated from the Department of Engineering at Doshisha University, Kyoto where he specialized in Mechanical Engineering before joining the family firm. He is also a member of CIETA. Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd. has been involved in major restoration projects including the Shōsō-in at the Tōdai-ji temple and National Treasure at the Hōryū-ji temple, testimony to the esteem in which this company is held for its supreme quality.

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PREFACE SARAH E. BRADDOCK CLARKE

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads: Journeys Between East and West, Past and Present represents a true Eastern/ Western meeting, spanning different places and times, much as the Silk Roads did themselves. The civilization of the Byzantine Empire (330 to 1453) represented a fusion of cultures that lasted over 1,100 years and had strong links with the ancient and well-trodden Silk Roads. This book focuses on silk, a material that has held a strong appeal for centuries, and a specific textile technique called ‘samite’ that has its roots in Sassanid Persia (now Iran); this woven structure had a striking presence throughout Byzantium and a wide dissemination. Different experiences form the backbone of this book where texts from international authors are accompanied with compelling images/patterns gathered from an array of sources. By closely investigating the motifs and their meanings, these relics can be seen to have a contemporary resonance. Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads focuses on the Middle Ages and traces the steps of the Silk Road merchants that spread sericulture from its birthplace in China to the Eastern Mediterranean region and onwards to Western Europe. Encounters took place between such medieval Eurasian cultures with their different ethnicities, disparate histories and seemingly strange customs, traditions, religions and languages. Practised religions of Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and Zoroastrianism as well as interests in Greek/Roman mythologies brought forth a variety of aesthetics. Inspiration came from many cultures – Sassanian, Egyptian, Iranian, Greek, Roman, European,

British, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Evocative imagery includes humans – often portrayed in action, animals and birds – real and fantastical, exotic plants and bold geometrics. East and West converge in the metaphoric that speaks a universal visual language and symbolic imagery celebrates Earth while contemplating a spiritual world beyond. Sarah E. Braddock Clarke, fashion design senior lecturer/researcher, and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo, emerita professor of textile design/history of decoration, have worked together on this book over several years. Author of many publications on textiles and their applications, Sarah E. Braddock Clarke is well known for her insights into East– West cultural connections while Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo has focused her research on Byzantine silk samite and its decorative virtues. Samite is little known, and an aim of this book is to illustrate and discuss its rich history and wide influence. In preparing this book Sarah E. Braddock Clarke and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo have travelled extensively, where their imaginations were furthered as they delved into textile histories and absorbed tales of ancient worlds. Immersing themselves in the experiential present, there exists an elasticity in their thinking that pulls them in many directions. Writing this book has certainly involved many journeys, not only with Sarah E. Braddock Clarke’s visits to Asia and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo’s visits to Europe but also journeys in time that the research necessitates. Desiring the book to have breadth and depth, in keeping with the Byzantine ethos, they invited international writers

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to share their knowledge, expertise and viewpoints. Some illuminate the Byzantine era, observing its wide spread and far-reaching influence, while others focus on a specific weave structure or particular textile pieces. A co-operative work, this book is a collection of texts by erudite researchers, scholars and experts. Alluding to Byzantine mosaics, small pieces join to create an entire picture and tell a complete story; individual elements harmoniously come together, as musicians with a composition. With several Japanese authors, this book offers an alternative eastward shift in contrast to a typically Eurocentric view. Co-edited by Sarah E. Braddock Clarke and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo, who also contribute chapters, the result is a healthy and authoritative mix of dialogues where trans-aesthetics unite. The editors embrace the fact that the United Kingdom is positioned at the Western terminal of the Silk Roads and Japan at the Eastern, reflecting a polar meeting of eyes and minds. These extreme ends are both island nations but neither editors are insular in perspective, but instead take a broad, encompassing view, understanding that what connects us as human beings is creativity and collaboration. This is not a recent phenomenon, as centuries ago, Byzantium considered that art and design interacted within a global realm. Sarah E. Braddock Clarke is originally from Derbyshire where the Derby Silk Museum – Museum of Making is considered the site of the world’s first factory. Now based in Cornwall, she acknowledges the international trading links of this area’s tin and copper that played significant roles in the development of ancient cultures. Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo has her home in Yokohama, a port city on the Bay of Tokyo, which, after a long period of national isolation, opened to foreign trade in 1859. This port became a centre for international silk trade with a warehouse area that once housed mountains of luxurious silks; the Yokohama Silk Museum traces this history. For over fifteen years Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo has gathered images and information on samite, recording these Byzantine Empire textiles. Here, woven silks from museums, cathedrals, churches and archives from the Far East, the Middle East, the Near East, Western Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America are comprehensively tied together. The result is a rare and powerful illustrated assembly of sumptuous fabrics that can be viewed in one fell swoop. Ecclesiastical textiles

Preface

are appraised, archaeological textiles are unearthed and public and private collections opened. Examples of samite have been tracked down and documented including relics found stored in dark cathedral crypts where, unaffected by light damage, they have survived. Highlights include textiles from Japan’s Shōsō-in Treasure House and Italy’s Vatican City. Photographs include close-ups where fine details can be perceived; most of the textiles are in good condition while others, worn down by time, are poignantly fragmented – laid out to envisage their previous union. The reverse of some are shown, exposing secrets of their structures; a bonus for textile designers and aficionados who invariably turn cloth over to learn more. The ancient trade routes of the Silk Roads are some of the most important cultural and material exchanges throughout world history, linking East and West. In this book, the Silk Roads are studied historically, geographically and culturally, with Eastern Japanese and Western European approaches being presented. Attention is given to aesthetics and conversations – bringing past imagery alive and discussing connections that have contemporary validation; not beholden to history, but where history is essential to ongoing debates. People, their lifestyles, places and processes are discussed along with important cultural, social, political, economic and religious issues that formed the communities. Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads takes the reader through various gateways to understand and appreciate the all-embracing ethos of Byzantium. This focus allows an appraisal of silk samite, an engaging woven textile that has a poignant relevance in contemporary visual culture. In terms of learning more about textiles and their various applications, such a study is multi-disciplinary, transformative and visionary, where intersections of design and hybridity are apparent. The Byzantine culture lasted over eleven decades, where their generally positive approaches enabled an open-minded, democratic and holistic consolidation. One of the aims of this book is to increase the installation of global harmony by studying its legendary and long-term success. As well as the distinctions and contrasts between East and West there are also deep-rooted affinities in relation to aesthetics and philosophies. Expressions of identity and society are conveyed in the textiles and fashions to be found in the diverse cultures represented along the Silk Roads. Just as the West enjoyed images of the East,

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so too did the East desire Western styles, and a merging of both also occurred which can be found in delightful juxtapositions. In John M. Steadman’s 1969 book titled The Myth of Asia he puts forward the idea of the underlying similarities of civilization between East and West, writing that they are not necessarily to be viewed in opposition. He presents three Asias: the cultural complex of China and Japan, that of India and its related cultures, and Islam, as the closest to the West. He states: ‘In the European civilizations that dominated the Mediterranean and the Near East in classical antiquity and the Middle Ages – the Hellenistic, the Roman and the Byzantine – the distinction between Europe and Asia became increasingly meaningless.’1 Following these ventures from the East to the West the mystery unravels of the ever-moving Byzantine culture. Worlds of other lands and imaginations is presented to intrigue and entice and the reader can immerse themselves in the beautiful textiles and conjure up the distant places of their origin. The fabrics grab attention, draw in and encourage the reader to learn more about the artisans that created them. Byzantium is brought to life to reveal a melting pot of ideas that inspire and influence; not a typical history of textiles, this book, with its profusion of visually stimulating imagery and patterns, has a visceral slant where romance, poetry, mystery and soul are deeply felt. Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads, with its crosscultural aesthetics, is intended as a visual stimulus and resource for artists, designers, students and professionals, across many design sectors including textiles, fashion, interiors, graphics, computer games, product design, fine art and film. This book adds to the worldwide interest in a Byzantine culture that operated outside of rules, regulations and conventions with an adventurous and dynamic spirit. It is proposed that the East and the West have much to learn from each other; positive cultural assimilation is key, as distinct from cultural appropriation. Between these pages lies the influence of the beautiful, yet oftentimes controversial, Byzantine era that celebrates humankind’s divergencies and similarities. Ideas are put forward for the bettering of futures, where prime historical examples are understood and implemented. Important links between history and the contemporary arena are made and a sense

Preface

of unity offered to a world witnessing social and political polarization. This academic book by textile/fashion enthusiasts, knowledgeable in both the historic and the contemporary, has been thoroughly researched and offers distinct voices from its contributors. This was a book waiting to be written and, we hope, will have great historic value by way of the information and imagery divulged. It is interesting to note that silk still seduces and the ancient Silk Roads continue to intrigue. The contents herein present parallels with the past and the present, the East and the West, the living and the dead. It is hoped that this publication will confirm the legacy of Byzantine silk samite as expressions and communications of creative individuals within strong communities through the ages. Here, these silks are brought to the attention of a twenty-first-century audience to ensure their brilliance does not fade. Why do we travel? What gives us the urge to do so? Humans are social beings; is it therefore an exchange of ideas? Is it the potential for romance and the thrill of adventure? Does the lure of far-flung lands compel us? Is it the moving into unknown territories? Is it the seeking out of distractions and changes from our quotidian existences where routines can take over and dampen spirits? Is it to expand our sense of self? Explorer and travel writer, Dame Freya Madeline Stark reflected on her adventures and meeting people: ‘The love of learning is, indeed, a pleasant and universal bond, since it deals with what one is and not with what one has.’2 Travel writer and novelist Colin Thubron eloquently describes our wish to seek out other places, other peoples: Sometimes a journey arises out of hope and instinct, the heady conviction, as your finger travels along the map: Yes, here and here … and here. These are the nerve-ends of the world … A hundred reasons clamour for your going. You go to touch on human identities, to people an empty map. You have a notion that this is the world’s heart. You go to encounter the protean shapes of faith. You go because you are still young and crave excitement, the crunch of your boots in the dust; you go because you are old and need to understand something before it’s too late. You go to see what will happen.3

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Notes 1 John M. Steadman, The Myth of Asia (London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1969), 186.

Preface

2 Dame Freya M. Stark, The Southern Gates of Arabia: A Journey in Hadhramaut (London: John Murray Publishers Ltd., 1936), 195. 3 Colin Thubron, Shadow of the Silk Road (London: Chatto & Windus, 2006), 1.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Editorial Assistant, who have supported us throughout the venture.

The editors and publisher gratefully acknowledge the permission granted to reproduce the copyright material in this book.

Also, Hannah Crump who met us at the early stages and expressed interest and enthusiasm.

In addition, acknowledgement is given to: Contributors of main texts (in order of chapters): Sae Ogasawara, Dr Tomoyuki Masuda, Dr Kazuko Yokohari, Louise W. Mackie, Sílvia Saladrigas Cheng; Shizuo Takata and Kiyoshi Tatsumura.

Sarah E. Braddock Clarke wishes to personally make her acknowledgements: This has been a different journey for myself. For over three decades I have been an author of books on contemporary textiles and fashion and curator of future-facing exhibitions. Here, a far reach from my usual research avenues, I found myself plunged into deep history. The sense I made of this confirmed my thoughts that in order to contemplate the future and understand the present it is necessary to reflect on the past. In my study of Byzantine silks and their applications I have been introduced to different cultures, museums and archives that have enriched my comprehension of the decorative arts and their significance in creative expression. The sheer splendour of Byzantium and the Silk Roads intrigue with their mystery, stories of myths and real-life adventures, drama and elegance – all to be found within this book. Existing over a millennium ago, the Silk Roads and their myriad of routes trodden and seas sailed influenced the world, bringing luxuries and richness from afar. With such journeys in mind, I wish to thank Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo, Hiroyuki Kondo, Moegi Nishioka, Shunji Nishioka and Nagi Nishioka for their welcome and generous hospitality during my visits to Japan.

Contributors of Chapter 10: Collections of Museums, Cathedrals and Churches (in alphabetical order): Dominique Bénazeth, Toko Hirayama, Dr Rei Ito, Anne Hedeager Krag, Esclarmonde Monteil, Elena Ota, Alexandra Van Puyvelde, Kimberly Randall, Yoko Tanaka and Monica Vroon. Contributors of photographs (in alphabetical order): Dr Tomoyuki Masuda; Sae Ogasawara; Shizuo Takata; Kiyoshi Tatsumura; Dr Kazuko Yokohari and museums, archives and picture agencies. Contributor of illustrations: Hiromi Yoshihara. Contributor Yamashiro.

of

digital

image

processing:

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Contributor of translations: Fontaine Limited, Kyoto Costume Institute; Edited by Cactus. At Bloomsbury Publishing: Frances Arnold, Editorial Director (Visual Arts) and Publisher (Fashion), Rebecca Hamilton, Editorial Assistant (Fashion and Textiles), and Yvonne Thouroude,

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Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo wishes to personally make her acknowledgements: More than ten years ago, having published a book on unbleached, plain Linden cloth, I started conducting research on what could be considered its complete antithesis: Byzantine silk brocades covered in colourful patterns. Each encounter with Byzantine silk brocades in places such as art museums, cathedrals and libraries around the world were a fresh surprise, which enchanted me in a way that could not be captured by the documentation about them. The Byzantine Empire, which has a long history that is only preceded by that of Egypt and China, always maintained its position as a leader in fashion. The Byzantine sense of beauty was reaffirmed for me, which at the time tended to express elegance and enjoyment through ostentatious displays of power. I captured images with my camera because I had a strong intrinsic desire to share my experience with a large number of people, and I was so pleased when Bloomsbury Visual Arts proposed to publish my images in full colour. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation for the warm cooperation that I received from many people when collecting materials: people working in art museums and libraries, especially the director of the Vatican Museums,

as well as curators and bishops in cathedrals and churches. I was also able to enrich the content through the participation of authors carrying out research about the Silk Roads, China, Spain and Japan. During editing, I received the enthusiastic support of the staff at Masuda Laboratory, Waseda University, as well as support from illustrators and others. With the support of many people, I wrote this book to deepen the understanding about the Byzantine Empire and its 1,100-year-long legacy. I am so grateful to you for reading this book, and I would love to hear any views you would like to share. The third party copyright material displayed in the pages of this book are done so on the basis of ‘fair dealing for the purposes of criticism and review’ or ‘fair use for the purposes of teaching, criticism, scholarship or research’ only in accordance with international copyright laws, and is not intended to infringe upon the ownership rights of the original owners. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. However, if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased, if notified of any omissions, to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity.

Acknowledgements

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AEDTA Association pour l’Étude et la Documentation des Textiles d’Asie BRI Belt and Road Initiative CIETA Centre International d’Étude des Textiles Anciens

United Nations UN UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization For explanations of acronyms of source locations, please see Chapter 10, p. 132.

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Map 1  Production Map of Figured Silk. © Getty Images/lukbar.

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Introduction RYOKO YAMANAKA KONDO

witty and ingenious elements that delighted everyone who saw them. Rather than attempting to achieve perfection of naturalistic representation, figures were altered to express the impression of the subject as perceived, capturing the hearts and minds of viewers. This uninhibited approach is a universal starting point for art, and can be seen as common to both these brocades and today’s contemporary art and design. The figured brocade of the Byzantine era that was dispersed around the world is now to be found in the collections of museums, church treasuries and archives. Quality silk brocade of the Byzantine period was said to be worth more than its weight in gold, and a substantial proportion of the extant examples are known to have been plundered from the Fourth Crusade. Many fragments are displayed in art museums and churches associated with the Crusaders. The techniques spread first to the Arab and Islamic worlds after the eighth century, later reaching Italy from Spain. From the twelfth to fifteenth centuries, the political power of Roman Catholic popes and bishops grew.

Byzantine arts and crafts developed over a period of more than 1,100 years, but were dispersed when the Byzantine Empire came to an end, with very few historical materials now remaining. Despite their high aesthetic value, incorporating elements from both East and West, this situation has made it difficult to systematically understand and properly assess them. Thinking of history as a continuous stream of present periods of time, this book considers Byzantine decoration from a current-day perspective. Its particular focus is on figured brocade created using the state-of-the-art weaving techniques of the period. The silk textiles that represent the splendour of Byzantine art had a wide-ranging influence on society in medieval Western Europe. Byzantine decoration became the most advanced fashion of the time. The Byzantine figured brocade that inspired so much envy was marked by originality that outshone textiles produced in other regions. The compositions of the figures were bold, luxurious and flamboyant; moreover, they incorporated

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They sought decorative textiles and vestments appropriate for their status, and they seem to have occasionally placed orders for silk brocade from Byzantium, Spain and Central Asia. During the same period, brocades were also produced to meet orders from wealthy secular individuals. As a result, brocades with Byzantine influence produced in Central Asia exist around the world today. Also remaining, and of the same period, are many small fragments that were used as currency in the same way as coins. For over a decade, author Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo visited institutions around the world to research Byzantineera silks, and has accumulated images and documents with the cooperation of each institution. Research into individual collections has been in process for the last 100 years, and some of the older documentation is now in need of revision. This body of research provided data relating to the origins of each collection as well as data relating to organization charts of textiles and the fragment shapes. An aim of this publication is to produce a comprehensive compilation of this information, providing as far as possible an overall picture of silk textiles from the Byzantine era. Many specialist books about Byzantine silk textiles, including those by Otto von Falke, Julius Lessing, Raymond Cox and Gaston Migeon, were published before the Second World War, but apart from those by Anna Muthesius, no publications providing a substantial overview have been published in the post-war period. Most publications on the history of textiles say a limited amount about the Byzantine era, and many tend to present the same fragments to illustrate the period. In order to gain an overall picture of Byzantine-era figured brocade and to verify the information provided, Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo analysed and categorized details of the figures on the fragments seen in the collections covered by her research. The findings of research conducted by museums were of great assistance during that process. Next, Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo delved into questions of how the highly original, beautiful and varied patterns of Byzantine silks were formed, and how such incomparable splendour influenced and spread to neighbouring regions. With reference to the figured brocade production dates specified in documents concerning their history left by earlier researchers, the historical context for such characteristics was also studied. This research resulted in the Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles that stretches over several pages of this book.

In order to appraise the historical in the light of the twenty-first century, author Sarah E. Braddock Clarke discusses the influence of the Byzantine era as being alive and relevant. She demonstrates that these visually appealing woven silk designs with their emphasis on the mythical and the imaginative inspire today’s diverse and eclectic creative world. An approach that merges East and West influences is evidenced by rich and varied imagery that indicates the borderless terrains along the Silk Roads. The multi-faceted attractions of Byzantine silks are further clarified by the contributions of experts with deep knowledge of specific fields. Regarding China, Sae Ogasawara, the supervising editor of Chugoku Kinuorimono Zenshi (Seven Thousand Years of Chinese Costumes), provides a brief history of silk in China from its origins to the stage when brocades took form. Warp-faced weaving techniques transmitted to Japan at the eastern end of the Silk Road in the eighth century are still used by the Imperial Household today for official events. The current weaver and a specialist in the history of decorative textiles, Shizuo Takata, offers a description of such weaving as it is performed today. For comparison, a chapter has been included on Sassanian silks, which were produced by an imperial power competing with Byzantium. For a broad perspective, Tomoyuki Masuda, who has written many books on Byzantine art, presents an article about the close relationship between Byzantine art and silk textiles. For the main theme of Byzantine brocades, Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo has produced a description of how these textiles developed and changed over the centuries, incorporating many images. This examines how the brocades varied in accordance with the climate, the natural features and the religious and social contexts of each location involved in that process of propagation. It also describes how the figured brocades favoured by persons in authority changed greatly according to their tastes. Textile researcher Kazuko Yokohari gives details of how the circumstances and techniques behind silk brocades developed as they passed along the Silk Roads. Descriptions of the Islamic silks that resulted from a sudden transformation of Byzantine silks in the Arab and Islamic world from the eighth century are provided in a chapter by Louise W. Mackie, the author of Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th to 21st Century. Furthermore, textile researcher Sílvia Saladrigas Cheng contributes a chapter on the lampas silk

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fabric techniques of Spain and Italy that resulted from transmission via the Islamic world during the Late Medieval period. The texts on medieval brocades are followed by details of collections at thirty-three locations, including art museums, cathedral treasuries, churches and libraries, consisting primarily of photographs and documents. Where these collections have specific origins, such as at the Louvre Museum, Paris, curators working on the collection have graciously provided descriptions. If a document has already been published, it is included here. In addition, a study is presented that focuses on figures typical of the Byzantine era and associated fragments to investigate transformations over time. Such fragments are examined in detail to explore their origins. A number of contemporaneous images of clothing and decorative textiles in use still exist, and these are also shown here, providing practical hints as to how the silk textiles were actually used. Finally, Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo writes about textiles in the Shoˉsoˉ-in repository that have been carefully preserved for over 1,000 years as a part of Japan’s Imperial collection. An outline of how such textiles were reproduced for use in today’s circumstances is given in a chapter by Kiyoshi Tatsumura, who is involved in their recreation.

The examination of figured brocades in this publication goes beyond the history of textiles, extending to art history and the history of the medieval period, in order to provide a comprehensive consideration of the functions of silk brocades in the Byzantine era. The clothing worn by the kings and queens, emperors and empresses, courtiers and priests who took centre stage in society at that time had a different role from that of the contemporary fashion world. The analysis of silk brocades through an investigation of compositions, colours, textures and techniques produces a picture of the detailed material differences between each individual period. This analysis has the potential to provide new clues to understanding the characteristics of each. Specifically, the wealth of information conveyed by the shapes and forms of figured brocades can be expected to help in understanding movements in medieval Eurasian cultures. Furthermore, the witty and boldly executed Byzantine figures are still perceived as attractive to a broad swathe of contemporary society, and it is proposed that they can provide new stimulus to those working in creative sectors currently.

Introduction

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Silk Along the Silk Roads: Diversity and Eclecticism SARAH E. BRADDOCK CLARKE

Pinpointing Byzantium: A Lost Culture Regained

the frailties of human existence and the frustrations of being elderly in a world where only youth is valued. Having a twenty-first century resonance, the opening line brings to mind Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel and the 2007 film by Joel and Ethan Coen, both titled ‘No Country for Old Men’. Embracing a multiplicity and thriving on connections embedded within humanist traditions, Byzantine culture was trans-historical, inter-continental, cross-cultural and multi-dimensional, with diversity and eclecticism at its core. Celebratory, creative and cosmopolitan, open-minded and forward-thinking, this era was also mysterious and in a constant state of flux, containing inconsistencies that make it hard to pin down. Following a journey from the East to the West untangles these ever-evolving approaches. A materially rich state, the Byzantine Empire traded in woven silks from East to West, building and strengthening its position by supplying these luxuries. Textile treasures were transported along the infamous Silk Roads and were seen as the ultimate commodity – paramount in importance to global trade, economies, social change and new aesthetics. Byzantine silks, and especially those emanating from the Imperial

‘Byzantium means more than wealth, mastery of the sea and the exercise of imperial power (…) Byzantium is also hard to grasp, difficult to place and can be obscure (…) It remains hidden behind the glories of its medieval art: the gold, mosaics, silks and imperial palaces.’1 Byzantine artisans created a metaphysical space between Earth and the heavens drawing together reality and imagination; it was enigmatic and possessed spiritual presence. William Butler Yeats devised his 1927 transcendental poem Sailing to Byzantium when he was in his early sixties, opening with: ‘That is no country for old men (…)’ and continuing: ‘And therefore I have sailed the seas and come To the holy city of Byzantium.’2 The title evokes travelling to an age-old civilization, a fabled city of excess, steeped in wonder, but the content, conveyed as a metaphor for a spiritual journey, speaks of

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Court, played a major part in establishing ‘style trends’ in silk weaving. A wonderful example of a palimpsest, the Byzantines drew from a mosaic-like mix of genres to convey multiple meanings. Not adhering to rules and refusing to see barriers they moved swiftly across a range of decorative styles. Such variations kept their culture alive for over 1,100 years, leaving behind a defined legacy where their love for colour, imagery and pattern was spread far and wide. Its enduring impression is seen in contemporary design where historic imagery is reinterpreted, while maintaining traces of its origins. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are fascinated with Byzantine culture and have paid tribute in several of their collections that use vivid colour, printed imagery and hand ornamentation. Silk is used in its many forms – brocade, Jacquard, organza, tulle and lace, frequently ornamented with metallic thread embroidery and applied crystals, paillettes, beads, mother-of-pearl encrusted stones and pearls. The Dolce & Gabbana3 Autumn/ Winter 2013/2014 prêt-à-porter collection was instigated upon seeing the twelfth-century Byzantine mosaics of the Cathedral of Monreale, near Palermo, Sicily that illustrate Emperor Justinian, Empress Theodora, heavenly saints, and both real and imaginary animals in tesserae. Byzantium was a Christian theocracy, the church interacting as a divine bond between the terrestrial and the celestial; weavers made images of prophets and scenes from the Bible, such as the Annunciation and the Nativity, for Christian patrons. Both Dolce and Gabbana had Catholic upbringings and are devout Catholics; a faith that is frequently visualized in their ecclesiastical references. Here, Roman Catholic Church vestments are inferred in silhouettes that act as canvasses for polychrome printed imagery. A dress that comes to mid-calf depicts the Virgin Mary (patron saint of Constantinople) in draped robes of dark blue featuring gold stars and a stylized floral border print at the hem. The dress is embellished with crystals, beads, stones and paillettes and the dramatic look is accessorized with a gold diadem, large cross earrings and embellished footwear. Blue is a colour associated with royalty in the Byzantine Empire, and here signifies the Virgin Mary’s virtue and humility, as well as being the colour of the sky and heavens; such intense blues were obtained using imported indigo leaves from China and Japan. In another look, a garment has strong geometric patterns in rich reds and golds with border prints at the cuffs and hem.

Silk Stories and Silk Roads: Traversing Harsh Lands, Riding Monsoon Winds Silk, a natural protein fibre of ancient Chinese origin, holds great allure and has stood the test of time – yarn obtained from a silkworm’s cocoon, conveniently already spun, is woven into fabric to clothe Byzantine emperors and empresses. James C. Y. Watt stated in his foreword for Chinese Silks:

Silk is as old as Chinese civilization. For thousands of years, since the Middle Neolithic era, it was an essential part of Chinese material culture, and was intimately related to the daily life of all social classes, from the people who worked on the production of silk and silk fabrics to the wearers of silk dresses. Beyond its practical use, it was appreciated for its aesthetic and tactile qualities.4 Silk fabric was coveted in Rome before the Common Era (CE) and Roman politician Julius Caesar was particularly captivated. This could be seen as the start of the luxury industry as this obsession, for both men and women, continued and an edict given: ‘So pervasive was the new fashion that in 14 BCE Rome’s Senate was obliged to issue a ban against men “disgracing themselves with the effeminate delicacy of silk apparel”, but to little effort it seems.’5 On Chinese silks being beguiling, or even improper, Roman scholar Pliny the Elder remarked in his 50 CE publication Natural History: A Selection: ‘While they cover a woman, at the same moment [they] reveal her naked charms.’6 Roman commentator Seneca in 1 CE disapproved of women wearing silk and stated in his writings On Benefits: ‘silk garments provide no protection for the body, or indeed modesty, so that when a woman wears them she can scarcely (…) swear that she is not naked.’7 The first century saw increased silk trade between the East and Rome and in Natural History: A Selection, Pliny the Elder commented on the insatiable appetite among the Ancient Romans for luxury goods, such as Chinese silks in Italian markets: ‘We have come now to see (…) journeys made to Seres [China] to obtain cloth, the abysses of the Red Sea explored for pearls, and the depths

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Figure 1.1  Dolce & Gabbana. Autumn/Winter 2013/2014, womenswear, prêt-à-porter. Photograph by Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images.

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of the earth scoured for emeralds.’8 Italy is well-placed between Eastern and Western cultures and Anne McClanan wrote in The Art, Science and Technology of Medieval Travel that silks were ‘brought to central Italy through the busy conduit of trade provided by the Silk Road’.9 The Byzantine Empire had strong links with the great Silk Roads that allowed dissemination between the East and West of ideas, philosophies, politics, societies, cultures, identities, scientific advances, materials, techniques, processes and products. Such products included the namesake silks, pearls, gold, silver and spices – a rich assault for the senses. Not uni-directional, trade routes operated in both directions, with merchants tending to travel sections, usually between two commercial centres. Sprawling networks, both terrestrial and maritime, these interconnections crossed continents and oceans, having strong physical presences and infrastructures. Their reach was vast and through them people became aware of the customs, traditions, religions and cultures of other lands. The name suggests the importance given to material culture, with silk as a mainstay, literally seaming disparate cultures. The name Seidenstrasse(n) (from German to English this translates as Silk Road(s)) is a relatively modern term coined in 1877 by Prussian geologist/geographer Baron Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen. A scholar ahead of his time he undertook several expeditions to China and published his findings in five volumes; the first volume, China, writes of climate change, wind erosion blowing sediment from Central Asia and causing soil build-up on China’s eastern plains, and physical and human geographies: ‘a significant part of his introduction to China is really a history of human activity across Eurasia, a history of travel, exploration, and the exchange of cultural information. In short, even though he barely employs the term, it is a history of the Silk Roads.’10 Democratic in its sweep, nebulous, and deviating from the norm with a myriad of approaches, the Silk Roads gave precedence to the unconventional and unexpected. There is much in common with today’s intermingling of cultures that honours change and values inclusion. In the twenty-first century, international trade routes are being resurrected and revived, like the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes, and extended. UNESCO11 have initiated projects where multinational experts look at the Silk Roads’ historical importance and consider its development, and the UN12 World Tourism organization has an international Silk Road

committee. The World Heritage Committee,13 the British Council14 and the Japan Foundation15 are other important institutions working to establish improved dialogues and relations. Numerous developments are underway, including road, rail and sea routes to create meshes and networks. In 2013, President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping proposed his Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)16 that involves bilateral projects to improve connectivity and cooperation between nations on a trans-continental stage (‘Belt’ refers to land-based routes and ‘Road’ to sea-based). This ambitious venture, the New Silk Road is also the name for China Railway’s direct rail freight service joining China’s eastern city of Yiwu with Barking, East London. A Polar Silk Road17 of Arctic shipping lanes has enabled access to, and movement through, previously frozen territories, partly due to global warming. Also, responding to increasing e-commerce, a Digital Silk Road18 is improving and strengthening internet infrastructures to enable the digital technology of cyberspace to work within superfast, information-rich zones. The Silk Roads began as vibrant, land-based trails where twisting caravans marked the comings and goings of merchants with their camels – ‘ships of the desert’. Journeys were often fraught, involving navigation across demanding, and vulnerable terrains of mountain ranges, deserts, dunes, steppes, valleys and plains. Traders would rest in community encampments, often at important junctions and oases, where they imparted stories of their trials and tribulations, and forebodings – often of the much-feared Taklamakan Desert, whose name alludes to ‘go in and you will never come out’. The lives of the merchants, being nomadic, were rich in history, myths and folklore and storytelling was rife with a plethora of metaphors and symbolism. Terrestrial tracks were followed by maritime passages across oceans, seas and straits, occurring at a time of advancements in ship-building and navigational technologies. Riding monsoon winds across the Arabian Sea to the west coast of India was fast and efficient as traders could sail the high seas rather than travelling between ports. There was a fascination in Medieval Europe for tales of adventures, tapestries that were (inter)laced with notions of the ‘other’ – of people with different modes of dress and customs, and strange animals. An example, still capturing contemporary imaginations, is the collection of eighthcentury Middle Eastern tales One Thousand and One Nights19, where highly visual yarns reference shape-shifters

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as beings with supernatural powers and many animal fables are relayed – parallels can be drawn with the narrative content of Byzantine silks. Today, Silk Road merchants have largely been replaced by business agents from various industries, including textiles and fashion where sustainability and e-commerce have caused a major shift towards online purchases and resales. Edward W. Said declared the importance of medieval texts in his influential 1978 book Orientalism, where their descriptions of alternative ways of living are considered useful aids to the West’s understanding of the East: ‘The Orient is an integral part of European material civilization and culture.’20 His later 1993 book Culture and Imperialism considered the roots of European culture when he acknowledged the importance of the narrative: ‘stories are at the heart of what explorers and novelists say about strange regions of the world.’21 Furthermore, Andrew Bolton stated: ‘The art of the Middle Ages is an art of storytelling, and (…) attest[s] to the narrative infrastructure of Catholicism, as well as of related eastern Orthodox traditions that developed in the Byzantine Empire.’22 The caravanserais, early roadside inns, became centres of commerce with traditional open-air bazaars establishing a consumer society. Settlements grew to become wealthy cities, hubs of learning with intellectual debate that depended on the Silk Roads for communications. These early cities existed for centuries, even millennia and some are legendary – Byzantium that became Constantinople, now Istanbul in Turkey, and Samarkand and Bukhara in Uzbekistan, both of ancient Sogdian origin. Byzantium’s inhabitants were culturally diverse and their divergent aesthetics, approaches, traditions, languages and lifestyles merged. Exchanges in knowledge and beliefs had an enormous effect on the history and civilization of both Europe and Eurasia, with Europe owing much to the Silk Roads – without its impact, the Western world as we know it today, would not exist. Ideas of governing, sovereignty, diplomacy and bureaucracy emanate from Byzantine thought, along with issues that we associate with the more contemporary – cultural inclusivity and gender equality. Change was omnipresent and around 324 the Western Roman Empire noticed the favourable geographical location of Byzantium. They transferred the Eastern Roman Empire from Rome to this site, a port city with a natural harbour, once an ancient Greek colony. Emperor Constantine I, the first emperor of the Byzantine Empire,

re-inaugurated Byzantium in 330 as a sacred city of Christianity, renaming it ‘Constantinople’, and it was this locus that became the source of Byzantium’s spiritual philosophy. On the Bosphorus Strait, straddling both Asia and Europe, Constantinople was ideally positioned at the crossroads of both land and sea routes and at the heart of the Silk Roads’ span. Bridging East and West, it was perfect for trade and superbly aligned for power and wealth. John Julius Norwich wrote in his 1988 book Byzantium: The Early Centuries: The ‘new city of Constantinople became both the centre of the late Roman world and the most splendid metropolis known to mankind’.23 Being the centre of the Byzantine Empire, and therefore European civilization, provided confidence to its rulers and subjects. A string of emperors and co-emperors followed, with Emperor Justinian I being instrumental in bringing sericulture to the Byzantine Empire around 552, founding a silk industry with a highly-controlled hierarchy. ‘Byzantium was an autocracy, ruled by an Emperor half-way to heaven (…) Some of these Emperors were heroes, others were monsters; but they were never, never dull.’24

Coalescing Fashions: The Material and Immaterial Unfolded Fashion, an expression of self-representations and societies, has long salvaged from different cultures – observing, borrowing, utilizing and reshaping, with Western textiles and fashion seeking inspiration from the halcyon Byzantine era. This era exerts a strong contemporary influence, just as Paris impacted on the fashion world during the early twentieth century. Unsurprisingly, dress codes have changed from the fourth to the twenty-first centuries. However, there are also commonalities: the elegance of medieval clothes with their high-on-the-neck, sleeves-to-the-wrists, and floor-sweeping robes find parallels in contemporary clothing’s move to more modest dressing, covered-up and layered with comfort and ease built-in for over-sized and gender-neutral looks. The contemporary fashion industry addresses diversity, a core value that the Byzantine culture presented centuries ago. Storytelling and image-making with Byzantine roots are being revisited in many contemporary fashion collections where sartorial coding of signifiers and the signified abound, melding imagery and speaking of things past. Most

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champion the transformative power of fashion to visualize and affirm new identities. Interiors of Byzantine places of worship often had richly coloured mosaics where light-reflecting tesserae conjured the ephemeral nature of Heaven and Paradise. Writing around the year 500, Christian theologian/philosopher Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite put forward that to attain the heights of the spiritual realm it was necessary to be guided through the material, where the mind focused to contemplate the immaterial.25 Many twentieth- and twentyfirst-century fashion designers have presented collections based on Byzantine style and especially its mosaics. Evoking the fashions of the time, mosaics captured the social and cultural elite – emperors and empresses in all their glory, chronicling the lives they lived. Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia, Ravenna’s Basilica of San Vitale, the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, also in Ravenna, and the Cathedral of Monreale, each have magnificent Byzantine mosaics. Created by skilled artisans using precious materials of marble, bronze and lapis lazuli they are finely detailed and appear as woven fabrics. The Basilica of San Vitale’s simple exterior contrasts with its interior mosaics, suggesting the physical body and its spiritual reach respectively. Two mosaics flank the altar featuring Emperor Justinian (left), Empress Theodora (right), and their entourages. The couple’s dark purple silk robes denote power and their golden halos spirituality. Faces are detailed where dimensional nuances are captured, and fabric interpretation comes alive with textures and light-reflecting qualities. Ravenna’s mosaics have inspired fashion designers worldwide; Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel26 visited on an inspiration visit with Duke Fulco di Verdura in 1930 and was especially interested in the portrayal of Empress Theodora. Years later, Karl Lagerfeld fused the lost culture of Byzantium with 1960s references in Chanel’s Métiers d’art Pre-fall 2011 collection entitled Paris-Byzance. Empress Theodora had a ‘rags to riches’ story and a parallel is implied to that of Gabrielle Chanel’s own past. Characteristic Chanel tweed captured the look of tesserae resulting in square-shaped patterns. The garment was adorned with polychrome jewels giving light-reflecting tones in homage to Chanel’s love of Byzantine-style jewellery. Celebrating the past, the work of artisans associated with the House of Chanel are shown to advantage, where their attention to detail is in keeping with the high level of Byzantine craftsmanship.

In Italian fashion, religion often plays a powerful role and Gianni Versace, favouring rich imagery and embellishment, referenced the elaborate mosaics of the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo for his Autumn/Winter 1991/1992 prêt-à-porter collection. Stylized Byzantine icons featured on garments that were heavily-embellished with crystals; Catholicism was part of Gianni and Donatella Versace’s upbringing and through that they absorbed such symbolic imagery. Gianni Versace27 visited The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 1997 exhibition The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era: A.D. 843–1261,28 motivating him to work with lavish materials for his Autumn/Winter 1997/1998 haute couture collection, his final work, that exuded grandeur. He communicated carnality and sensuality with metal mesh, silk charmeuse and applied amber glass crystals for a shimmering gold evening dress that resembled contemporary chainmail and yet draped like bias-cut silk; the wearer being irradiated by its glow. Recalling a Byzantine processional cross, a highly decorated emblem is wrought large across the body as defining imagery. Gold is impressive and plays a significant part in the Byzantine vision imbuing power, status, age and wisdom, as well as symbolizing Christ’s rebirth. A transformative, almost metaphysical, quality is imparted by an emanating radiance making the wearer of gold robes appear sublime, as if they could transcend towards the heavens. Byzantine fashion began in the fourth century when the Imperial Court and aristocracy led regal lifestyles, setting the style for sartorial choices. Robes of decorative silks were worn by elite dignitaries: secular rulers – emperors, empresses, the court and nobles. In addition, ecclesiastical leaders donned silk brocade vestments that proclaimed their elevated status. For both court and religious arenas, silhouettes tended towards simply-cut, body-covering garments – ideal for portraying large-scale motifs, repeats and borders. Eastern-influenced elements were adopted, such as silk woven fabrics with striking imagery and patterns in audacious colours. Purple was paramount to the Byzantine Empire and favoured in all its shades, but especially popular was a scintillating fade-resistant reddish-purple extracted from the marine snail Bolinus brandaris (formerly known as Murex brandaris). Originally produced in the ancient port city of Tyre in Lebanon, strict guidelines were in place for who could wear ‘Tyrian purple’. Embellishment was lavish with metallic embroidery and

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Figure 1.2  Karl Lagerfeld for the House of Chanel. Pre-fall 2011. Photograph by François Guillot/AFP/Getty Images.

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Figure 1.3  Gianni Versace. Autumn/Winter 1997/1998, womenswear, haute couture. Photograph by Niall McInerney. © Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

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jewel-encrusted decoration using filigree gold, silver-gilt, cloisonné enamels, rock crystal cabochons and precious/ semi-precious stones – amethysts, emeralds, sapphires and pearls. To complete the ornate decoration, head-dresses with veils, diadems (jewelled crowns or headbands), and long, dangling pearl earrings were worn. It is this sense of head to toe opulence that has attracted fashion designers to the Byzantine. Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe for centuries, remaining the seat of the Byzantine Empire from 330 to 1453 and revelling in a golden age from the sixth century, when Justinian I ruled. In China, woven silks continued to develop and evolve, maintaining them as a desirable commodity: ‘Exquisite textiles such as brocade, tapestry, and embroidered silk cloth, which demanded complicated looms, high technical skill and a sophisticated division of labor, were mainly the products of large workshops under government control.’29 Detailed rules were drawn up for the wearing of clothes; Constantine VII wrote or commissioned the tenth-century Book of Ceremonies30 where dictums set forth elaborate hierarchies of dress codes. The Byzantine period reached a pinnacle in the early thirteenth century, the light of this admirable period extinguished in 1453 when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. Samite is often mentioned in medieval texts, ‘The weftfaced compound-twill weave is capable of suspending accurate interpretations of imagery due to an advanced technique using drawlooms. This is a weave structure first associated with Sassanid Persia, the pattern is indebted to the same culture.’31 Despite being rooted in a strict geometric system of construction, expressive imagery emerged where fine, strong, lustrous silk was well-suited. The inherent diagonal structure is revealed and both the textiles’ face and reverse are covered by weft threads using binding warp threads – the weft holds the motifs. The reverse side of a true samite has no floating weft threads, instead they are interlocked within the weave to create a dense textile, resistant to decay. Examples have survived – their energetic imagery and descriptive textures continuing to delight contemporary audiences. Samite would have been considered in a way similar to current fashion collections – that elicit a need to possess – and Byzantines enjoyed sumptuous colours that announced hierarchies. Natural dyes (plants, insects, minerals) were used to achieve key colours of violet/purple, gold, red and blue, and silk readily took dye up to achieve retina-searing intensities that enhanced

complex imagery. Colour was heavily coded within imperial and ecclesiastical worlds; generally, the deeper the colour, the more prestige was attached, such distinctions of status giving order to the Empire.

Imagining New Natures: Beasts, Birds, Hybrids and Harbingers Byzantines had a unique way of showing accordance with their world, with an all-encompassing approach that resulted in vivacious imagery which displayed visual rhythm. Ever searching for the new, they developed a stylized aesthetic made manifest in samite, amalgamating images/patterns to reflect their ideas, beliefs and ambitions. The imagery used on these silk textiles recorded the worlds of the people who designed them, revealing humanity in all its guises, from saints to emperors to hunters, as well as displaying the artistic mode of the time. Also evident was a strong connection to animals and birds, with their imagery often dating back to ancient times; myths and biophilia were conveyed with prevalent images of trees, plants, flowers, fruit and foliage. The history of Byzantium is in line with the Japanese Song dynasty (960 to 1279), when the concept of wabi-sabi most likely began with its appreciation of nature and acceptance of change. Medieval artisans also delved into their imaginations to create unbounded realms of fantasy, merging the secular and the religious by combining the natural, supernatural and spiritual. Venetian merchant Marco Polo travelled the Silk Roads to Asia between 1271 and 1295, living there for seventeen of those years; his writings were considered instrumental in revealing details of life in the East to the people of the West.32 Observing the commerce between Persia and China, and marvelling at the silks he saw in the bazaars he desired textiles that were ‘richly wrought with figures of beasts and birds’.33 Alexander McQueen’s34 Autumn/Winter 2010/2011 prêt-à-porter collection was posthumously titled Angels and Demons after his death in February 2010. Here, his last collection, took inspiration from Byzantine art. Symmetrical feline imagery in a bold scale with a stylized border makes a strong impact, worn over a gold bejewelled top, accessorized with over-the-knee boots. Volumetric silhouettes followed medieval proportions utilizing polychrome silk digital Jacquards, vintage brocades and

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Figure 1.4  Alexander McQueen. Autumn/Winter 2010/2011, prêt-à-porter. Photograph by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images.

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silk satins. A dramatic red coat made of silk and metallic thread in a twill weave, has exaggerated flared sleeves and is cinched at the waist by a leather belt. The preference for purple in the Byzantine era was at odds with Confucian values that considered red, being a primary colour, the purest and most virtuous. When the knowledge of achieving purple dye was lost with the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Roman Catholic Church chose scarlet for its cardinals, symbolizing blood, divine love, compassion and fire. Deep reds were obtained using dried/ crushed insects (cochineal/carmine/kermes) or plant-based roots (madder). Pictorial and narrative in content, imagery was often symbolic – the meanings waiting to be deciphered. Images of good luck were used, such as those from China’s Han dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE), considered a golden age in Chinese history. ‘In Han times, artisans who wove multi-coloured brocade fabrics liked to place auspicious characters for longevity and prosperity among lively animal motifs.’35 Chinese, both young and old, tend to be superstitious, believing in yù yì (translates from Chinese to English as connotation), a metaphor behind the actual object. Its use is apparent in all areas of life in China, from birth to death, where symbolism is generally rooted in Chinese folk culture. The images might be propitious, convey happiness or chase away evils. Images of birds were harbingers of good fortune and metaphors for the soul: ‘Thus, the empty cages and the birds dispersed in the foliage could refer to a paradise in which souls might flutter in the branches, like birds free from incarceration.’36 They express freedom, especially when presented flying and serving as messengers between different states, alluding to spiritual dimensions. Italian fashion house Valentino,37 founded by Valentino Garavani, has often used the Byzantine era and its associated imagery as inspiration. The Spring 2016 haute couture collection designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli looked to the Byzantine Empire and to Mariano Fortuny’s mix of Eastern-influenced Byzantine and Western-influenced classic aesthetics. An evening dress has large-scale peacock imagery embroidered on silk tulle, its distinctive tail feathers spread in majestic display. The peacock has its origins in South Asia, immediately recognizable due to its iridescent colouring, metallic sheen, ornate patterns, distinctive crown feathers and resplendent fan-like tail. In Byzantine culture it symbolizes power, but also vanity and

was typically presented standing formally in a frontal pose, its tail feathers spread out symmetrically behind to create a semi-circle, resembling a halo. For Romans, the peacock represented immortality, and for Muslims, the Universe as the spread circular form of tail feathers conjured up the Sun or full Moon. Some cultures believe the ends of peacock feathers betoken the evil eye of the female demon Lilith, a harbinger of bad luck, misfortune and death. However, the peacock is generally seen as a bringer of good fortune and closely linked to imperiality. The clothing is accessorized by a body chain with spiral motifs and a gold writhing snake headpiece. When explorers of the New World described animals they had seen, their accounts of extraordinary beasts stirred imaginations. Artists would attempt a facsimile with known animals but, as they were unable to use direct observations, concocted forms sprung up. Illustrators gathered information – assembling and interpreting from stories to create fabulous blends of the familiar and the strange, some benign, some terrifying. In his introduction to The Travels of Sir John Mandeville the translator Charles William Reuben Dutten Moseley stated: ‘Written accounts from travellers, historians, and others towards the later Middle Ages explored diverse approaches to describing, chronicling or recording journeys taken and those merely imagined (…) Both Marco Polo’s travelogue and the book of John Mandeville, for example, portray various beasts and peoples who are monstrous in appearance and behaviour.’38 Make-believe was part of the Byzantine consciousness and hybrids were popular. Most were benevolent and beneficent winged creatures, part-animal, part-bird, that have a modern relevance in which the underlying symbolism still echoes. The Surrealists for example – with their emphasis on unconscious, awakening minds and visionary dreams – enjoyed conjuring up hybrids. Their inclusion of imaginary beings rests in an unsettling arena, a space between what is known and what is unknown. Thierry Mugler,39 known for his outré designs, presented an Autumn/ Winter 1997/1998 haute couture collection that centred on dramatic presentations of strong women. He ended the Paris catwalk show spectacularly with his Chimera dress, on which different sets of DNA genetic information showed a body in mutation – transcending biology. Descending from Greek mythology, the fire-breathing Chimera monster, usually female, is composed of several animal parts – a lion’s head, goat’s body and serpent’s tail; its name appropriately

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Figure 1.5  Valentino. Designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli. Spring 2016, haute couture. Photograph by Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images.

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linked to illusory notions. A hybrid is presented with the segmented body of an amphibian, feathered crown of a bird, iridescent scales of a fish and long, wiry hair of a mammal – a fascinating, yet incongruous composite. A variety of materials were used including silks, velvets and leathers. In Byzantine times there was a preference for imaginary beings such as this, super-human and winged, that mediated in liminal spaces between physical and spiritual realms. Many combinations and transformations emanate from the compelling Ancient Greek mythologies in which humans, animals and birds possessed supernatural powers. The phoenix comes from Chinese and Japanese mythologies, an avian symbol, in both East and West, of the Sun rising and setting. Its image is linked to immortality through regeneration and resurrection and also prosperity and happiness. As Pliny the Elder wrote in his 1 CE publication Natural History: A Selection: ‘the island of Socotra and legendary home of the phoenix, that lays itself to die on “a nest of cinnamon and sprigs of incense”.’40 Other combinations include the omniscient sphinx with a human head (male or female), lion’s body and bird’s wings, and Pegasus, the mythical Greek winged horse, considered divine and immortal, often shown with floating ribbons on its neck and fetlocks. With a mammalian head and body of a bird, the simurgh most likely originated in Persian mythology and symbolizes immortality; known in Sassanian lore for being wise, benevolent and intrinsically linked to nature, whose home is the tree of all germs, from where it disperses plant seeds. In Dolce & Gabbana’s41 aforementioned Autumn/ Winter 2013/2014 prêt-à-porter collection, inspired by the magnificent imagination of the Byzantines, the popular griffin hybrid was placed centre stage. Turquoise-winged, the griffin is set within a decorative surround on the bodice of a full-length dress alongside other animals, birds, insects and stylized florals, while blue-robed saints appear at the hem. The griffin, half-lion, half-eagle with a leonine body and paws, eagle head and wings, is symbolic of power and a guardian figure, a protector of treasure and the dead. Such imagery plunders many sources, actual and fictional, that could be considered a precursor to postmodernist thinking in which historical times are foraged, differences lauded and expressions of change omnipresent. Just as a whole stream of past adventurers sought to encounter something offbeat to the quotidian, so did postmodernist designers. Imagery, often narrativeladen, is taken from everywhere – ransacking cultures and

times, magpie-like in its quest for reappraisals, renewals, restructures and representations. Postmodernism is positive and life-affirming, having a collage/bricolage approach which results in medleys of unexpected juxtapositions and fluidities. Such combinations can relate to the Byzantines who so brilliantly mastered this aesthetic of excess, where assortments are presented that elide centuries of design history; a decontextualized bazaar. Furthermore, parallels can be drawn between the Byzantine blending of natural with mythical imagery and contemporary amalgamations of reality with fantasy. An estrangement exists in current society operating within a post-truth world, where characters transmogrify, giving rise to ‘uncanny’, but captivating, experiences. Besides textiles and fashion, other sectors that have come under the Byzantine spell are computer gaming, with its use of composites, and fashion photography, with its retouching – both art forms are those in which reality and escapism blend and imagination often reigns supreme. Contemporary imagery effervesces with evocative depictions that inhabit actual or virtual worlds and move between pasts, present and futures – Walt Disney’s cartoons and Japanese anime are genres overrun with epochal transformations. Late twentieth- and early twentyfirst-century literature reinterprets medieval bestiaries with their permutations of fact and fiction. Popular examples include the unicorn, representing purity and innocence and possessing magical powers, as found in Lewis Carroll’s fictional books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland42 (1865) and Through the Looking Glass43 (1871); the hippogriff – a mythical creature first mentioned in Virgil’s Eclogues44 from 39 BCE – with the head, front legs and wings of an eagle and the body, hind legs and tail of a horse from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter45 series of stories from 1997 onwards, and its subsequent films; and the book series A Song of Ice and Fire46 by George R. R. Martin, the first published in 1996, followed by the television series Game of Thrones, first aired in the United States in 2011. This epic fantasy drama has a cult-like following, referencing Greek myths and medieval times where regal silk ensembles exemplify power. For Valentino’s47 Spring 2014 prêt-à-porter collection, the designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli spoke of their collection as a ‘fashion opera’, taking inspiration from Medea in Corinth, the 1813 classic Roman opera based on the mythological Ancient Greek enchantress, and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1969 film Medea. Elegant long silhouettes allow stylized imagery to step

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Figure 1.6  Thierry Mugler. Autumn/Winter 1997/1998, haute couture. Photograph by Niall McInerney. © Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

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Figure 1.7  Dolce & Gabbana. Autumn/Winter 2013/2014, womenswear, prêt-à-porter. Photograph by Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.

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Figure 1.8  Valentino. Designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli. Spring 2014, prêt-à-porter. Photograph by Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.

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Figure 1.9  Etro. Autumn/Winter 2009/2010, prêt-à-porter. Photograph by Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images.

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forward – set within medallions, winged lions flank a tree of life while surrounding images of animals, birds, insects, flowers and foliage are contained within smaller roundels. Byzantine artisans used repeat patterns to denote stability and constancy, and distinctive design elements followed certain formulas. The lion, connected to the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism, and to Christianity, is a sacred and longrevered symbol representing the Sun and imperiality; while the tree of life extends to the heavens, representing fertility and the bounty of Earth. Italian fashion house, Etro48 began as a textile weaving mill in 1968, founded by Gerolamo ‘Gimmo’ Etro, and was soon known for high-quality fabrics, including fine silks. The symbol of Pegasus is used for Etro’s branding and their reputation is built on a use of vivid colours and multifarious patterns, especially the ancient paisley motif that became Etro’s signature. This family business has a deep knowledge and appreciation for antique textiles, expanding into fashion, they offer a maximalist aesthetic that takes inspiration from different cultures. The vision for their Autumn/ Winter 2009/2010 prêt-à-porter collection took inspiration from Byzantium – Veronica Etro, the creative director for womenswear, looked at these historic times but imparted a contemporary feel. Fluid, multi-coloured silks are teamed with metallics and a strapless dress displays symmetrical printed paisleys and stylized florals in fuchsia, purple, burnt sienna and gold contrasted with black. Accessories, such as a fringed collar, referenced the grandeur of Byzantine jewelled collars. This homage to the Byzantine era is seen through a contemporary filter where imagery presents a unified graphic language, and aesthetics are synthesized from many lands and histories. Byzantine woven silks had a flair and panache that enjoyed differences in narrative and artistic expressions; its heritage holding an energy and a certain élan. Culturally and artistically its empire left a durable legacy: ‘In our own day there remains to us only one continual reminder of the genius of the Byzantines: the splendour of their art.’49 The Byzantine era still inspires and influences textile and fashion designers in their choices of materials and colours, and their utilization of images and patterns that conjure time-honoured struggles between good and evil. Such a study is timely as many world conflicts concern differences in religions, cultures and lifestyles. It was not all peace and harmony during the Byzantine era; there were many hierarchies in place, dictatorship and

subjugation were rife, and there was even terror. However, there is much to be learned from the co-operative and collaborative Byzantine Empire that, with its wide footfall, understood centuries ago that art and design were entirely global. Postmodern, polymath culture capitalizes on this once-glorious time of heightened creativity – a beacon of civilization where a modus operandi is offered and a reminder presented of the commonalities of a shared world heritage. Distances travelled can be symbols of progress and the Byzantine spirit endures as Silk Roads pave the way for advances, the past treading with the present, our journeys not yet completed.

Notes 1 Judith Herrin, Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire (London: Penguin Books, 2008), xiv. 2 Poetry Foundation – Sailing to Byzantium by William Butler Yeats. Available at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ poems/43291/sailing-to-byzantium (accessed 18.04.2019). 3 Dolce & Gabbana. Available at: https://www.dolcegabbana.com (accessed 30.07.2019). 4 Dieter Kuhn, ed. Chinese Silks (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2012), xv. 5 Jonathan Tucker, The Silk Road – China and the Karakorum Highway: A Travel Companion (London and New York, NY: I.B.Tauris, 2015), 2. 6 Andrew Bolton with John Galliano, Adam Geczy, Maxwell K. Hearn, Homay King, Harold Koda, Mei Mei Rado and Wong Kar-Wai, China Through the Looking Glass: Fashion, Film, Art (New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015), 13. 7 Freya M. Stark, Rome on the Euphrates: The Story of a Frontier (London: John Murray Publishers Ltd., 1966), 131. 8 Jonathan Tucker, The Silk Road – China and the Karakorum Highway: A Travel Companion (London and New York, NY: I.B.Tauris, 2015), 2. 9 Robert Bork and Andrea Kann, eds. The Art, Science, and Technology of Medieval Travel. (AVISTA Studies in the History of Medieval Technology, Science and Art, Vol. 6. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. [AVISTA - The Association Villard de Honnecourt for Interdisciplinary Study of Medieval Technology, Science and Art], 2008), 88. 10 Daniel C. Waugh, ‘Richthofen’s “Silk Roads”: Toward the Archaeology of a Concept’. The Silk Road 5, no. 1 (2007): 2. Available at: http://silkroadfoundation.org/HYPERLINK‘http:// www.bloomsbury.com/newsletter’newsletter/vol5num1/ srjournal_v5n1.pdf (accessed 05.04.2019). 11 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Available at: https://en.unesco.org (accessed 19.07.2019).

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12 United Nations (UN). Available at: https://www.un.org/ en/(accessed 19.07.2019). 13 World Heritage Committee UNESCO. Available at: https://whc. unesco.org/en/committee/(accessed 10.08.2019). 14 British Council. Available at: https://www.britishcouncil.org (accessed 09.08.2019). 15 Japan Foundation. Available at: http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/(accessed 12.06.2019) and Japan Foundation London. Available at: https://www.jpf.org.uk (accessed 12.06.2019). 16 ‘China’s Belt & Road Initiative’. Financial Times Special Report. Available at: https://www.ft.com/reports/china-belt-androad-initiative(accessed 10.08.2019). 17 Philip Wen, ‘China Unveils Vision for “Polar Silk Road” across Arctic’. Reuters. Available at: https://uk.reuters.com/article/ uk-china-arctic/china-unveils-vision-for-polar-silk-road-acrossarctic-idUKKBN1FF0JC (accessed 09.08.2019). 18 Tin Hinane El Kadi, ‘The Promise and Peril of the Digital Silk Road’. Chatham House – The Royal Institute of International Affairs. Available at: https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/ comment/promise-and-peril-digital-silk-road (accessed 09.08.2019). 19 Nessim Joseph Dawood, Tales from the Thousand and One Nights, trans. Nessim Joseph Dawood, ill. William Harvey (London: Penguin Classics, [1954] 1973). 20 Edward W. Said, Orientalism (London: Penguin Books, [1978] 2003), 2. 21 Edward W. Said, Culture and Imperialism (London: Chatto and Windus, 1993), xiii. 22 Andrew Bolton, Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination (New York City, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018), 96. 23 John Julius Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries. (Vol. 1 of 3 in the Byzantium series) (London: Viking, Penguin Group, 1988), 62. 24 John Julius Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries. (Vol. 1 of 3 in the Byzantium series) (London: Viking, Penguin Group, 1988), 27. 25 Colm Luibheid, Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works (The Classics of Western Spirituality) (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press International, 1987). 26 Chanel. Available at: https://www.chanel.com (accessed 29.07.2019). 27 Gianni Versace. Available at: https://www.versace.com (accessed 15.07.2019). 28 Helen C. Evans and William D. Wixom, eds. The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843–1261 (New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997). Also, available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/ metpublications/The_Glory_of_Byzantium_Art_and_Culture_ of_the_Middle_Byzantine_Era_AD_843_1261 (accessed 17.04.2019). 29 Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (Oxford and New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2010), 10.

30 Constantine Porphyrogennetos, The Book of Ceremonies (also known as On Ceremonies and De Ceremoniis). 956–959 CE, trans. Anne Moffatt and Maxeme Tall (Leiden, Brill, 2017). 31 Mary Schoeser, World Textiles: A Concise History (World of Art series) (London and New York, NY: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2003), 77. 32 Marco Polo, The Travels (Penguin Clothbound Classics), trans. Nigel Cliff (London: Penguin Classics, 2015). 33 Philippa Scott, The Book of Silk (London and New York, NY: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1993), 117. 34 Alexander McQueen. Available at: https://www. alexandermcqueen.com (accessed 07.07.2019). 35 Xinru Liu, The Silk Road in World History (Oxford and New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2010), 16. 36 Valérie Lapierre, ‘Sanctum Benedict’, World of Interiors, January 2019, 88. 37 Valentino. Available at: https://www.valentino.com (accessed 20.07.2019). 38 John Mandeville, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, trans. C. W. R. D. Moseley (London: Penguin Classics, [1982] 2005), 5–6. 39 Thierry Mugler. Available at: https://www.mugler.co.uk (accessed 15.07.2019). 40 Pliny the Elder, Natural History: A Selection (Pliny, x. 2.) (5.pp. 133–7) in Dame Freya M. Stark, The Southern Gates of Arabia: A Journey in Hadhramaut (London: John Murray Publishers Ltd., 1936), 262. 41 Dolce & Gabbana. Available at: https://www.dolcegabbana.com (accessed 30.07.2019). 42 Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, ill. Maraja. (London: W. H. Allen, [1865] 1958). 43 Lewis Carroll, Alice Through the Looking Glass, ill. Maraja. 1871 (London: W. H. Allen, 1959). 44 Virgil, The Ecologues and The Georgics, trans. C. Day Lewis. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, [1983] 2009). 45 J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter (series of seven books) (London: Bloomsbury, 1997–2007). 46 George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire (series of seven books) (London: HarperCollins, 1996–present). 47 Valentino. Available at: https://www.valentino.com (accessed 20.07.2019). 48 Etro. Available at: https://www.etro.com (accessed 16.04.2019). 49 John Julius Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries. (Vol. 1 of 3 in the Byzantium series) (London: Viking, Penguin Group, 1988), 28.

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Ancient Chinese Silk Textiles: Focusing on Warp-faced Silks SAE OGASAWARA

specialization in sericulture. In the Warring States period, the variety of names given to silk textiles increased, with 錦 (brocade), 繍 (embroidery), 縞 (stripe), 素 紗 (thin silk), and 帛 (thick silk), joined by 綺 (thin twill woven silk), 縠 (crêpe), 羅 (complex gauze), 紗 (simple gauze), and 紈 (white silk). The existence of these terms provides documentary evidence demonstrating the steady development of silk textile production, although few actual examples of the textiles remain. Notable relics from the Western Zhou period include embroidery discovered in 1975 in Shaanxi Province,4 and warp-faced silks reported found in the 2000s. In contrast, textiles from the Warring States period have been found in Henan, Hubei and Hunan over the past thirty to forty years, giving an increasingly clear picture of the situation. Of these, according to a 1982 report, Tomb no. 1 at Mashan in Jiangling, Hubei Province5 included textiles in amazingly good condition, with almost-complete examples of robes and lined dress. There was a rich variety of types of silk textiles, including plain silk, complex gauze, simple gauze, brocades and braids, and the beauty of the embroidery was particularly notable.

How far back can the history of silk textiles in China be traced? The earliest evidence hinting at the production of silk textiles comes from half a silkworm cocoon shell discovered at a painted pottery excavation site at Xiyincun, a village in Xia County on the lower reaches of the Fen River in southern Shanxi Province,1 together with stone spindle whorls, bone needles and other artefacts excavated from the same site. Other evidence comes from silk fabric fragments in a bamboo basket excavated from the Qianshanyang site, Wuxing in Zhejiang Province,2 and what appears to be a silkworm motif on black earthenware excavated from the Meiyan Neolithic-era site in Wujiang, Jiangsu Province.3 These, and other findings, reliably demonstrate that silkworm farming and silk textile production had been established at least as early as the late Neolithic period. Despite silk textiles having this extremely ancient history in China, it is not until the Han period that we begin to see a diversity of techniques, along with colours and patterns. Of course, production of silk textiles expanded before the Han dynasty during the Yin (Shang) and Zhou periods, with areas such as Shandong, Jiangnan, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan and Huanan being candidates for

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Significance of the Characters Used to Write ‘Brocade’ In Japan, the expression nishiki is used as a general term for textiles woven in a variety of beautiful colours. This can be written as ‘丹白黄’, which is a name in Chinese characters that was devised in Japan. The expression nishiki can also be written with the single character ‘錦’ – a name derived in China by combining the character for gold (‘金’) with the character for silk textile (‘帛’) to represent the concept of a textile as valuable as gold, and typically referring to brocade. The name itself bears witness to the fact that brocades have been valuable goods for trading since ancient times. The Warring States period embroidery, brocades, and other items found in Pazyryk Tomb no. 5 and Tomb no. 3 in the eastern Altai Mountains6 are valuable partly for verifying the spread of Chinese silk textiles as traded items before the beginning of the Common Era (CE). Although silk textiles were exported from China, the export of silkworm eggs was strictly prohibited, and there are a number of fascinating episodes associated with the story of how silkworms came to the West. For instance, murals at Dandan-Uyliq depict the story of how a princess secreted eggs in her headdress when leaving China for an arranged marriage.

Warp-faced Silks and Weft-faced Silks Brocades can be broadly categorized into two groups in accordance with their weaving technique: warp-faced, in which the pattern is woven using coloured thread in the warp, and weft-faced, in which the which the pattern is woven using coloured thread in the weft. The Ho¯ryu¯-ji temple and Shōsō-in repository in Japan possess textiles handed down over the centuries from the earliest period of recorded history in Japan. These textiles include examples from China’s Sui and T’ang periods, brought to Japan by envoys dispatched to Sui dynasty and T’ang dynasty China, and provide the perfect opportunity to study warp-faced and weft-faced brocades. Studying these along with other Chinese brocades from the Six Dynasties period and earlier, discovered along the Silk Roads or in China itself, has made it increasingly clear that warp-faced silk was the basic technique used for weaving brocades in China at that time. That realization has brought into focus the question of when and how China switched from warp-faced to weft-faced techniques. No clear conclusion has yet been reached, but it seems certain that there was

significant influence from brocades produced by Sassanian Persia and Byzantium.

Why did Chinese Brocades Begin with Warpfaced Techniques? This long history means that, whether calculated from the Warring States period before the Common Era, or from the end of the Western Zhou period as described above, the brocades produced in China for over a thousand years were woven using a warp-faced technique. The author suspects that this technique of using the warp threads to produce the patterns in the fabric took the notion from primitive tablet looms that could be used to weave belts in multiple colours.7 Nevertheless, the main reason that warp-faced weaving continued to be used for so long without obvious problems surely lies in the robust strength of the silk being used as the material. The reason that a large proportion of warp-faced silks are woven in a three-layer structure taking three colours as one unit is that adding further colours makes it hard to weave, due to the difficulty of lifting up the particular coloured thread required for the pattern. Consequently, when the weaver wishes to use more than three colours, the loom is set up for weaving in stripes, with each stripe containing the threads of the colours required. Having a face with stripes of different colours is the most distinctive feature of warp-faced silks. It is, of course, possible to go beyond the three layers, and examples of five- and six-layer warps are known.8 It is not known what sort of pattern heddles were used, but it is envisaged that a primitive heddle rod was used in the early stages, before changing to a significantly advanced mechanism with a drawloom device (even if pulled up manually) from the Han dynasty onwards.

The Status of Warp-faced Silk As far as can be seen from the findings of excavations, even though warp-faced silks were in existence from the Warring States period or Western Zhou period, they certainly were not in the mainstream of silk textiles. The warp-faced silk excavated at Mashan in Jiangling still remains constrained by geometric small pattern frames and does not have the artistic expression of the embroidery, which includes slinking tigers or flowing dragon and phoenix motifs merging into

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Figure 2.1  Warp-faced silk. Drawloom warp-faced silk with ­geometric pattern. Excavation of Tomb no. 1 at Mashan in Jiangling, Hubei ­Province in 1982. Mid-Warring States period. ( Jingzhou M ­ useum, Hubei Province, China).

the arabesques. Embroidery such as this largely remained the most prominent until the Former Han dynasty. Articles excavated at the Mawangdui site at Changsha suggest that while the patterns and colours of the vibrant embroidery give spirit to the whole garment, conveying a flamboyant and intense impression, warp-faced silks are still relegated to low-profile tasks such as peripheral parts of the garment or decorations for boxes.

Warp-faced Silks Flourish Warp-faced silks eventually took centre stage and became the pre-eminent silk during the Han dynasty, particularly in the Eastern Han dynasty. One particularly characteristic silk – brocade – incorporated epitaphs or inscriptions in

Figure 2.2  Embroidery. Unlined fragment with dragon, phoenix and tiger embroidered on complex gauze. (Reference – Malcolm James ­Description/name 未確認。以下同様。09.08.2019). Excavation of Tomb no. 1 at Mashan in Jiangling, Hubei Province in 1982. Mid-­ Warring States period. ( Jingzhou Museum, Hubei Province, China).

the patterns. Many examples of this type of brocade have been found in excavations along the Silk Roads. Examples include the phrases ‘韓仁繍文衣右子孫無極’, ‘延年 益寿大宜子孫’ and ‘五星出東方利中国’ and there are also fragments of other brocades that appear to have the character combinations ‘明光’ or ‘登高’. Each of these character phrases can be seen as a prayer for long life, many descendants or prosperity. The characters are arranged along with birds and animals among mountains and

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Figure 2.3  Embroidery. Riding on cloud imagery. Excavation of Tomb no. 1 at Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan Province in 1972. Former Han. (Hunan Museum, Hunan Province, China).

Figure 2.4  Warp-faced silk. Inscription (‘韓仁繍文衣右子孫無極’), mountains, clouds and animals pattern. ­Discovered at Loulan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Later Han. (National Museum, New Delhi, India).

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interconnected clouds, with regular repeats. This produces a tiered configuration, and the warp stripes on the reverse side of the fabric continue to produce the pattern, irrespective of the changing colours. The textile in Figure 2.6 makes a special effort to avoid this sort of colour change in the warp by weaving with a consistent set of five colours (blue, white, yellow, red, green). The woven textile was finished as an armband. The warp-faced silks and the patterns that they used matured in the Han dynasty, and continued to be produced through the Sui dynasty and into the early T’ang dynasty, with small changes in the interim. Figure 2.7 still has a pattern of mountains, clouds and animals, but the mountains are flattened, and the animals have two horns and wings, resembling a Western griffin. The colours have become clearer and brighter, but the warp-faced textile’s characteristics of a striped warp and tiered patterns are

Figure 2.5  Warp-faced silk. Inscription (‘延年益寿大宜子孫’), mountains, clouds and animals pattern. Excavation of Tomb no. 1 at the Taklamakan Desert, Niya, (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum, China) in 1959. Later Han.

Figure 2.6  Warp-faced silk. Inscription (‘五星出東方利中国’), mountains, birds, and animals pattern. Excavation of Tomb no. 8 at Taklamakan Desert, Niya, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 1995. Later Han–Jin. (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Archaeological Research Institute). ( Jingzhou Museum, Hubei Province, China). (Reference – Malcolm James, Xinjiang Archaeological Research Institute. Available at: http://www.chikyu.ac.jp/rihn-china/pdf/ news6.pdfn (accessed 09.08.2019)).

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Figure 2.7  Warp-faced silk. Misty mountains and animals pattern. Excavation of Tomb no. 88 at Astana North, Turpan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 1967. Tomb inscription dated 567. (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum).

unchanged. In contrast, the textile in Figure 2.8 introduces a design with a central tree, resembling the tree of life from West Asia, with birds and animals arranged to left and right. Interestingly, this textile is still woven with a warp-faced technique, but the whole pattern uses vertical mirroring and both vertical and horizontal symmetry to increase the scale of the pattern. The textiles in Figures 2.7 and 2.8 both retain selvedges, enabling a positive identification as warp-faced silks, but with brocades of this period in particular, it is often difficult to judge at first glance. The brocade with strings of pearls and floral/geometric patterns in Figure 2.9 would be easy to mistake for warp-faced silk if it were not for the report of selvedge remaining in this textile. Today, warp-faced

Figure 2.8  Warp-faced silk. Trees, confronted goats, confronted birds pattern. Excavated from Astana, Turpan, Xinjiang Uyghur ­Autonomous Region in 1972. Northern dynasties. (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum).

silks are considered more difficult to produce, but to the people who had been weaving these silks for centuries, switching the pattern to the weft would have seemed even more difficult. There are examples of silks that have been switched to the weft-faced weaving technique, but instead of taking advantage of the difference, the coloured threads in the weft were simply used to produce stripes similar to those of warp-faced silks. Examples of brocades such as this – that at first glance appear to be in the style of warp-faced silks, but actually use the new weft-faced technique – are

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often found from the time of the Northern dynasties to the Sui dynasty. Without skilled weavers from the West visiting or taking up residence, even government-run workshops in China would have faced a long and difficult task in attempting to produce dignified weft-faced silks like the brocade with strings of pearls and lion hunting in the Hoˉryuˉ-ji temple collection (see Figure 14.1, p. 283).

Notes 1

2

3

4 5 6

7

8

Ji Li, Xiyin cun shi qian di yi cun (Xiyincun Village Cultural Site Excavation), 1927, Tsinghua University Research Institute, Beijing, China. Zhejiang Administration Committee of Relics, ed., ‘The First and Second Excavation Reports of Qianshanyang Site, Wuxing’, Acta Archaeologica Sinica (1960). Jiangsu Province Cultural Relics Team, ed. ‘Meiyan Neolithic Era Site in Wujiang, Jiangsu Province’, Acta Archaeologica Sinica 6 (1963). Yezhen Li, ‘Important Discoveries about the Western Zhou Dynasty Silk and Embroidery’, Journal of Antiquity 4 (1976). Yuejun Chen and Xuqiu Zhang. Report–Tomb no.1 at Mashan in Jingliang, Hubei Province, Journal of Antiquity (1982): 10. Sergei I. Rudenko. Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron-Age Horsemen, trans. Dr M. W. Thomas (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 1970). In China, there are reports of tablet looms being excavated from the Zhou period sites. Also, cultural artefacts were found during the excavation of a 1000 to 800 BCE site at Cherchen in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 2011 that includes a large number of beautiful woven belts that appear to have been produced by card weaving. In Egypt, sculptures incorporating patterned waistbands, referenced by Arnold van Gennep and Gustave Jéquier, that date the idea for card weaving to around 4000 BCE. The earliest actual example of such cards was found in a Coptic tomb in Antinoë dating from the fourth or fifth century, consisting of twenty-five four-holed tablets. These non-descript tablets confirm the presence of card weaving. This weaving technique also spread to Europe, and a number of thin stone tablets in square and triangular shapes with holes found in the largest Roman remains in Portugal are considered to be cards for card weaving. Also, in Northern Europe fifty-two cards found in the Oseberg Ship in Norway, dated around the year 850, were set up as a loom and still threaded. These fifty-two cards would not have been operated by a single person. It is assumed that this loom would weave broad fabric and require two or three operators working in unison. Shinzaburo Sasaki, ‘About the Silk Fabric with Birds, Rocks and Trees from Non-Ula’. (edited by the National Diet Library) MUSEUM no. 222 (Tokyo, 1969), 28–33.

Figure 2.9  Weft-faced silk. Strings of pearls and floral/­geometric patterns. Excavation of Tomb no. 331 at Astana, Turpan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Associated with document dated 619.

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3 A Study of Sassanian Brocade RYOKO YAMANAKA KONDO

and realistic, with a decorative style. Artefacts excavated in Gilan Province include a gold rhyton with a winged lion of a similar tradition to ceremonial cups from the primitive Iran and Elamite periods (around the thirteenth century BCE). The imagery appears to have been inherited by the crafts of the subsequent Sassanian dynasty. The main theme is that of royal lion hunting, a motif from Assyria. In Zoroastrianism, which had emerged in the fifth century BCE, the king fights in place of Ahura Mazda and motifs can be seen of legendary winged and horned animals, alongside depictions of the king and a Zoroastrian fire altar. One textile that can be surmised to be from that time is a tapestry associated with, and of a similar age to, the oldest carpet in The State Hermitage Museum (Ancient Persia, fifth to third century BCE), which was found in the Altai Mountains. It has patterns that closely resemble those of clothing in glazed-brick friezes found in the sixth century BCE palace of Darius I in Susa; proving both the existence of, and the preference for, elaborately woven patterns at that time.

To write about Sassanian art, it is vital to first consider the art of Achaemenid Persia that inspired Sassanid Persia. In the first millennium BCE, the Persians were among the tribes that had populated the Iranian Plateau. They were subject to the Medes until sixth century BCE, when Cyrus the Great (reigned 530 to 522 BCE) set them free from Median rule, conquering the Iranian Plateau and establishing the Achaemenid dynasty. The superb artistic skills seen in the figurative pottery of primitive Iran from the Elamite period onwards were supplemented by a broad range of cultural influences from Egypt, Greece, Assyria, Babylonia and elsewhere, eventually leading to the development of the dynasty’s own sophisticated court culture. This can be seen from remains and items excavated at Susa and Persepolis, which were constructed under Darius I (522 to 486 BCE) when the Achaemenid Empire was at the peak of its prosperity. Artefacts depict the empire collecting tributes as well as accumulating the spoils of war from the dynasty’s military campaigns. The representations are naturalistic

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Figure 3.1  The oldest remaining knotted pile carpet. 3 BCE. ­Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

The Achaemenid dynasty came to an end in 330 BCE when Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon) sacked its capital. Its legacy was taken up by the subsequent Seleucid Empire (fourth to second century BCE) and its offshoot, the Parthian Empire, which was established by a Eurasian nomadic tribe and broke off from the Seleucids. During this period, Persian court culture sank into the shadows, gradually metamorphosing into the robust civilization of the Greek mountains. Parthia became rich by monopolizing silk trade between China and Rome, which led to efforts by other empires to find a new Silk Road that bypassed Parthia. The Parthian Empire had a powerful army, with horsemen trained in what came to be known as the Parthian shot, shooting arrows backwards from the saddle. The Parthians had learned that technique, which was much feared by the Romans, from Eurasian nomads from the Caucasus or north Mesopotamia in about the ninth or eighth century BCE. The stance for taking such a shot came to be frequently

Figure 3.2  Depiction of a Persian soldier’s costume on a tile relief in the ancient city of Susa. 6 BCE. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

depicted. It was incorporated into Sassanian crafts and propagated widely along the Silk Roads. The transmission of silk from Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) China is proved by artefacts excavated in Palmyra,

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Figure 3.3  Detail of a Near Eastern fabric using a tapestry ­technique. 3 BCE. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

thought to be from the first century. Silk Road textile historian Dr Kazuko Yokohari surveyed textiles in the National Museum of Damascus in Syria. In addition to Chinese silk textiles, she verified the presence of many fragments using unravelled silk threads re-woven as a mix with wool threads. The Parthians began to weaken in the first century, and in the third century they were defeated by Ardashir I, who had been born to the house of Sassan, a high priest of the region that had once been the Achaemenid Empire. Under Ardashir, Sassanian Persia took pride in its succession from the Achaemenid Empire, built a nation centred on Zoroastrianism and re-established the Persian Empire, incorporating Mesopotamia, Afghanistan and Central Asia. The Sassanian Empire created a magnificent culture that took in elements from Greece, Rome, China and India in addition to traditional styles from the Achaemenid Empire.

Nevertheless, in terms of composition and techniques, its products did not attain the perfection of the fine decorative forms achieved by the Achaemenid Empire. The Christianization of the Byzantine Empire of Eastern Rome resulted in it disagreeing on religious issues with Sassanian Persia, which stressed Zoroastrianism. In addition, both empires were trying to establish silk textile business, leading to a succession of conflicts between the two, interspersed with peace treaties. Sassanian Persia left a significant mark on the history of arts and crafts because of its glasswork and its silk textiles. As described above, patterns had already been produced in wool using tapestry weave during the Achaemenid period. In the time of Shapur I and Shapur II (240 to 379), military success against the Romans brought stability to the Sassanian (Persian) Empire. During this period the Sassanids conquered the Kushans and came into contact with Indian Buddhist culture. In the fifth and sixth centuries, the empire was weakened by attacks from Hephthalites and other Central Asian tribes. However, the emergence of Khosrow I (531 to 579) brought about a variety of reforms that took the Sassanian Empire to the peak of its prosperity. Sassanian court culture, Byzantine Christian culture, and Gupta Buddhist culture influenced one another for nearly 400 years. During that period, the relationship with the Western Turkic Khaganate, a confederation of nomadic Turkic tribes, left an indelible impression on the history of motifs. Contemporary murals show that courtiers in the Western Turkic Khaganate wore clothing decorated by boar heads set in pearled roundels, and simorghs or waterfowl set between vertical wavy lines. Despite ongoing competition with Byzantium, Sassanian influence spread along the Silk Roads, reaching T’ang dynasty China, Central Asia, Japan, and Russia, and became part of the foundation for both Islamic and European cultures. In Iran, Sassanian culture was inherited by the magnificent culture of the Safavid dynasty (1501 to 1736), when the production of silks reached a peak once more. The splendour of the art of Sassanian Persia can be seen most clearly in silk fragments that were woven by drawlooms, a system now used in automatic Jacquard looms. Weaving on the Iranian Plateau began with simple card weaving. This is demonstrated by weaves excavated at Susa estimated to date from about 3000 BCE. There are also examples from about 1000 BCE of compound plain weave brocades with a two-colour weft (taqueté

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façonné – taqueté is French for a weft-faced compound weave, façonné is French for figured). That time period is considered to be about the same time as the earliest examples from China of brocades with compound plain weave using a two-colour warp. Polychrome warp-faced compound-twill weaving then begin to appear at about the beginning of the Christian Era. This weaving method reached eastern Iran in the time of the Parthian Empire. The techniques were incorporated into pattern weaving of wool, which weavers were already familiar with, and an eclectic technique penetrating the warp threads and weaving the patterns in the weft became general practice for tapestry in the Sassanian Empire. However, this was not the technique that decorated the Sassanian court. That role was played by the samite textiles produced by drawlooms from another route, achieved and completed there. At that time, the Sassanian Empire was obtaining silk fragments and silk thread from the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan. Khotan was the first nation outside of China to produce silk. According to Hans E. Wulff, there are examples demonstrating that samite existed in Han China, and by about the third century, the technique had propagated via Central Asia to Syria, where it was developed further before passing on to Iran. When Shapur II (309–379) of Sassanian Persia took Syria from Rome, he is said to have moved Syrian textile workers to Khuzestan Province in the West of Iran (close to Susa). From looms that are still used in Syria today, we can conjecture that Syrian looms were suspended brocade looms, using a system similar to that of later dobby looms.

In the time of Khosrow I and Khosrow II, Persia had friendly relations with China, and was able to introduce the drawloom thereby completing the set of processes required for full-scale manufacture of silk samite. The main production locations were Susa in the West, and Khorasan in the East. The samite brightened the Sassanian Empire court culture with its colour. With the defeat of the Sassanian Empire in 651, Prince Peroz fled to the T’ang dynasty China area. About that time, T’ang China re-introduced samite, also adding colour to the T’ang culture. The friendship between China and Persia had not only provided a monopoly route for raw silk, but training in more advanced techniques, and as a result, the motifs and techniques developed in Persia with wool were supplemented by the beautifully flowing iconographic elements of Chinese silks that were backed by meticulous techniques developed over more than a thousand years. The new influences included iconography incorporating arcs of silk embroidery from the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period (eighth to third century BCE), or earlier, and the fine weave and gloss of untwisted silk thread. Later generations of silks gained outstanding beauty and weaves that achieved a high level of perfection, enabling them to be sold at prices that surpassed the price of gold. Fragments of Sassanian silk were prized everywhere, being cut up to decorate garments, wrap treasures, or to be used as currency. As a result of being so valuable, the silks were dispersed, and so today it is very difficult to find silks of those periods within Iran. Heraclius, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, is thought to have carried off large numbers of the Persian king’s silk

Figure 3.4  Drawloom in Kashan, Iran (left). Warp-weighted loom in Damascus, Syria (right). Illustration: Silk Roadology 2006: 26. The Nara International Foundation.

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costumes when he sacked the king’s palace at Dastagird in 628. Afterwards, the trend of motifs used in Byzantine silks changed greatly, displaying a pronounced Sassanian influence. As Sassanian silks found outside Iran do not have inscriptions, each textiles’ quality, motifs and colours must be assessed as direct evidence of its providence. It should not be forgotten that Ancient Persia had successfully produced the kinkhab technique, a method of weaving gold thread into a textile. In the Zoroastrian Avesta 30:126, the goddess Aredvi Sura Anahita is described as wearing a long robe of gold with splendid decorative pleats. The robes carried away by Heraclius as spoils when he attacked the Sassanian Empire in 628 CE are said to have included a long robe woven in gold thread in addition to the silk products. Iran made gold thread by a technique called aurum battutum that involved cutting strips from a sheet of beaten gold and wrapping them around silk thread. In Byzantium, a different technique called aurum cyprese, thought to have been learned from Central Asia, produced a lighter thread by wrapping gold around thinly-cut animal gut. Important historical evidence of Sassanian investitures remains at Taq-i Bustan in the Zagros Mountains in

north-western Iran. There are two grottoes, a smaller one, considered to have been formed at the end of the fourth century and a larger one (H 9.2 × W 7.5 × D 6.6 metres) formed during the first half of the seventh century. The Tokyo University Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition surveyed the grottoes over a ten-year period beginning in 1965, after which the researchers published their reports of Taq-i Bustan in book form. Mihoko Domyo contributed an article about textiles with illustrations. Here is a quotation from her article: ‘Each grotto has reliefs relating to the Sassanian court. Alongside a relief of the investiture of Ardashir II, with the Zoroastrian god Mithra on his right and supreme god Ormazd on his left, a relief in the smaller grotto shows Shapur II and Shapur III (according to the inscriptions)’. Their tunics are made of plain silky materials with a rippled pattern of the early Sassanian period. The larger grotto shows the investiture of Khosrow II (591 to 628) and Peroz (459 to 484), with distinctive crown ornaments. A boar hunt, a New Year event, is depicted, with the participants using boats and probably wearing some of their best clothes. Various styles of decoration carved in

Figure 3.5-1,-2  The larger grotto, Taq-i-Bustan (left). Wall relief of Emperor Khosrow II, Taq-i-Bustan (right). The Tokyo University Iraq-Iran ­Archaeological Expedition Report 13, Taq-i Bustan.

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Figure 3.5-3  Textile design motifs used in royal dress at Taq-i Bustan. Illustration by Mihoko Domyo. Bulletin Orient 24, no. 1, 1981, The Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan.

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petals or in simple rings. We find ribbons for decoration everywhere; these are not made from cloth but from bundles of thread, and pressed together.

Characteristics of Figured Sassanian Silks ●●

●●

●●

●●

Naturalistic and realistic form changing to a beautiful decorative style, inspired by Achaemenid Persia. Varied composition incorporating a narrative, continued in Safaviya¯n style. Precise expression based on weave diagrams, learned from China. Aiming for perfection in expression, composition and artisanship.

Silk Fragments Regarded as Sassanian Silks 1. Silks and caftans found in burial excavations at Antinoë (city founded by Roman emperor Hadrian) in Lyon (LYO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; LOU 1). 2. Astana roundel with boar (crescents, string of pearl motifs) in India authorized by Sir Marc Aurel Stein. 3. Geese in the Vatican (see VAT 1, p. 133). 4. Simorgh in Paris and New York (BRX 1; MAD 1). 5. Bird in Aachen (AAC 2).

Figure 3.6  Wall painting Afraˉsiaˉb, the kingdom of Sogdian, ­Samarkand (Central Asia), 7th century. Aribaum, Mural of Ancient Samarkand, trans. Kyusaku Katou. Tokyo: Bunka Shuppan Kyoku, 1980.

the grottoes include Egyptian ankh, Greek acanthus, the lotus, Roman garlands, Chinese clouds and foliage scrolls. In particular, the patterns of textiles are engraved in detail, depicting several kinds of birds including water birds, although these engravings were widespread, being found not only in Sassanian but also in Byzantine and Central Asian silk weaving. However, we notice differences from the patterns generally accepted as having a Sassanian style. For the investiture, the king wears simorgh patterns, but these are not surrounded by pearl rings, mostly placed freely, and we only find simorghs in circles made by bonding three

Production areas of samite: Yazd, Kerman (both districts still practice Zoroastrianism today), Susa, Isfahan, Shushtar, Shiraz (major city in Achaemenid Empire, Buwayhid dynasty capital in the seventh century), Samarkand. Looms: Syrian damask compound loom, Persian-style drawloom. Threads: twisted thread made by silk unravelled from fragments imported from China, ‘Z’-twisted silk yarn, gold and silver thread.

Motifs Birds – simorgh (features in common with phoenix), peacock, dove, waterfowl (Karshipta), raven and eagle (form taken by god Bahram). Animals – lion (evil spirit Ahriman), elephant, boar (form taken by god of victory Verethragna, who also takes the form of wind), bull, winged horse (Tishtrya: god of rainfall), camel, an adolescent, ram, goat, dog (helps humans by

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being faithful and obedient), cow (brings humans many types of produce – highest status). Flowers – four-petalled flower (symbol of the god Dēn), flower patterns, lotus, poppy, tulip (the flower of the goddess Aštaˉd), chrysanthemum, rose. Plants – tree of life, palm, nutmeg, acanthus, lotus, cypress, crescent. Hunting – the Parthian shot. Kusti belt – a belt of seventy-two threads divided into six parts, worn by men after reaching fifteen years of age. The six parts represent the six Archangels. There are three tassels at each end, and the belt is wrapped three times around the body.

Ribbons – bundles of thread fixed in waves; worn on the ankle, head or as shoe laces. First appeared as a motif in the Sassanian period. Halo – sign of someone working with Ahura Mazda to bring good to the world. Ring – given to the emperor on investiture by Ahura Mazda in the presence of Mithra, the god of war. In the Sassanian period, tied with a ribbon produced by bundling threads. Roundel – represents power on a cosmic scale. Seen in China from the Sui dynasty. Sun (Mithra), Moon, crescent – the king is made a brother of the Sun and Moon, and has them as decorations

Figure 3.7-1  Album of Ancient Textiles with the original ‘Samite with Design of Mounted Lion Hunters in Beaded Medallion’. Enclosed four mounted lion hunters. This is a typical Chinese samite of the T’ang dynasty (630 to 640) with mixed Sassanian and Chinese styles of figures and techniques. Ho¯ryu¯-ji temple. Photograph by Ho ¯ryu ¯-ji temple.

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Figure 3.7-2  From the Album of Ancient Textiles – the original ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Enclosed two rhinoceroses. This is allegedly the most influential silk of Sassanian samite and the original was probably made in the early Sui dynasty (581 to 618). Illustration by Kiyoshi Tatsumura. Sho¯so¯-in (original). Photograph by Sho¯so¯-in.

on his crown. Mithra stands on a sacred lotus flower, backed by Sun rays. Magi – Zoroastrianism priest. Holds a bull’s-head mace as a symbol of Mithra.

Deeply Influenced Fabrics of Sassanian Silks 1. ‘Four Mounted Lion Hunters’ (Ho¯ryu¯-ji temple) (see Figures 14.1.-1 to 14.1-3, p. 283). 2. ‘Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’ (Sho¯so¯-in). (see Figures 14.2.-1 to 14.2-7, pp. 285–8).

Publications consulted 1 Takeko Ando, ed., Fabrics from the Silk Road: The Stein Collection (Kyoto: Shikosha, 1979). 2 J. Anderson Black and Madge Garland, A History of Fashion, trans. Saori Yamauchi and updated and revised Frances Kennett (Tokyo: Parco Publishers, [1975] 1993). 3 Aribaum, L. I. Mural of Ancient Samarkand. Trans. Kyusaku Katou. (Tokyo: Bunka Shuppan Kyoku, 1980). 4 Eric Broudy, The Book of Looms: A History of the Handloom from Ancient Times to the Present (Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, [1979] 1993). 5 Jean Bunor, Revue des Arts Asiatiques, Tomes 5, 6 (Paris: Musée Guimet, 1962). 6 Raymond Cox, Les Soieries d’art (Paris: Hachette & Co., 1914).

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7 Mihoko Domyo, ‘The Classification and Reconstruction of Textile Designs in the Relief of the Royal Boar Hunt at Taq-i Bustan’, Orient 24–1 (1987). 8 Mihoko Domyo, ‘The Taq-i Bustan’. ‘Late Sassanian Textile Designs in the Reliefs at Taq-i Bustan’. Bulletin du CIETA 74 (1997): 18–27. 9 Namio Egami, ‘Cyosakusyu 3’. Orient Sekai (1984). 10 Otto von Falke, Decorative Silks (New York, NY: William Helburn, 1922). 11 Ronald W. Ferrier, ed., The Arts of Persia (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 1989). 12 Robert Fossier, The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Middle Ages 350–950 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, [1989] 1998). 13 Shinji Fukai and Mihoko Domyo, Taq-i Bustan 1, 2, 3, 4 (Tokyo: Yamakawa Publishing Company Ltd., 1969). 14 Shinji Fukai and Katsumi Tanabe, Persia Bijyutushi Rekishi (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1983). 15 Roman Ghirshman, The Arts of Ancient Iran: From its Origins to the Time of Alexander the Great (The Arts of Mankind, 2 vols), trans. Kohji Okaya (Tokyo: Shinchosha Publishing Co. Ltd., 1965). 16 Émile Guimet, Les Portraits d’Antinoë au Musée Guimet (London: Forgotten Books, [1912] 2019).

17 Toshio Hayashi, Griffin no Hisyo (Tokyo: Yuzankaku Publishing, 2006). 18 Al’baum Laza’ Izrailevich, Kodai Samarkand no Hekiga (Tokyo: Bunka Publishing Bureau, 1980). 19 Mitsuhiko Ogata, A Study of the Textiles in the Shōsō-in (Kyoto: Shibunkaku, 2013). 20 Pliny the Elder. Natural History of Pliny (3 vols), trans. Sadao Nakano, Satomi Nakano and Miyo Nakano (Tokyo: Yuzankaku Publishing, 1986). 21 Philippa Scott, The Book of Silk, trans. Shisako Suzuki (Tokyo: Tofusha, 2007). 22 Shiruku Rōdo-gaku Kenkyū Sentā, ‘Sequel to Handlooms of the Silk Road’, Silk Roadology 26 (2006). 23 Rokuro Uemura, Persian Textile (Tokyo: Unsodo, 1962). 24 Anna Vanzan, Les Perses: Trésors d’une Civilisation Ancienne, trans. Christine Favart (Novara: White Star, 2012). 25 Adèle Coulin Weibel, Two Thousand Years of Textiles: The Figured Textiles of Europe and the Near East (Published for the Detroit Institute of Arts by New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1952). 26 Lintz Yannick, Magali Coudert and Jean-Luc Martinez. Antinoë: Momies, Textiles, Céramiques et Autres Antiques (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2013).

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4

Byzantine Brocades: A Contribution from Art History DR TOMOYUKI MASUDA

in Istanbul. But do these mosaics accurately reproduce the actual clothing worn by the emperors? In particular, though the mosaic technique is good at expressing jewellery, it tends to exaggerate its brightness. At Ravenna, motherof-pearl was used to show pearls, rather than using glass tesserae. The pearls in the crown of the Empress Theodora may, therefore, have been depicted larger than they actually were. Keeping in mind that drawings of brocades are not faithful records of the actual items, two motifs are effective in using Byzantine paintings in brocade research.4 These are the cloth on the bed of the Virgin Mary in Dormition of the Virgin (Koimesis tes Theotokou) and the cloth covering the altar in Communion of the Apostles and Melismos. Herein these two motifs are introduced.

In recent decades, exhibitions of Byzantine art and culture have been held systematically, displaying important fabric works1 such as brocades, examples of dyeing, and weaving, as well as embroidery.2 While most materials needed for research are available, we still cannot easily say that art historians focus on cloth relics in iconographic studies or that researchers of dyeing and weaving use artwork effectively. While cloth products depicted in art works are important visual material, they are not necessarily faithful reproductions of the original. Similar to textual documents, when using paintings as research material in Byzantine brocades, one must engage in source material criticism. Even capable historians often tend to mistake paintings as faithful historical records of the actual item, similar to photographs.3 When considering the luxurious clothing of Byzantine emperors, one immediately thinks of the sixth-century mosaic of Emperor Justinian I and his wife in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna or the eleventh-century mosaic of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachus and his wife (the original was of Romanus III Argyrus) in the South Gallery of the Hagia Sophia cathedral

Dormition of the Virgin While Catholics portray the death of Virgin Mary as the Assumption of the Virgin, Orthodox Christians refer to the Dormition of the Virgin. As in the Annunciation, the

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Archangel Gabriel visited Mary and announced that the time of death was near. Mary bid farewell to the female disciples who lived with her and went to her deathbed. The Apostles, engaged in missionary work around the world, rode on the clouds with angels to rush to the house of Mary. When Mary breathed her last, Christ descended from Heaven, embraced the soul of Mary, who was in the form of a baby, and handed her over to the angels, who delivered her to Heaven. People normally must wait for the Last Judgement to ascend to Heaven, but Mary had the honour of ascending soon after death, due to her privilege as Theotokos, the Mother of God. As an additional episode, in some cases, the figure of the Jew Jephonias, whose arms are cut by an angel in an attempt to interfere with the funeral, is added. In addition to the Twelve Apostles and the female disciples, Dionysius the Areopagite, who preached about the Dormition, and his teacher Hierotheos are portrayed as bishops. The oldest remaining Dormition of the Virgin image is found in Ağaçaltı Kilisesi in the Ihlara Valley in the Cappadocia region.5 The image dates back to the seventh or the ninth century, depending on the researcher, but due to

the inscription style, the author believe it dates back to the seventh century. From the middle period to the late period, this was an essential subject in the decoration of Byzantine churches, and many ivory reliefs and icons were produced. In the decoration of churches, the western wall of the naos is the site of the Dormition of the Virgin. While the apse in the east part of the church represents life (the Virgin and Child, the Annunciation), the west part represents death. It is said that as the congregation was leaving after worship in the church, they looked up and saw the Dormition on the western wall. There they saw Christ descending from Heaven and embracing the soul of Mary. For the congregation, it was the ultimate model of salvation. The Dormition of the Virgin image reflects actual funeral rituals. Standing by the bedside, Saint Peter waves a thurible to sprinkle frankincense smoke over the body of the Virgin Mary, and there is often a censer on a footstool in the foreground. In typical compositions, the front of Mary’s bed stands out in order to make it appear large. Byzantine painters painted brocades to beautifully fill in this part. While the overwhelming majority of works depict plain red-purple cloth, in many cases, embroidery bands on the

Figure 4.1  (from left to right) first row: 1. Chora Monastery (Istanbul, 1316 to 1321); 2. Berat, Panagia Blachernai (Albania, 16th century); 3. Maligrad, Panagia (Albania, 14th century); second row: 4. Kurbinovo, St. George (Macedonia, 1191); 5. Prilep, St. Nicholas (Macedonia, late 13th century); 6. Lesnovo Monastery (Macedonia, 14th century); third row: 7. Perachorio, Sts. Apostles (Cyprus, 12th century); 8. Asinou, Panagia Phorbiotissa (Cyprus, 1105); 9. Geraki, St. John Chrysostom (Greece, 14th century); fourth row: 10. Kastoria, Sts. Anargyroi (Greece, 12th century); 11. Kastoria, Panagia Mavriotissa (Greece, 11th century); 12. Lagoudera, Panagia tou Arakos (Cyprus, 1192). Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda.

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edge of the cloth serve as decorations. A medallion at the centre of the cloth also usually serves as a decoration. While in some cases, the medallion has the same colour as the background, so that we understand it has been woven in, mostly it is a gold colour against a blue or red background. Perhaps these brocades were embroidered with gold thread. The medallions display arabesque patterns with crosses. In some cases, symmetrical animal designs also show. Filling in the background with continuous medallions or rhomboid and hexagonal patterns is a contrivance in paintings representing cloth material. Serious discussions on whether these represent actual items is necessary.

The Communion of Apostles and Melismos In Byzantine churches, as a rule, the Mother and Child are depicted on the most important apse (i.e. the function of the area around the altar). In frontier areas, such as Cappadocia, Georgia and Crete, Christ and Deisis are often selected for the apse. In either case, the apse emphasizes the doctrine of the Eucharist.

While the Last Supper expresses the story of bread being the body of Christ and wine being his blood, the Communion of Apostles liturgizes this. Here, Christ is a priest standing in front of the altar, giving bread and wine to the Apostles on his left and right. This is a painting of the altar itself and is an important visual depiction of the altar in Byzantine times. Melismos (or Amnos) is a subject metaphorically representing the doctrine of the Eucharist,6 and in many cases, it is depicted in the lower apse, in other words, behind the actual altar. Here, a young Jesus (or an adult Jesus) is lying with his body covered by a cloth, with a wine glass at the bedside. The superimposition of the bread as the body of Christ on the altar and the body of Jesus on the altar in the painting present to the congregation the doctrine of bread as the body of Christ in an easily understandable fashion. While the Communion of Apostles is thought to have been painted in churches in the sixth century, before Iconoclasm, Melismos as a new subject appeared in the twelfth century. In terms of the expression of cloth, while there is no particular discrepancy with Dormition of the Virgin, the Macedonian examples of Nerezi and Manastir faithfully

Figure 4.2  (from left to right) first row: 1. Banjani, St. Nikitas (Macedonia, 14th century); 2. Bela Crkva (Serbia, 14th century); 3. Brajčino, Sv. Petka (Macedonia, 14th century); second row: 4. King’s Church, Studenica Monastery (Serbia, 14th century); 5. Kurbinovo, St. George (Macedonia, 1191); 6. Manastir (Macedonia, 13th century); third row: 7. Matka, St. Andrew (Macedonia, 14th century); 8. Nerezi, St. Panteleimon (Macedonia, 1164); 9. Lešani, Si Sveti (Macedonia, 14th century). Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda.

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depict the brocade by including the colour purple. In comparison, in Bela Crkva and King’s Church in the Studenica Monastery, there is a simplified pattern with strong expression. Kurbinovo (1191), the earliest example of Melismos, describes what is thought to be a carpet rather than a brocade. The altar might have been covered with such a silk carpet. Works faithfully depicting how brocades were used can, of course, be found in Macedonia (FYROM, Republic of North Macedonia). In the Markov Manastir apse a brocade is depicted as ritual equipment solemnizing the Virgin and Child icon. There is a blue brocade on the icon display table, and above that is a Hodegetria Virgin and Child icon. The Eleousa-type icon is placed on top of a red brocade and is carried by people. The altar cloth in the Melismos of

Manastir is the most realistic description of a brocade in Byzantine paintings. While not involving direct depictions of brocades, lastly, the author would like to draw attention to the fact that research in dyeing and weaving and research in art history intersect. It is possible that brocades have influenced the inner soffits of arches as well as the narrow compartments of walls in Byzantine churches. During the middle Byzantine period, arabesque patterns were frequently depicted against a yellow background in Komnenian paintings in particular. While this is a motif suited to filling space with certain patterns, and the influence from illuminated manuscripts must be taken into account, as in the Naxos island example, the handling of the space with medallion shapes is reminiscent of brocades. Such arabesque patterns

Figure 4.3  Markov Manastir (Macedonia, 14th century). Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda.

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Figure 4.4  Manastir (Macedonia, 13th century). Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda.

Figure 4.5  (from left to right) 1. Nerezi, St. Panteleimon (Macedonia, 1164); 2. Veljusa, Eleousa Monastery (Macedonia, 12th century); 3. Naxos, St. George Diasotitis (Greece, 11th century); 4. Staro Nagoričane, St. George (Macedonia, 14th century). Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda.

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disappeared in the middle period, and in the later period, Palaiologan paintings patterns more reminiscent of cloth became mainstream. Byzantine research is still a young field, and collaboration between researchers in dyeing and weaving and art history will bear considerable fruit in the future.

Notes 1 For the status of research, see Maria G. Parani, ‘Fabrics and Clothing’, and David Jacoby, ‘Silk Productions’, in The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies, Elizabeth Jeffreys, John Haldon and Robin Cormack, eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 407–20 and 421–28. 2 For coverage of main exhibitions only: Kurt Weitzmann, ed., Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century (New York, NY and Princeton, NJ: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 1979), cat. nos. 70, 80–1, 112, 116–7, 119–21, 123–5, 129, 136, 142, 150, 158, 172, 182–3, 198, 218, 227–30, 234–5, 332, 390–2, 412–3, 477, 480, 494; Helen C. Evans and William D. Wixom, eds., The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era A.D. 843–1261 (New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1997), cat. nos. 148–50, 269–71, 344; Helen C. Evans, ed., Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557) (New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004), 295–9, cat. no. 29; Warren T. Woodfin, ‘Liturgical Textiles’ in Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557), Helen C. Evans, ed. (New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004), cat. nos. 177–95, 198–200, 268–70; Marielle MartinianiReber, ‘Textile’, in Byzance, L’art byzantine dans les collections publiques françaises, Irène Aghion, Jannic Durand, Danielle Gaborit-Chopin and Marie-Odile Germain, eds. (Paris: Musée

3 4

5 6

du Louvre 1992), 148–51, cat. nos. 101–5, p.192 (ead., ‘Tissus’), nos. 128–34, 370–3 (ead., ‘Les Textiles IXe – XIIe siècles’), cat. nos. 280–89, 486 (ead., ‘Textiles’), cat. nos. 377–9; David Buckton, ed., Byzantium: Treasures of Byzantine Art and Culture from British Collections (London: British Museum Press, 1994), 16–17; Hero Granger-Taylor, ‘Byzantine Textile’ in Byzantium: Treasures of Byzantine Art and Culture from British Collections, David Buckton, ed. (London: British Museum Press, 1994), cat. nos. 49–50, 111–12, 136–9, 166, 190, 225–6; Jend Fleischer, Øystein Hjort and Mikael Bøgh Rasmussen, Byzantium: Late Antique and Byzantine Art in Scandinavian Collections (Copenhagen: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 1996), cat. nos. 34–9, 91, 152–3; Helen C. Evans and Brandie Ratliff, eds., Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition 7th–9th Century (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2012), 148; Thelma K. Thomas, ‘Silks’ in Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition 7th–9th Century, Helen C. Evans and Brandie Ratliff, eds. (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2012), cat. nos. 98–103; Marielle Martiniani-Reber, Jean-Michel Spieser and Jean-Yves Marin, Byzance en Suisse (Milan: 5 Continents Editions Srl., 2015), 239–67, cat nos. 307–30. For example, Michel Kaplan, Tout l’or de Byzance (Paris: Éditions Gallimard, [1991] 2006). For the broadest research using drawn clothing in iconographic research, consult the dissertation of Maria G. Parani, Reconstructing the Reality of Images: Byzantine Material Culture and Religious Iconography (11th–15th Centuries) (Leiden: Brill, [1999] 2002). Nicole Thierry and Michel Thierry, Nouvelles églises rupestres de Cappadoce (Paris: Éditions Klincksieck, [1963] 2000), 73–87. Chara Konstantinidi, Ho Melismos: The Co-officiating Hierarchs and the Angel-Deacons Flanked the Altar with Holy Bread and Wine or the Eucharist Christ (Thessaloniki: Centre of Byzantine Studies, 2008).

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5

The Spread of Byzantine Silk Samite Towards the Jacquard Loom RYOKO YAMANAKA KONDO The silk1 brocade or ‘samite’ that adorned the Byzantine world was made using a compound technique created by incorporating the Chinese technique of ‘warp-faced brocade’2 passed down from the Spring, Autumn and Warring States periods (770 BCE to 221 BCE) into the ancient Western weaving design technique, which used hemp yarn and wool materials as the weft; it reached its final form as weft-faced brocade3 in the Sassanid dynasty in Persia. It was also competitively manufactured and handed down for almost a millennium in the Byzantine Empire. Brocade fabrics with beautifully repeated patterns were used to make court garments, palace ornaments, gifts given to the emperors as tribute, church relics, altar decorations, holy shrouds, and so forth. Its sumptuousness and presence, not seen in earlier woven fabrics, charmed the world of the Middle Ages and became the object of avid desire throughout the Eurasian landmass. Described here is the process through which this brilliant samite of the Middle Ages, which, it can be said, created new social phenomena, was first handed down in the Byzantine Empire, and then broadly disseminated throughout the world.

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Ancient Figured Fabrics No direct recorded history of ancient figured fabrics survives, but it is possible to hypothesize to a certain degree, based on a few records that include the Old Testament, Herodotus, Homer and Pliny, and on the social situation during that period. The first people to appear in the history of the Ancient Orient as a group skilled in multi-coloured figured fabrics made by weaving techniques are thought to be the Phoenicians (who called themselves the ‘Canaanites’). The land they occupied is not known clearly, but it is assumed that it included the cities of Sidon, Tyre, Gebal and Arwad on the Levant Coast that is now part of Syria adjoining Israel, along the entire coast of the Levant. They did not form a united country, but a king ruled in each city.4 The name of the Phoenicians in Greek, Φοινίκη, is Fuiniki (meaning ‘mulberry’). Sidon and Tyre, in particular, were renowned for their production of the royal purple dye made from Troschel’s murex, woven fabrics and personal adornments that continued to enrich these cities until the end of the Byzantine era. Approximately forty-metre-high

piles of Troschel’s murex shells still remain today, forming the hills of Sidon, demonstrating that it was a dyeing region. In Israel (later Judea), King David established the capital city, Jerusalem, and then expanded his territory, but his son, King Solomon, reorganized his domain and ceded the northwest part to King Hiram of Tyre in exchange for skilled craftsmen.5 According to the First Book of Chronicles 2:13 of the Old Testament, when King Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem in the tenth century BCE, he asked King Hiram of Tyre, with whom he formed friendly relations, to send him experts with notable experience in gold, silver, bronze, iron, crimson scarlet woven fabric, and blue woven fabric, and people skilled in various types of sculpture, to reinforce the veteran Jewish craftsmen of Jerusalem. In chapter 6 (pages 286 to 296) of Homer’s Iliad, composed in the eighth century BCE, it is written: ‘the work of Sidonian women, whom Alexandros had brought over from Sidon when he sailed the seas upon that voyage during which he carried off Helen. Hecuba took out the largest robe, and the one that was most beautifully enriched with embroidery, as an offering to Minerva.’ Since the Phoenicians were engaged in marine trading as well as in production activities, they primarily handled gorgeous ivory carvings, glass, dyeing and weaving, and metal products that were easy to transport. The craftsmanship of the cities of Syria and Canaan near the Levant was deeply influenced by Phoenicia, a fact which can be surmised from the surviving products of their craftsmen. The Phoenicians expanded their trading area from their colony, the City of Carthage, to as far as southern Spain beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar). There is a shortage of historical sources describing the trade between the Phoenicians, who had possessed advanced dyeing technology since ancient times, and the Jewish craftsmen, who practiced advanced techniques in various areas into the Middle Ages, but according to the publications History of the Jewish People: Ancient Times and A History of the Jews, when Judea was attacked by the Assyrians in 740 BCE, they gave them silver, dyed and woven woollen fabrics, and hemp clothing as a tribute to temporarily avoid disaster; however, its people later entered captivity during the reign of Argon II.6 The Jewish people who remained in captivity in the new Babylon until the sixth century BCE were handed over to Persia, and while many remained there, others migrated to Egypt. The Jewish people lived under a series of rulers; they preferred the Persians who tolerated their religion and, on occasion, provided them with

military support and supplied them with craft technologies. The scattered Jewish people practiced their religion, spoke Greek and considered Jerusalem to be the centre of their nation. Emperor Alexander of Macedonia, who was victorious at the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE, gathered the treasures of Persia and Syria at the same time as he left the effects of Hellenism throughout the region. In Jerusalem, the Jewish craftsmen worked to construct the Temple, and master weavers, ceramists and others participated in the decoration of ritual ornamentation.7 Jerusalem was the home of many Jewish craftsmen in the early second century BCE, and their creations were traded through the port of Akko (Ptolemy). The Jewish people who had emigrated to Babylon were called back to Jerusalem, and as some began to appear in the upper class of society, the weavers and ceramicists were put to great use. This situation was transformed when Judea became a province of Rome in 6 CE, which dispersed the Jewish people to Egypt, Syria and as far as southern Spain. In Alexandria under Roman rule, Jewish investors and traders occupied important positions, and the lower-class craftsmen showed their expertise to gain recognition. There are records of the existence of Jewish craftsmen in various fields in regions other than Egypt.8 According to Natural History: A Selection written by Pliny in 1 CE, fabrics woven in various coloured patterns were popular in Babylon.9 Conducting investigations in the twentieth century, the Japanese Palmyra Eastern Excavation Team unearthed many scraps of clothing which helped to clarify the state of silk weaving in the fourth to sixth centuries. The National Museum of Damascus, Syria houses many examples of weaving of warp and weft made by intertwining silk threads unravelled from silk fabrics produced in China.10 In 226, Persia, under the Sassanid dynasty, won the battle of Antioch that took Syria from Rome and forcibly moved Syrian weavers to the Khuzestan region. They monopolized silk thread from the sericulture region of Khotan in Central Asia in order to make silk woven fabric, and eventually completed their own unique Sassanid brocade method, which used the weft to weave patterns. This is described in detail in Chapter 3. Brocades from the late Roman age to the early Byzantine era have, in recent years, been excavated from various tombs in Egypt. Fragments of figured silk fabric, which had been sewn onto the borders of woven woollen tapestries11 used as wall hangings, have been restored by the research

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institute from the Abegg-Stiftung in Riggisberg, Switzerland. (ABG 1). The scraps of cloth are naturalistic expressions of narratives that take Greek mythology, the New Testament of the Christian Bible, and Egyptian scenery as their themes. The layout of their patterns is those of two-colour woven fabric in a lateral parallel composition, which had been established as customary since the ancient cylinder seals. The composition of its patterns is completely different from that of the later Sassanid brocade and Byzantine brocade. It is thought to have been made at the end of the fourth century, presumably produced in the ancient weaving regions of Sidon, Tyre, Damascus in the Levant region, or in Thebes or Corinth in Greece.12 In Thebes, silk-figured fabrics were produced until the end of the Byzantine era, and in Damascus by damask looms equipped with an opening controller similar to drawlooms13 (see Figure 3.4, p. 33), which are still in use.14 In Antinoë, Egypt, a city built by Emperor Hadrian but later left in ruins, Albert Gayet aroused great public interest by unearthing a large quantity of brocades from the tombs of Christians, with the support of the Guimet Museum of Asian Art in Paris. Many theories about their production area focusing on Persia and Assyria had initially been discussed, but the theory argued by Otto von Falke that they were Antinoë, later became the mainstream theory. However, in Egypt, where apparel and patterns became stylized and were handed down over long periods, ponchos made of white hemp were esteemed. It is difficult to think

that the fifteen cashmere caftans (with samite sewn on them) and other silk woven fabrics were made in Egypt, so this theory is dismissed nowadays. Considering the style of the apparel, fineness of the patterns, symmetry of the compositions, and so on, it is assumed that they were made in Persia. The excavated textiles are now preserved at the Textile and Decorative Arts Museum, Lyon (LYO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and the Louvre Museum, Paris (LOU 1), which received them from the Guimet Museum of Asian Art. Otto von Falke considered the silk marked with the name Alexandria that remained in the Vatican as having been made in Alexandria, but the place in which they had been manufactured could not be decided upon. As they included a variety of patterns, it is probably appropriate to consider them as goods that were gathered together in Alexandria. Regarding Egyptian figured silk weaving, the next record of a workshop is that of al-Nuwairi, who describes the Egyptian sultan al-Sharf Sha’bang visiting a tiraz workshop in Alexandria in 1376 where he saw a loom, thought to be a drawloom, with which the weaver created patterns by lifting his head to move the upper thread. He also saw gold brocade that had been produced by the loom.15 In Egypt, the custom of interring mummies and accessories continued until the third and fourth centuries. The excavation of relics from the worship of the Fertility God Min (Akhmin, Panopolis) in the suburbs of the city of Sohag, Egypt during the Ptolemaic dynasty located in the middle reaches of the Nile River has continued since the late nineteenth century.

Figure 5.1  Cylinder seal and impressions: heroes fighting against animals, Archaic dynasties. From the Temple of Ishtar in Mari, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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Large quantities of samite have been excavated from tombs of Christian believers and pagans, presumably buried from the second to ninth century, and their patterns and colours display similar trends. This region was a major textile weaving region from the fourth to the sixth century; it was a hemp weaving production region in ancient times, then, in about the sixth century, its producers began to produce silk woven fabric.16 Many of these fabrics were woven in silk thread of two colours: dark brown and unbleached white. Most of the fragments had circular patterns or linear compositions inside approximately 20-centimetre squares, and the silk thread was thickly twined to represent rough patterns. (VAM 1, 2; MFA 3, 5) Their size suggests that they were woven to form patchwork on the backs and shoulders of traditional Egyptian white hemp ponchos. The majority of the patterns are extremely original when compared with other samite made at the same time, for example, by the Amazons from Greek mythology. (MET 1) The discoloured dark brown, judging from the parts where it remains, is presumed to have been red, probably made with Egyptian safflower dye, which fades easily. Chinese silk transported to the West along the Silk Roads was unravelled to gather the thread, then dyed and woven.17

Brocade in the Byzantine Era The author agrees with the view expressed by Judith Herrin, ‘I do not think the form of Byzantine civilisation can be clarified by looking only at the history of its politics, military, and religion throughout its 1,100 years of existence, and it will probably be impossible to understand the Western World centred on Europe, which was created by its contact with Byzantium.’18 The author hopes that a new perspective on the Byzantine culture will be revealed by the story about to be narrated here about samite woven on compound looms, which attracted the attention of many people during the Middle Ages including those in power, and can be called the most advanced technology of its time. Emperor Constantine (reigned 306 to 337), who appeared to be the complete opposite of Emperor Diocletian (who had suppressed Christianity and Manichaeism), moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople in the East. There are many theories concerning his faith, including the report that he was not initially a Christian, but a worshipper of the Sun God. Furthermore, in the city of Constantinople, which he

renamed after formally moving the capital there in 330, he decorated the streets with ancient statues transported from Rome and giant obelisks brought from Egypt. People in the town learned the poems and dialogues of Homer and Plato and studied Greek philosophy. The patterns on the brocades of the early Byzantine period express this confusing situation, including Greek mythology Bible stories and pictures of the Nile River region. (SEN 6; SEN 7; ABG 1) We can see final patterns of decoration in Rome at Santa Costanza-mausoleum of a daughter of Constantius I. Among the Romans who regarded wearing togas made using large quantities of white silk as high status, Emperor Constantine, who was born in eastern Naissus (present-day Serbia), wore brightly coloured clothing richly embroidered with gold and silver thread that he was given by the Sassanid Court of Persia.19 This style of clothing eventually became the dress of the Byzantine emperors, and expanded as the textile for the interior decoration of churches, apparel of the courtiers, and even the harnesses of the aristocrats. Emperor Constantine’s mother, Helena, was an ardent Christian who worshipped relics of the Apostles and presented offerings to the Church, practices that were continued by later emperors. The relics were wrapped in beautiful samite, and the custom of wrapping the remains of later emperors and archbishops in holy shrouds was established. These textiles were later replaced, and the remaining scraps are now kept in regional treasure houses and art galleries, where they are the few remaining relics of Byzantine art. By examining the ‘Consular diptychs’ from the fourth to fifth century, one can see the clothing bearing forms like flowering plants in a lozenge or circle. Trends shown by these fragments are similar to those revealed by the oldest collection at the Sens Cathedral in France. (SEN 2) Emperor Justinian I (527 to 565) was enthusiastic about the manufacture of brocades, and when the silk route from China was monopolized by Persia,20 he obtained his own silkworms and wove and sewed silk in Syria. During the period when the Byzantine culture flourished under Emperor Justinian, interest in ceremonies and apparel soared, and silk became the leading material for court decoration. No Byzantine brocade of that era still exists, but its quality can be imagined by viewing ‘Emperor Justinian and his retinue’, and ‘Theodora and her attendants’, which are mosaics in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy that escaped the destruction of the Iconoclasm, also the ‘Virgin and Child’ icon in the Agia

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Figure 5.2  4th century. Mosaic of the ceiling at the Mausoleums of Santa Costanza, Rome, Italy. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

Ekaterini monastery at Mount Sinai, and panels in the Church of Saint Demetrius in Serbia. They portray glossy multi-coloured cloaks bearing repeating patterns, images of the Emperor Justinian wearing a solid royal purple paludamentum (semi-circular cloak), with a tablion, a brocade of gold thread portraying a water bird pattern. Empress Theodora is also wearing a robe of royal purple edged with a gold fringe embroidered with gold thread of the Three Wise Men. The attendants are portrayed with glittering hair ornaments, and each wears a cloak and clavi with different patterns. The patterns are formed by repeating flowers in the lozenge woven pattern (see Figure V-6, p. 118).

A historian of the same period, Procopius, has written that the dyers and weavers of Tyre and Beirut in Syria fled to Persia because of the difficulties imposed by monopolization and the excessive pursuit of profits by dishonest Byzantine traders.21 In 610, Emperor Heraclius (610 to 638) focused his energy on military expansion into Persia to occupy Nineveh in 628, which then forced Khosrow II of the Persian Sassanid dynasty to abdicate. Khosrow abandoned his castle at Ctesiphon, and Heraclius repossessed the true cross at the same time as he retrieved the King’s dresses and silk fabrics from the palace. Heraclius’ brocade with inscriptions remains today, but its pattern is a typical early Byzantine lozenge composition. However, after this time,

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brocade was radically transformed under the influence of the patterns of the Sassanid dynasty of Persia. That is to say, the pattern comprises a main figure in a medallion shaped to connect flowers, hearts and braids, and secondary figures are added at intersection points of each main figure; the main figures were arranged freely and were replaced by figures of humans, birds, animals, sacred trees, flowers and such, even including the gods of Zoroastrianism. (LMA 1) Along with the patterns, the quality improved as they learned the advanced techniques of Sassanid brocade, which the Persians had learned from China. The brocades of the two countries – Sassanid Persia and the Byzantine

state, which had experienced alternating periods of war and peace – earned even higher praise than that given to their paper currency in recognition of its advanced techniques and superior expressiveness. In the last years of the reign of Emperor Heraclius, the death of Muhammad (632) provided an opportunity for the integrated Arabian Islamic Army to take back Syria, Palestine and Egypt which had just been recovered from Persia in 634. As a result of the psychological shock of losing the sacred city of Jerusalem, accompanied by the loss of its grain warehouses in Egypt, and its many superior craftsmen in Syria, the economic and cultural activities of

Figure 5.3  Left: pattern of silk samite ‘Emperor Heraclius’. Before being influenced by Sassanian design, plenty of lozenge compositions were woven in the Byzantine era. Right: reverse of a fragment. Pattern: Musée d’Art Religieux et d’Art Mosan, Liège. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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Byzantium shrank and were unavoidably concentrated in Constantinople. The appearance of Islam also brought forth new problems in Byzantium. The custom of decorating homes with images of one’s family and ancestors established since the late Roman Empire was replaced in the fourth century by displaying Christian icons. The Muslim believers under the stimulus of their adherence to the prohibition on the worship of images in Moses’ Ten Commandments, started the Iconoclasm wars, and the large-scale destruction of icons was carried out by Leo III (reigned 730 to 787), Leo V (813 to 820) and Theophilos (815 to 843). The first movement was ended by the Empress Consort Irene after the death of Leo III, and after the icon destruction was reignited; it was ended by Empress Theodora after the death of Theophilos. The worship of icons was established in Eastern Christianity, and this practice was never attacked again. However, the criticism of Iconoclasm by the Roman popes, Gregory II and Gregory III, was the beginning of the religious divide between the popes in Rome and the Byzantines.22 No historical documents from the side opposing icons during this period remain because they have all been destroyed. Patterns on surviving brocades thought to date from the eighth to ninth century do not include any portrayals of Mary or Christ, but many illustrate pictures of emperors or the patterns of faces. (SEN 8, 9, 10) Their origins are unclear, but considering the system, which can be called caesaropapism in the Eastern Orthodoxy of that time, it is possible to hypothesize that during the period of Iconoclasm, images of the emperors were woven in place of the icons of Mary and Christ. (SEN 8; LOU 9) The production of brocade, which had temporarily slumped, would soon restart close to the emperors, and the structure of its patterns became more original, larger and more freely conceptualized. Brocades were used only by the emperor, the Imperial family and the courtiers. Open trading of brocades was prohibited, and they were circulated only as tribute goods. Obtaining Tyrian purple required troublesome procedures, but tax benefits were introduced. The emperors then transformed the Baths of Zeuxippus into silk workshops and kept skilful weavers so that they could make extensive use of brocades for diplomacy and court management. In the middle of the ninth century, the position of the Byzantine Emperor was taken by Basil I (867 to 886), an Armenian from Macedonia, who successfully took the

islands of Crete and Cyprus by military force. Most of the later emperors were Macedonians of Armenian ancestry. Cyprus was a Phoenician colony in the ninth century, and after being ruled by a series of powerful states, including Persia under the Achaemenid dynasty, it became a part of the Greek cultural sphere and was taken over by Byzantium. During this time, it was famed for its production of embroidery and fabrics woven with gold thread.23 Constantine VII of the Macedonian dynasty became emperor at an extremely young age under the regency of the Ecumenical Patriarch Nicholas and others, but was obstructed by Emperor Romanos for forty-six years beginning in 913, when he was repeatedly enthroned, abdicated or served as co-emperor, until he finally seized authority as emperor in his forties. However, Constantine VII’s major concern was diplomacy with other nations, arts and scholarly research against the backdrop of a beautifully ornamented palace. He created an age that was one of the flowering periods of Byzantine culture, known as the Renaissance of the Macedonian dynasty. Brocade from the eleventh century with patterns of glittering golden lions bearing the names Âáóßëåéïò (Basileios) and Êùíóôáíôßíïò (Constantinus) adorn the Heribert Church in Cologne. (KSH 1) Among the many books authored by this emperor, one includes On Ceremonies (De Ceremoniis), also known as the Book of Ceremonies, written for his son. It is a valuable document that includes descriptions of ceremonies, dress, and so on of the time, and its silk fabrics have been named after its patterns, whose motifs include eagles, vultures, peacocks and other images.24 Close relationships with countries in the West were accompanied by the movement of many works of Byzantine artistic craftsmanship dated from this period. It is believed that they received many orders for textiles to be worn by kings and as vestments in major churches, and that brocades used as holy shrouds were also used for interior decoration, which were handed down in Auxerre, France and used for the chasuble of Brixen. (AUX 1; BRE 1) Bishop Liutprand of Cremona, who visited the Byzantine capital twice during this period, was overwhelmed by the splendour of the palace and the city streets and was given purple vestments by Constantine VII, who was delighted by the bishop’s gift of eunuchs during his first visit. The next time he was dispatched to Byzantine by Otto I during the reign of Nikephoros II Phokas, he was ordered to ask the

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emperor to allow a porphyrogennetta (a legitimate daughter born in the special purple chamber of the Byzantine Emperor’s Palace) to marry Otto II, but this time he was treated coldly, and the purple cloth he had purchased was confiscated. Contemporary records report that the garment worn by Nikephoros II Phokas was old and did not fit him well, and that Otto II was far more beautifully dressed; moreover, in the West it was possible to purchase purple fabric on the market through the merchants of Venice and Amalfi in Italy.25 This reveals that compared to Byzantine during the reign of Nikephoros II Phokas, which was marked by almost continuous military strife, awareness of beauty in the new West was on the rise. Later, Nikephoros II Phokas was assassinated and the next emperor, John I Tzimiskes (969 to 976), sought reconciliation with the West by arranging a marriage between his niece Theophanu (not a porphyrogennetta) and Otto II. In 972, the Pope of Rome crowned her Empress

Consort of the Holy Roman Empire. The marriage charter, which is sheepskin dyed purple and inscribed in gold, still survives in beautiful condition. Theophanu married at a tender age, but after she reached adulthood, she ruled with Otto II (as Empress Consort of the Holy Roman Empire from 967 to 983), and after his death, she acted as regent for his son, Otto III. It can be assumed that the Byzantine palace culture was handed down by the emperor Otto II as court culture, called the Otto-Renaissance, flourished during the reign of Otto III and that of his successor, Henry II.26 Many pieces of samite brought by the empress have been contributed to the Basilica Church of St. Ursula in Cologne and elsewhere,27 and numerous Byzantine brocade pieces still remain today in Aachen, Cologne, and in Belgium (Liège) and the Netherlands (Maastricht) along the banks of the Rhine River. Henry II (1004 to 1024) was known to be the leading fan of silk dress in the West, and beautifully embroidered vestments remain in the Historical Museum of

Figure 5.4  Embroidery – mantle of Henry II. 12th century. Photograph by the Diözesanmuseum, Bamberg, Germany.

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Bamberg. Aachen Cathedral, Germany and the churches in Cologne, Germany, where many of the historical figures who had been crowned Emperor of the Romans are now buried, have the highest quality of preserved Byzantine brocades. One of these, found by Otto III (Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, 996 to 1002) when he discovered the remains of Charlemagne holding a gospel,28 was a samite holy shroud with an elephant pattern that Frederick I (Holy Roman Emperor, 1152 to 1190) stored in a gold coffin 100 years later. (AAC 1) This brocade, which is one of the few kinds of brocade with inscriptions upon it, is inscribed with the name of the overseer of the Zeuxippus Palace Workshop, but unfortunately, this cannot be verified as it is stored deep within the Aachen Cathedral. In the list of trade associations from the Book of Admirals29 in the early tenth century, five types of guilds among the twenty-two classes that were related to silk are included. Needless to say, silk was a major product. Later, as the powers of the emperors weakened, the demand changed as a result of orders from foreign countries, the transformation of landowners into an aristocracy, the rise of the commercial class, and the transformation of the character of brocades. Until the beginning of the eleventh century, Byzantium continued to mint very pure coins, but when it could no longer protect the purity of paper currency, valuable brocade, considered to be three times the price of gold, was cut into pieces and treated as a more valuable substitute currency.30 Brocade was widely distributed throughout Eurasia, resulting in scraps of brocade from that age still being seen in art museums throughout the continent. During the rule of the Komnenos dynasty in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the manufacture of brocade in the Imperial workshop built on the ruins of the Baths of Zeuxippus in Constantinople returned to prosperity, attracting the interest of other countries in the splendour of the city and the court. Isaac II (1185 to 1195) who levied heavy taxes on and vied with Serbia, Bulgaria and other surrounding countries was a lover of luxury who reportedly rarely wore anything twice.31 However, none of the emperor’s garb can be found today. The Jewish people, who had continued to support the manufacture of Byzantine brocade, were under pressure by emperors such as Heraclius and Leo II to be baptized as Christians as a condition for providing them with weaving work. Though they obeyed on the surface, it is said that even

in the twelfth century they still could not understand the Christian gospels.32 In the Travels of Benjamin written by a Spaniard in the twelfth century, it is reported that about 2,500 Jewish people lived in Constantinople, where they worked in the silk weaving, tanned hides or worked as dyers. However, with regard to brocade production, after the silk craftsmen were taken to Sicily at the time of the Norman Invasion of 1146, Thebes, Corinth and Thessaloniki became the Empire’s principal silk production districts.33 In Patriarch Michael’s protest over heavy taxes, reference is made to the beautiful weaving done by the female weavers of Thebes and Corinth. It can be verified from the murals, mosaics and tapestries in various places that orders probably came from the Serbian Kingdom in the region of Bulgaria, and from kings, lords, and churches in emerging parts of Europe (see Neighbouring Countries, images 3, 7 and 9 on pages 125–7). Basil II (976 to 1025), the grandson of Constantine VII, spent much time in military uniform because he hated Imperial regalia. The relations of Byzantine with the pope in Rome improved when the Turks occupied Jerusalem in 1087; though this was also a period of war with other states when Byzantium recruited Viking mercenaries and soldiers from other regions. The kings of Denmark and Norway made pilgrimages to Constantinople, returning to their homelands with metal and ivory works, and samite, which were the pride of the Byzantine Empire. When mercenaries from England and other countries were decommissioned, they returned home with woven silk fabric and other goods, so that the superior craft products of Byzantium continued to increase trade with other cities, and the streets of Constantinople remained prosperous. Basil II sought support from Vladimir the Great of the Principality of Kiev in his struggle with the wealthy and powerful class in Byzantium, and as a reward, permitted him to marry his younger sister Anna, who was a porphyrogennetta, on the condition that he be baptized.34 Vladimir the Great enacted the regulation of the Church with Anna and worked hard to spread Christianity. At the same time, Byzantine culture spread to Russia through Anna, and trade between Kiev and Constantinople was conveyed on the Dnieper River and the Black Sea. This trade was not conducted entirely using currency; instead it was trade in silk woven fabrics and other luxury commodities.35 The unearthing of ninth-century grave goods at Moshchevaya Balka (the Northwest Caucasus) began in

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1970. A survey team led by Dr Anna Ierusalimskaja of The State Hermitage Museum discovered apparel, headgear, footwear and more, made of Byzantine, Sogdian and Chinese silk in its original form. These goods, which are of great value as proof that the Silk Road detoured through the Caucasus are now displayed in The State Hermitage Museum.36 (PET 9) When the Fourth Crusade established the Latin Empire in 1204, all Byzantine art objects were confiscated and taken to various parts of Europe, effectively transplanting Byzantine arts in Europe. It is thought that warriors from Sens in the Bourgogne region of France who took part in the Fourth Crusade under the leadership of Bishop Guillaume returned home with a vast quantity of Byzantine silk. Today, the treasure room at the Sens Cathedral boasts the world’s largest collection of Byzantine brocade. (SEN (in Chapter 10)) Manuel II Palaiologos (1391 to 1425) left manuscripts illustrating his entire family wearing gorgeous brocade clothing, but it is said that his son John began to wear Islamic-style white clothing after he was sent to Murato in the Ottoman Empire (see Byzantine Court Dress, image 25, on p. 124). However, in a wall painting by Benozzo Gozzoli titled ‘Procession of the Magi’, which is located in the Chapel of the Medici Family, John VIII Palaiologos (1425 to 1448) is portrayed wearing Italian-made velvet whilst riding a horse. Among the people wearing brocades, his apparel is beyond luxurious, and the report that a Medici was the model is not appropriate considering this clothing (see Byzantine Court Dress, image 29, on p. 124). People probably remembered the magnificence of the building and this image of a handsome Byzantine Emperor until their dying day. Byzantium survived for another 250 years until it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. Even after its emperors lost their authority, it continued to flourish solely as a conduit for the flow of goods between other countries. Silk fabrics, which remained in high demand, were imported from Italy after Constantinople lost its production capability, meaning its only export was raw silk.37 Maps of Istanbul when ruled by Mehmed II (reigned 1444 to 1446 and 1451 to 1481) of the Ottoman Empire demonstrate that though there were tanning plants, no dyeing-related facilities can be seen. Kaftans remaining in Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Turkey are thought to have been made in a palace workshop that operated in Konya

since the eleventh or twelfth century and, judging from the high degree of completion of the brocade that was presented to the Venetian Ambassador in the fifteenth century, it was also made in Bursa, Turkey. In the first half of the sixteenth century, silk weaving was also done in Istanbul,38 and during the reign of Suleiman I (reigned 1520 to1566), more than 300 weaving workshops lined the streets. In the Ottoman Empire, woven silk fabric was defined specifically according to the differences in the thread used and the technique, and broadly categorized into the following three guilds: Diva (made using gold or silver thread), velvet and satin.39

The Spread of Brocades to the West The seventh century Umayyad Caliphate seized the lands of Sidon, Damascus and Tyre in Syria, which were dyeing and weaving areas in ancient times, from Byzantium, and captured the dyers and weavers to take over its brocade weaving. Some of the craftsmen, however, escaped to the Taurus Mountains, later allowing Constantinople and Thebes to continue silk weaving in Byzantium.40 The eighthcentury Abbasid Caliphate established a large dyeing and weaving workshop in Baghdad and started to weave silk; it was forbidden by Islam but the Abbasid Caliphate made black clothing and black flags (temporarily green clothing and green flags),41 and almost never turned its hand to figures. Later, Abd ar-Rahman II (790 to 852) of the Caliphate of Córdoba entered Spain and established a silk weaving workshop at Córdoba in Andalusia where ancient Phoenicians had passed down and firmly established weaving.42 The Liber Pontificales (ninth century) notes the existence of, and acclaims, the large amounts of silk textiles from Spain in the times of Pope Gregory IV and Leo IV. Under the rule of Abd ar-Rahman III (929 to 961), who conserved cultural activities, and in particular liked to wear splendid figured silk, the independent Guild Tiraz43 invented the original lampas weaving44 (see Chapter 8). In the Mediterranean years, from the eleventh century onwards, many people began to wear garments made of tiraz from Málaga and Almería. Gradually, patterns featuring the geometric composition of the Arab-Islamic style came to be woven. (IMA 2) In the thirteenth century, the silk weaving districts of Almería and Málaga in the Emirate of Granada inherited this style. Arabesque patterns and

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Figure 5.5  Left: 16th century. The wife of the Grand Duke of Tuscany (from Toledo, Spain). Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. Right: 1­ 7th century. Osman (reigned 1618 to 1622 ) caftan. Palmetto style arabesque. It is similar to Italian silk of the 16th c­ entury pictured left. This was named the Chatoma weave in Turkey (similar to a velvet textile). Photograph by Banri Namikawa, Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi, dress of a sultan. Mori Masao. Sultan’s Clothing, Topkapi Palace Museum. Kyoto: Seiseisha, 1980.

other decorative patterns transmitted from the Arab-Islam world spread widely to the East and West and exerted great influence. The expressive techniques, which make liberal use of silk woven cloth and gold in Spain during the Middle Ages, are discussed in Chapters 7 and 8.

In the twelfth century, Roger II (1130 to 1154) of the Kingdom of Sicily considered constructing a weaving workshop inside the Palermo Palace to manufacture brocade. Sicily had already received mulberry growing, sericulture, and silk weaving technologies from Syrian

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Figure 5.6  15th to 16th century. Beyazıt (reigned 1481 to 1512) caftan with long sleeves in a Khemher weave. A floral pattern of pure white, deep red using cochineal and gold threads are woven on a black ground, these colours being difficult to dye. Also, the number of warp threads are one and a half times more than the typical Khemher weave, therefore the figured pattern is depicted in great detail. Photograph by Banri Namikawa, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi, dress of a sultan. Mori Masao. Sultan’s Clothing, Topkapi Palace Museum. Kyoto: Seiseisha, 1980.

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craftsmen when Byzantium lost it to the Arabs and Muslims in the ninth century, and villages that produced dibaj45 were firmly established in the domain of the Cathedral of Monreale, near Palermo, Sicily.46 However, vestments worn by Roger II at his coronation bearing the crest of the Palermo Palace Weaving Workshop were monochrome damask embroidered with arabesque patterns. Furthermore, none of them were brocades produced in Sicily, and since brocade-like coarse damask can be seen in the Palermo grave of Henry VI (1191 to 1197), it is considered doubtful that any of these brocades were completed in Sicily. There is also no mention of Sicilian silk in the records of presents from outlying regions retained in the Vatican. Lucca in Southern Italy undertook silk weaving, including figured textiles, after the craftsmen moved there from Sicily in the eleventh century. Later, it became the leading brocadeproducing region in Italy, enabling it to meet the demands from various regions of Byzantium and Europe. Lucca was in territory ruled by the Count of Tuscany of the Holy Roman Empire, but in the twelfth century its inhabitants gained the right of self-government. Later, internal instability resulted in the craftsmen moving to Florence and Venice to escape an invasion from Pisa. Venice was transformed from the centre of the trade in woven silk fabrics of Byzantium into a silk weaving production centre. In the fourteenth century, under the patronage of the Medici family of Florence, it started a flourishing sericulture industry, where its silk-figured textiles caused the flowering of the Italian Renaissance, and it entered its most prosperous period by exporting its products throughout Europe. At the same time, Genovese merchants went to China to obtain silk and returned with large quantities.47 This means that the raw materials for woven silk, technologies and patterns poured into Italy from two directions: the Islamic-Arab Sicily route and the China route. According to the way they were selected, the original features of Italy’s distinctive figured textiles were established. At first, the mainstream was Islamic-style cross-sectional patterns of large plants, but eventually compositions with moving animal patterns within the arabesque design were created. (IMA 1) The technique was mainly to produce velvet, primarily by the Velluti family of Italian textile makers, using the lampas method and a blend of silk with hemp for a thicker textile. As for colouring, crimson and red were considered the most valuable colours, while

purple, which had been esteemed since ancient times, was not produced. It has been reported that the Tyrian purple dyeing tradition had died out and that there was conscious opposition to it among Catholic Christians who opposed the orthodox Christianity of Byzantium. Green, made by dyeing in two stages – first yellow, then blue – was also revered. Venice and Florence acquired it from Byzantium, indicating the appearance of the Italian Renaissance. The centre of fashion had already shifted from Byzantium to Italy. Silk weaving was spread to France by Italian craftsmen of the Vatican and was mainly located in Avignon in the fourteenth century, but the French started making silk woven fabrics a little later during the rule of the House of Bourbon (1589 to 1830). Initially, obtaining the technique and handling the silk was extremely difficult, which delayed the process. Colbert, who was Chancellor under Louis XIV (1643 to 1715) and the son of a woollen merchant, improved the production system as an expression of his mercantilism, enabling the start of weaving silk-figured fabrics for the court in Lyon,48 and thus releasing France from the heavy expense of importing silk. In 1840, the extremely difficult production of brocade was mechanized in France, leading to the invention of the Jacquard loom49 using the ‘chain of cards’ method. It seems to be descended from techniques of ancient weaving using cards in Syria, and this method is quite different from that of China. The spread of this machine was accompanied by the worldwide dissemination of brocade weaving. Today, in England, we can find remaining seal bags of silk brocade in Canterbury Cathedral. These imported silks are considered to have been made at Byzantium, Islam and Spain between the eighth to the thirteenth century. These small silks are supposed to have been circulated as currency like other variable Byzantine silks. It is important to know when some of the seal bags were made and in which charter they were used. The expansion of woollen cloth production in Flanders in the second half of the twelfth century was accompanied by growing exports to the major wool production region in England, leading to a period of the highest growth seen in the Middle Ages.50 This was accompanied by growth in the domestic demand for silk clothing, but domestic production of silk woven fabric did not commence until the start of ribbon weaving (narrow cloth) production in the fifteenth century.51 According to Donald King, the

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Figure 5.7-1,-2,-3,-4,-5  1. Seals for charter. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 2. Fragment of a seal bag: No. 11. Charter date 1264, Henry II. Peacock and horse. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. 8th to 9th century. Damascus (Umayya dynasty). Reproduced by Otto von Falke who described them to be woven in west Islam during the 11th century, though this was contradicted afterwards. The depiction of animal and arabesque leaf patterns shows strong early Islamic work, being influenced by Byzantine and Chinese styles. H 8.2 × W 7.5 cm. Photograph by Canterbury Cathedral Archives. 3. A fragment of a seal bag; No. 23E. Charter date 1321, Edward II. Birds under a tree. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. 13th to 14th century. Al-Andalus, Spain. Six kinds of seal bag were made from the same fabric - No.23. The expression of the leaves, birds, and red animals are found in Spanish silk during the Middle Ages. The unfaded red was probably dyed using kermes from Spain. It is thought that the fabric was bought by silk piece goods or a custom-made article from Genova. There were privileges of trade with Genova to Muhammad II (Granada) in the 13th century. Photograph by Canterbury Cathedral Archives.

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4. Fragments of a seal bag; No.1. Charter date 1366, Edward III. Peacock pattern with gold thread. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. 9th to 10th century. Byzantine. Photograph by Canterbury Cathedral Archives.

5. Fragments of a seal bag; No. 15. Two-headed bird of prey. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. 11th to 12th century. Byzantine. The two-headed bird of prey and the elaborate design reveal that the design is from Komnenos, Byzantine. They were clearly dyed at a high quality as the deep blue and red-purple have not faded. Otto Ⅲ (reigned 983 to 1002) demanded that Byzantines only used the decorative bird of prey instead of the eagle. Photograph by Canterbury Cathedral Archives.

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Keeper of Textiles at the Victoria and Albert Museum, English figured silk fabric dates back to the time when weavers and masters were accepted from overseas in the seventeenth century.52 However, from the twelfth century to the early fourteenth century, vestments were made using the superior Opus Anglicanum53 from embroidery workshops in London, which thrived by receiving exclusive orders from major churches in Europe,54 leading English embroidery to often be mentioned in the lists of properties of the popes. From about the middle of the fourteenth century, its momentum began to weaken, presumably because of the arrival in England of the damask lampas produced in Italy, which created a wide gap in price between those embroideries that were individually crafted by hand; a time-consuming task.55 Afterwards, silk woven fabric made in England was mainly swivel weaving56 of flower patterns on white cloth, a technique which achieved expressions similar to those of embroidery. See the difference between the looms in China, Damascus in Syria and Kyoto in Japan. Then these looms spread and progressed to the looms of Spain, Italy and Lyon. After, the Jacquard loom was invented by Joseph-Marie Jacquard in 1804. The Jacquard loom used paper cards with punched holes to weave the patterns, recalling tablet weaving. Nowadays, the technique has changed to the use of computer and programming patterns.

The Transmission of Brocades to Central Asia It is now deemed necessary to observe the way in which silk brocade was transmitted to the people of Sogdiana, Turkey and Iran in Central Asia, as this differed from the way it was transmitted from the principal figured fabric production regions of Phoenicia, Judea, Persia and Byzantium to the Arab-Islam, European and Russian regions that has been explained above. A group of Sogdians are portrayed among the groups who paid tribute, which is illustrated on a relief on a foundation in Persepolis. The Sogdians were of Iranian descent, believed in Zoroastrianism and were based in the oasis cities of the Sogdiana region between the Syr River and the Amu River (now southern Samarkand). After the invasion by Alexander the Great, he conciliated the region so that it

adopted Hellenic culture. It is assumed that the Sogdians subsequently expanded the route of the caravans. They presumably learned about trading from the merchants of the Kushan Empire of India with whom the Sogdians traded. It is historically clear that the Sogdians were active on the Silk Road during the T’ang era in China, triggering a boom in the so-called ‘Hu culture’; Persian culture brought by the Sogdians to the cities of T’ang China.57 The Sogdians, who encountered various cultures and conducted various trades, considered trading silk thread and silk fragments by beginning to weave brocades in the town of Zandana near Bukhara, which is said to have been a treasure house of Sassanid brocades at the end of the sixth century.58 They began to produce a huge quantity of so-called Zandaniji silk59 by imitating and simplifying the patterns and techniques from various regions of the East and West. It is possible to imagine the figured fabrics of Samarkand dresses of that time from sixth- to eighth-century wall paintings in Samarkand. It cannot be said that all are Sogdian brocades, because some of the uniforms are clearly patterned with what is called simorgh, thought to be made in Sassanian Persia, and some with a boar in a medallion thought to be made in T’ang China. A well-known woven silk bearing a faint inscription identifying it as a Sogdian brocade is preserved in the Cathedral Museum in Huy, Belgium (see Figure 6.8, p. 76). Its pattern displays deer, face-to-face in a beaded medallion shaped from pearls; similar patterns survive in the Art & History Museum in Brussels. Images of deer often appear in figures in Sogdian art and figured fabric from Central Asia. In many of these pieces referred to as Sogdian brocade, the woven texture is loose and the circular patterns are altered, but the woven condition of the two pieces above demonstrate high quality. The Book of Wei and other Chinese works contain records of brocade production in Kucha, Kashgar, Karashehr and Khotan in Western China, but no mention of Sogdiana can be found.60 It is possible that the Sogdians, who were skilled traders, also obtained brocade from the above production regions. Sogdiana was invaded by Arab forces in the eighth century, and even though they fought back with the help of the Turks, they were defeated and dispersed. Since then, all traces of any independent trade by the Sogdians have disappeared as they were absorbed into the Turks’ culture. The Western Turkic Khaganate (a Turkic tribe) and the Sogdians of Iran, were both in contact with Sassanid Persia and Byzantium.

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Figure 5.8-1,-2,-3  Top: Drawloom from the ­17th century (also known as the Flower loom) in China. From the book, T’ien-kung K’ai-wu (Chinese Technology in the Seventeenth Century) by Ying-Hsing Sung and translated by E-tu Zen Sun and Shiou-chuan Sun. University Park, PA and London: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1966. Middle: Damask loom in Damascus, Syria. Photograph by National Museum of Damascus, Syria. Bottom: Drawloom in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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Figure 5.9-1,-2,-3  Top, left: the early stage of the Jacquard loom. Maison des Canuts. Photograph by Yoshikazu Uni. Top, right: Lampas loom in Spain. From Antoni Segura I Mas, La Seda a Espanya: LIegenda, Poder I Realitat. 1991. Spain. Bottom: Drawloom in Lyon, France. Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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TRACES OF FIGURED WEAVING

Figure 5.10  Traces of figured weaving. Samite ‘S’; Samite ‘Z’; Taqueté, Lampas. Illustration by Hiromi Yoshihara.

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The Western Turkic Khaganate offered the daughter of the Khan to Khosrow I and also transmitted garb made of Chinese brocade, which was already being worn in the courts of the Western Turkic Khaganate. Byzantium allied with both in order to share the profits from the silk, and it is reported that, for a while, more than 100 Turks (including Sogdians) resided in the Capital City of Byzantium.61 During the ninth and tenth centuries when brocade productions flourished in Byzantium, some Iranian Shiites based in the woven cloth production regions of Khuzestan and Isfahan in Iran independently established the Bu¯yid dynasty. In 945, they invaded Baghdad and accepted the appointment of Amir (Supreme Commander) from the weakened Abbasid Caliphate to acquire real authority, and received garments as their reward. Samite from the contemporary Abbasid Caliphate has recently been discovered in Europe and has been verified by the Abegg Foundation. It is a double-faced woven brocade, which uses two colours to more elaborately represent the two-headed hawk pattern expressed frequently in contemporary Byzantium.62 (ABG 4) However, it does not demonstrate the flexibility and beauty expressed by Byzantine brocades. The Mongols who invaded this region in the thirteenth century did not massacre the craftsmen they found; rather they removed the brocade craftsmen to Hangzhou in Northern China (now Hebei Province), to establish a weaving bureau and undertook the production of figured fabric in the silk workshop there,63 maintaining only the name, Zandaniji brocade. The weaving bureau was handed down from the Yuan to the Ming, and then to the Ching dynasty. The Mongol court was gorgeously decorated with orikin gold weaving and highly lustrous satin silk based on Chinesestyle patterns, which was also used for military banners. When the Mongolian Timurid Empire rebuilt Samarkand as its capital in the fourteenth century, it forcefully moved silk craftsmen from Damascus and other conquered territories to reignite the production of silk woven fabric. The Timurid Empire traded widely from Persia to Ming, and even to Spain, France and England, opening routes for the exchange of culture.64 Timurid brocade has been confirmed from miniatures painted in that region.65 In 1501, Iran was reconstructed by Ismail I when he established the Safavid Dynasty. Shāh Abbās I (1588 to 1692) beautifully constructed the capital city of Isfahan, attracting interest from around the world. The first half of the

fourteenth century in Iran saw the start of the production of handwritten historical manuscripts including illustrations of miniatures first drawn in Mongolia. The samite and lampas woven since that period often incorporated this miniature representational style. Narrative-style full patterns, which included humans in sceneries, influenced brocades in many regions as a form of representation that differed from that of Sassanid brocades. (MET 5) Brocade weaving was transmitted to India by Iranian weavers during the rule of the Mughal Empire in the sixteenth century. The main producing areas were Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad and Hyderabad. They wove gorgeous brocades with pure gold and silver as ceremonial dress and formal clothing for the maharajah, which have survived to the present day. But to follow the history of silk in India we must go back to the first century, when there can be found helpful notes left by a Greek trader.66 The dissemination of brocades in Eurasia in the Middle Ages, as described above, can be seen as a result of men of power being enchanted by these fabrics and so eager to independently manufacture their own brocade. From these situations we can recognize the personality of emperors or kings; focused on their military, political and financial power, it was accompanied by a strong desire to produce brocades independently and flamboyantly adorn themselves and their palaces so as to demonstrate that power. Only a few craftsmen were able to weave patterns using difficult-tohandle silk and complex looms. The first to master figured weaving were the Chinese and the Syrians, who learned the technique from Phoenicians, and the Jewish weavers who passed on their knowledge. Competition for limited materials, technicians and looms was endless. Those in power during the Middle Ages, who fixated on monopolizing beautifully coloured brocade, struggled to hand down this beauty to later generations. The technique later spread to the Greeks, Iranian Sogdians, Koreans and the Japanese, and later to Indians, the Spaniards, Italians and the French. Beginning in the sixth century, the Byzantine capital of Constantinople attracted many people who were fascinated by its charms and helped to maintain its constant cosmopolitan atmosphere. For nearly a millennium, the silk brocade, which was woven continuously under the rule of the Byzantine emperors, were bolder, freer, and occasionally wittier than the Sassanid, T’ang and Japanese brocades made by the same technique. The author hopes

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that a new perspective can be grasped on the Byzantine era, which lost its national land and much more, and whose art history cannot be said to be clearly understood at this time.

Notes 1

Silk fibres: Thickness of 1 strand – 2 to 4 denier = 10 to 15 microns, approximately 800 metres long. 2 A technique where the woven silk has patterns formed with the coloured warp thread. Weft thread from as early as the Ch’u era (335 to 223 BCE) has been unearthed in China. Ben She Yi Ming, Illustrated History of Chinese Civilization, Vol. 3, trans. Ogino Tomonori (Osaka: Sogensha, 2007), 116. 3 This is a weft-patterned weave with complementary wefts in two or more colours, a main (inner) warp and a binding warp, bound in tabby, called taqueté, or weft-faced tabby with inner warps. 4 Glenn E. Markoe, Phoenicians (Osaka: Sogensha, 2007), 4. 5 Paul Johnson, A History of the Jews, Ancient Times and Middle Ages, trans. Tomoo Ishida (Tokyo: Tokuma Bunko, 2006), 138. 6 Johnson, A History of the Jews, Ancient Times and Middle Ages, 87 and 156. 7 Shmuel Safrai and Judith M. Stern, History of the Jewish People: Ancient Times, Vol. 2, trans. Tomoo Ishida (Tokyo: RokoShuppan, 1979), 136. 8 Safrai, History of the Jewish People: Ancient Times, 163. 9 Pliny the Elder, Natural History of Pliny, Vol. 8, trans. Sadao Nakano, Satomi Nakano, and Miyo Nakano (Tokyo: Yuzankaku, 1986), 74–196. 10 Kazuko Yokohari, ‘Two or Three Questions about Figured Cloth Unearthed in Palmyra’, Art History (1976): 93–96. 11 Figured tapestry, also called Coptic weaving, has patterns made by weaving multi-coloured wefts with a linen warp. This was developed into Gobelin tapestry. 12 Judith Herrin, Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire (Tokyo: Hakusuisha, 2010), 358. 13 Drawlooms are large handlooms that developed into Jacquard looms, used in China, India, Japan, Iran and Byzantium. A weaver operates the structure and a drawboy seated above operates a figure harness that controls the warp threads to create the patterns/designs. Daitsuito is suspended in order to weave a pattern at the top of a normal loom, and therefore also requires two weavers. Yoshiko Yamanaka, ‘Brocade in the Middle Byzantium Age’, Ekphrasis-European Cultural Research 7 (2013): 34. 14 Shinobu Yoshimoto and Yanagi Yoshikuni, ‘Looms of the Silk Road Continued: Syrian Looms’, Silk Road Research 26 (2006): 168. 15 Revista del Instituto del Patrimonio Histórico Español, Bienes Culturales Numero 5. 2005, Tejidos Hispanomusulmanes, 47. 16 Ethel Lewis, The Romance of Textiles: The Story of Design in Weaving. (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1937), 97.

17 History states that Romans constantly obtained Chinese silk fragments and unravelled them; but it is difficult to unravel silk to use for weaving. They gathered the thread and firmly twisted it in a ‘Z’-direction like wool (in China, silk is twisted in an ‘S’-direction), dyeing it a preferred colour and weaving it so that it approximates customary wool thread. 18 Judith Herrin, Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire (London: Penguin Books, [2007] 2008), 5. 19 Jacob Burckhardt, Die Zeit Constantins des Grossen (London: Forgotten Books, [1853] 2018), 307. 20 Robert Sabatino Lopez, ‘Silk Industry in the Byzantine Empire’, Speculum 20.1 (1945): 11. 21 Procopius, and Peter Sarris, The Secret History, trans. Geoffrey Arthur Williamson (London: Penguin Classics, [1966] 2007), 10. 22 Herrin, Byzantium, 150. 23 Otto von Falke, Decorative Silks (New York, NY: William Helburn, [1922] 1936), 24. 24 Constantin VII Porphyrogénète, Le Livre des cérémonies, trans. Albert Vogt (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1967). 25 Cremonensis Liudprandus, and P. Chiesa, Relation de Legatione Constantinopolitana Corpus Christianorum, Continasatio Meidaeualis (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 1998) (trans. Yasuhiro Otsuki, Tokyo, 2014), 45. 26 Adelbert Davids, ed., The Empress Theophano: Byzantium and the West at the Turn of the First Millennium (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, [1995] 2002), 85. 27 Davids, The Empress Theophano, 124. 28 Tomoyuki Masuda, and Kato Masue, History of Western Art 1, Middle Ages (Tokyo: Chuokoron-Shinsha, 2016), 220. 29 Koichi Inoue, The City of Constantinople (Iwanami Koza World History, 7). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1998), 124. 30 Paul Emile Lemerle, Histoire de Byzance, trans. Tsuji Sahoko (London: Walker Sun Books, 1964 and Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, [1960], 1964). 31 Herrin, Byzantium, 243. 32 Nina Viktorovna Pigulevskaia, Cities and Farm Towns of the Byzantine Empire, trans. Kinichi Watanabe (Tokyo: Sobunsha, 1968), 80. 33 Yoshiko Yamanaka, ‘Seal Bags in the Canterbury Cathedral’, Ekphrasis-European Cultural Research 7 (2017): 4. 34 Georg Ostrogorsky, Geschichte des Byzantinischen Staates (Munich: C. H. Beck, [1940] 1965), 386. 35 Inoue, The City of Constantinople, 124. 36 Anna A. Ierusalimskaja, Moshchevaya Balka: An Unusual Archaeological Site at the North Caucasus Silk Road (St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012), 33. 37 Jonathan Harris, The End of Byzantium (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2010), 58. 38 Miki Iida, ‘Trade in Woven Silk between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire’. Available at: http://doi. otg/10.15057/25752, 79. (accessed 09.08.2019).

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39 Mori Masao, Sultan’s Clothing, Topkapi Palace Museum (Kyoto: Seiseisha, 1980), 47. 40 Paul Emile Lemerle, Histoire de Byzance, trans. Tsuji Sahoko (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1964), 182. 41 Shinji Maejima, Age of Islam (Tokyo: Kodansha, 2002), 200. 42 Maejima, Age of Islam, 222; Tateishi Hirotaka, Seki Tetsuyuki, Nakagawa Isao and Nakatsuka Jiro, History of Spain (Tokyo: Showado, 1998), 45. 43 Tiraz technique: developed to become tariz, a Persian word for embroidering on a belt, but later came to mean the workshops where this work was done. Jennifer Harris, ed., 5000 years of Textiles (London: British Museum, 2006), 72. 44 Lampas: forming a pattern by raising the ground weft and enuki, to constantly hold down the float yarn with the warp. Weft-faced compound twill (samite) developed from it. 45 Dibaj: this is a type of silk, but some call it thick silk dibaj and others call it silk fragment with its warp and weft woven with this thread dibaj. Imam Al-Nawawi, Riyad-us-Saliheen (Riyadh: Darussalam, 1999), 364. 46 Hiroshi Takayama, Kingdom of Sicily in the Middle Ages (Tokyo: Kodansha Gendaishinsho, 2006), 146. 47 Mary Schoeser, Silk (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2007), 39. 48 Masumi Tsuji, History of Textiles in Europe (Tokyo, 1996), 45. 49 Jean Étèvenaux, Jacquard Looms (Lyon: La Soierie Lyonnaise, 2003). 50 Edmund King, England in the Middle Ages, trans. Kenji Yoshitake (Tokyo: Gakushukenkyusha, 2006), 118. 51 Sarah Bush, The Silk Industry (London: Shire Publications, 2009), 4. 52 Donald King, Dyeing and Weaving of England, trans. Sano Takahiko (London: Victoria & Albert Museum and Tokyo: Gakushukenkyusha, 1980), 234. 53 Opus Anglicanum; an advanced embroidery technique made using pearls and gold thread, mainly manufactured in England, it often resembles the expressions of figured woven fabric. 54 Chizuru Hamasaki, ‘History of embroidery in Catholic vestments’, Bulletin of the Kagoshima Immaculate Heart College 32 (1999): 103. 55 King, Dyeing and Weaving of England, 226. 56 Swivel weaving: figured weaving with thread specially woven using a separate shuttle for a part of fabric so that the pattern

57 58

59

60 61

62 63 64 65 66

appears to have been picked out. As thread is not added to the entire woven fabric, it is thick in only a part of the pattern, and therefore appears three-dimensional. Hiroshi Sobukawa and Yoshida Yutaka, eds., Art and Language of the Sogdians (Kyoto: Rinsen Shoten, 2011), 21. Samarkand in present day Uzbekistan flourished as a relay point on the Silk Roads. From the late sixth century, it produced Zandaniji brocade modelled on that of the Sassanid Dynasty and also Byzantine brocade. See Sogdian Brocade of the Silk Road in Western Cultural Discovery by Digital Silk Road. Available at: http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/index.html.en – narratives – discovery – 11 – page 6 (accessed 09.08.2019). Opinions about the name Zandaniji are divided between the East and the West. In China, Professor Jiang Boqin of Sunyat Sen University translates it as 賛反尼奇, the History of Bukhara by Narshakhi in the tenth century; Professor Shang Gang of Tsinghua University translates it as 撤答刺欺 and has made it the name of the village. On the other hand, R. Frye, who translates Bukhara and Persian into English in the same book, translates it as fabrics made in the village of Zandana. Kazuko Yokohari, ‘Sogdian Brocade on the Silk Road’, Regarding the Zandaniji Brocade and Research in the Ancient Orient Museum 26 (2006): 114. Etsuko Kageyama, ‘Use and Production of Silk Woven Fabric in Sogdiana’, Orient 45.1 (2002): 48. Midori Naito. ‘Westward Advance of the Western Turks and the Road to Eastern Rome’, History of East-West Cultural Exchanges (1975): 148–154. Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo, ‘Brocade in the Middle Byzantine Age’, Ekphrasis-European Cultural Research 7 (2013): 34. Maresuke Kashiwagi and Takada Shizuo, eds., Yusoku-weaving: Beauty and Techniques of Dyeing (Tokyo: Maruzen, 1996), 148. Kazuyuki Kubo, Timurid (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 2014), 64. Shinobu Iwamura, Crossroads of Civilizations: History of Central Asia (Tokyo: Kodansha Gakujutsu-Bunko, 2011), 208. A Greek trader’s descriptive log book from the latter half of the first century. Listing the main seaports, it points out the most important trade goods from India: cotton, silk and indigo from the East Coast of India. Marie-Louise Nabholz-Kartaschoff, Golden Sprays and Scarlet Flowers: Traditional Indian Textiles from the Museum of Ethnography, Basel, Switzerland (Kyoto: Shikosha Publishing Co., 1986).

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Figure 5.10-1  4th century. A ceiling mosaic at the Mausoleums of Santa Costanza, Rome, Italy (see pp. 49 and 50). The end of Roman design is known for its glorious mosaics that are seen as one of the origins of Byzantine design. Here, a depiction of a peacock and a bird amongst foliage, flowers and fruit trees suggests a liminal state between Earth and Heaven. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

6

Four Categories of Ancient and Medieval Classical Figured Textiles

Considering Technical Innovations in the Prologue to the World History of Ancient and Medieval Figured Weaves DR KAZUKO YOKOHARI

Category I – Warp-faced Compound Tabby

Table 1  Four Categories of Figured Textiles Category I Warp-faced Compound Tabby Category III Warp-faced Compound Twill

The figured textile featured in this first category is exclusively of Chinese origin. Production may date from the eighth to seventh century BCE. Evidence of this figured textile has been found through archaeological excavations as well as in ancient Chinese literary sources and dictionaries. These textiles are characterized by warpfaced designs containing woven pictorial images created by the use of several dyed warps. The tabby ground is of superhigh density. This is called jin in Chinese. The definitive requirement to produce Chinese jin was definitely the use of raw silk.

Category II Weft-faced Compound Tabby Taqueté Façonné Category IV Weft-faced Compound Twill Samite Façonné

Ancient and medieval figured textiles can be classified into four technical categories for evaluation as world cultural heritage items.

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There is clear evidence that the ancient Chinese were the first to establish sericulture. The beginning of this practice can be traced back to Liangzhu-wenhua culture, developed in the Yangtze River Delta during the last Neolithic cultural period (3300 to 2250 BCE). Some silk materials have been archaeologically unearthed in sites. Raw silk filaments secreted from the mouths of silkworms are of uniform thickness, and are extremely fine, long, elastic and stable. Such inherent features are advantageous for the use of warps. Thus, Chinese silk weavers became accustomed to putting greater weight on the warps. This resulted in adopting the warp-faced tabby binding. The characteristic features of raw silk resulted in creating a weaving technology called the figured weave technique. The creation of both colourful jin and monochromatic ji decorated with figurative motifs inevitably required a figured harness loom equipped with a special apparatus. It should be noted that there is no evidence of any country other than mainland China having devised the figured weave. Chinese weavers monopolized the industry. Ancient Chinese jin were almost always manufactured by women. A complete jin measured around 50 centimetres in width. This measurement enables evaluation of a single weaver’s capability. A unit pattern of the Chinese jin is in accord with the finished width of a product, excluding the selvedges of both sides. Actual finds have widths of around 35 to 50 centimetres, while the lengths were shorter by several centimetres. Unit patterns of the Chinese warpfaced compound tabby were only repeated in the warp direction. This technical feature indicates that the ancient Chinese figured weave device was the primary function of

the figured-loom. This resulted in regulating the Category 1 warp-faced compound tabby. Jin decorations represent various geometric patterns and figurative motifs. The most significant pictorial displays may refer to the deeply mythical world of ‘Sinsen’, in which ancient Chinese figures of gods riding on flying animals were accompanied by small beasts and birds that appear up and down mountain- and cloud-like motifs. The inscriptions are of interest, consisting of several celebratory Chinese characters that were woven over the entire width of a unit pattern. It seems certain that such complicated inscriptions were first woven into the Chinese jin during the period of Wang Mang (8 to 23 CE), who built the Hsin dynasty by depriving the last throne of the Western Han (206 BCE to 8 CE). Chinese jin production, including these woven inscriptions, was prolific throughout the Eastern Han (25 to 220 CE). A great quantity of Chinese jin were endowed as imperial grants to tribes with whom the Chinese wished to maintain defensive relationships. Among these was the most powerful Xiongnu equestrian tribe of the northern steppes. Without their interruption, they posed a terrifying threat to the Chinese frontier. A considerable amount of Chinese jin were given to them as compensation for peace negotiations. It is notable that archaeological remains of the Category I warp-faced compound tabby were not found in mainland China until 1971, when survey excavations were conducted at the tombs of Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan province, and were dated to the Western Han of the first century, and at Mashan tomb no. 1, in Jiangling, Hubei province, excavated in 1982, which were dated to the Chu of the

Figure 6.1 Chinese jin with mountain, tree and bird (no inscription). The State Hermitage Museum. (MR1330).

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third century BCE. On the other hand, The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, houses an astonishingly abundant quantity of Chinese silks, which were unearthed in frozen Kurgan tombs at several sites, including the most prominent site of Noin-Ula in North Mongolia.1 These silks are considered to have been Chinese gifts for Xiongnu tribes. It is noted that some may have been made in Chinese workshops based on their unique requests and, furthermore, it surprises us that such a large amount of Chinese silk was used as a necessity of daily life, with surpluses resold to Western merchants. Chinese silks may have value as currency. Many archaeological documents mention Chinese jin silks contained representative patterns of half-diamond motifs arranged in various complex forms of large and small scales. It appears similar to the shape of money. This convinces us that the half-double diamond motifs were designed in the form of shell shapes. It seems in fact tremendous that the half-double diamond ‘shell’ patterns are simultaneously shown on the fragmentary silks excavated at the Pazyryk site as well as at the Mashan tomb no. 1. The great distance

Figure 6.2  Chinese ‘shell’ jin, excavated at Pazyryk kurgan, South Siberia. 3 BCE. The State Hermitage Museum.

between these sites is surprising. Nevertheless, this fact convinces us that the barter system of Chinese silks and excellent horses living in the northern steppes had been established between both areas of the north and the south. We can find a similar word, meaning the half-diamond motif, to be the ‘shell’ shape from orthodox Chinese literature. That is the ‘shell jin’. The Silk Road was named by Ferdinand von Richthofen, a German geographer. The road was a legitimate trade route through which Chinese silks were brought to the West (ancient Rome), where there was a great demand. Proof has been found at the terminal site of Palmyra in ancient Syria (destroyed in 273).2 Surpluses of Chinese silk stored by the Xiongnu and by other barbarians were most likely resold to Western merchants. However, no Category I warp-faced compound tabby silk has been found in Western Europe. This is mysterious. However, it is not impossible to assume that Western weavers needed the silk material itself rather than the finished products. These weavers may have disassembled the finished items and then reproduced the spinning thread with a strong ‘Z’ twist, at which point they

Figure 6.3 Chinese jin, excavated at Niya Minfeng, Xinjiang Institute of Culture and Archaeology. Dieter Kuhn, ed., Chinese Silks (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2012), Plate 3.34a.

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made a kind of woollen fabric by using them as warps which were completely covered with woollen wefts.3 This resulted in a soft texture for woollen textiles. Many silk remains of Category I warp-faced compound tabby are being unearthed at important sites beyond mainland China – Niya, Lou-Lan and Edsengol in Tarim Basin in Xinjiang. It is noted that nearly all the remains have been dated to the third and fourth centuries. They impress by having more complicated conspicuous woven inscriptions to wish longevity, prosperity and happiness. Western weavers could have gained practical knowledge of the construction of Category I warp-faced compound tabby through such disassembly and it must have prompted the creation of their own figured weaves. It should be noted that this weave technique was completely different from the Category I warp-faced compound tabby.

Category II – Weft-faced Compound Tabby The Chinese silk technology would not change as long as the use of raw silk continued. However, a new technical innovation regarding the figured weave was made on the Silk Roads, where native weavers were not producing raw silk, but were yielding wool and engaged in producing

Figure 6.4  Thick silk fabric, woven in China. Rudolf Pfister, Nouveaux textiles de Palmyre (Paris: Les Éditions d’Art et d’Histoire, 1937), Plate IXe. Yale University Library .

woollen goods. They were most likely ignorant of the so-called ‘figured’ technology. Western weavers desired to gain knowledge of this technology as it was efficient for the decoration of textiles compared to their ‘tapestry’ technique. They must have attempted first to produce textiles imitating the Chinese Category I warp-faced compound tabby, however, that required a high density warp. Woollen material, as well as spun silk, is easily weakened by warp friction, and this may have caused the warp threads to tear during weaving. It was therefore difficult to produce materials the same way as the Chinese Category I. Thus, an innovative new device was invented in which the warp-figuring was altered to weft-figuring. The resulting textiles can be assigned to a second category  – weft-faced compound tabby. It is not an overstatement to say that this was a decisive technical revolution in the world history of figurative textiles, with weft-figuring and its infinite possibilities for future development being established. The Category II weft-faced compound tabby is chronologically and technically divided into two distinguishable types. The differences between earlier and later versions denote definitive technical progress. The early Category II weft-faced compound tabby type had expanded to regions all throughout the western China and the eastern Mediterranean coastal areas. A small fragment found at the Roman site of Doura-Europos (destroyed 257) on the Euphrates River is estimated to be one of the rarest fragments ever found. Rudolf Pfister, who examined this specimen, first supposed that it was a woollen product. However, Pfister, along with Louisa Bellinger, later verified it to be a weft-figured silk in their final report at Yale University in 1945. Many Category II weft-faced compound tabby examples seem to have been designed to imitate the Category I style. However, these Category II specimens clearly indicate Central Asian and Iranian modifications. For instance, the conventional Chinese winged dragon was replaced by a winged goat or lion.4 The deeply mythical motifs of mountain- or cloud-like structures had also been altered by more schematic or geometric lines and it was conspicuously accompanied by the Western motif ‘quatre feuille’. Furthermore, the technical traits of the early Category II type are distinctively characterized by a mode of patterning that seems similar in construction to Category  I. However, the images were rotated 90 degrees according to the sideways direction of the weave. This is definitely different from

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Figure 6.6  Turfan, Urmqi (558 to 576). Dieter Kuhn, ed., Chinese Silks (New Haven, CT and London: Yale ­University Press, 2012), Fig.4.4.

Figure 6.5 Turfan. Sir Marc Aurel Stein, Innermost Asia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928), Plate LXXIX.

Category I. A normal perspective can be obtained when seeing the warp direction as horizontal. Many of the woollen textiles of taqueté façonné were excavated from the Coptic tombs in Egypt, dated to the third century. These were widely used for items such as cushions and mattresses, and depict well-known Roman hunting scenes in two reversible colours. These woollen fabrics seem to be repeatedly reproduced in the West. Some later Category II type specimens have been found in Eastern Turkistan, and in western areas of mainland China. Mainland Chinese authorities do not necessarily seem to have accepted favourably the Category II weft-faced compound tabby. This is because the weft-figuring was

not legitimate to the Chinese conventional weave, that is, their own identity was the warp-figuring. No mention of weft-figuring can be found in Chinese authentic literature. On the other hand, local literary documents unearthed at Turfan in Xinjiang describe the jin indicating the Category II type in relation with Kucha and Kashgar silks that were fabricated by spinning silk threads of both warp and weft made from broken cocoons.5 Countries of the Tarim Basin were profoundly enthusiastic for Buddhism. The kings strictly prohibited yielding raw silk from unbroken cocoons. This forced Central Asian weavers to make thread only from cocoons broken by living moths. The international glossary compiled by the Centre International d’Étude des Textiles Anciens (CIETA) names the Category II as the French term ‘taqueté façonné ’. The development of the Category II weft-faced compound tabby led to the establishment of the ‘drawloom’, which was an innovative device equipped with a pre-Jacquard mechanism. It is difficult to determine whether this loom was invented in the West or the East. The classical drawloom was capable of repeating a unit pattern in both directions of the weft as well as the warp, and was better able to represent the symmetrical design of a unit pattern. A normal depicting position was represented in the design, it should be noted that this differentiates from the early phase of Category II. The initial classical drawloom was utilized at Turfan. Several

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specimens with symmetrical Chinese characters woven into later Category II weft-faced compound tabby have been encountered that date to around the sixth century. These symmetrical Chinese characters are simple and geometric. It is therefore assumed that the late Category II silks were fabricated by local weavers who were not able to read highly complex and esoteric Chinese characters.6 The Chinese court greatly preferred woollen taqueté products, which were donated by Western barbarians and many taquetés were stored in the Chinese Imperial warehouse. Some of them were awarded to Japan (329), described in the ancient Chinese history book Wei Zhi Wan Shi Den (Weiwa) in Three Kingdoms.7

Category III – Weft-faced Compound Twill Samite (Samite Façonné) ‘Samite’ or ‘samitum’ is a term in the French international glossary of medieval textiles. The author has long held the opinion that it can be adequately applied to the Category III weft-faced compound twill. It is said that the Latin term ‘samite’ was derived from the Byzantine Greek word ‘hexamitos’, meaning six threads (‘hex’ equals six, while ‘mitos’ means threads). Silk treasures strictly preserved in the Shōsō-in (the imperial store at Tōdai-ji Buddhist temple) since the Nara period of Japan (eighth century) may be defined as Sino-Japanese samite.

The Western–Chinese influence is conspicuous, but almost all were made in Japan. It should be emphasized that the Category III weftfaced compound twill, synonymous with samite, had only converted from the compound tabby of the Category II. The twill structure is convenient and easy-to-use when weaving woollen fabrics. An early example of a woollen samite, it depicts running hares, and trees indicating a landscape in red and white. These motifs are woven sideways. Such a singular figuring mode can also be seen in the early Category II weft-faced compound tabby (taqueté façonné) dated to around the third century. It is noted that early samite had followed the technical mode of the early Category II. The production date has been attributed to the fourth to fifth century by Adèle Coulin Weibel.8 It is certain that the production of samite (hexamitos) rapidly expanded over the Hellenized and Christianized Mediterranean regions. Many specimens of early samite (hexamitos) were found at Coptic Egyptian burial sites (third to sixth century), which are now preserved in various museums and collections. They are impressively interested in depicting the Early Christian story and the Hellenistic theme. (ABG 2) It is of special note that the images of the early samite (hexamitos) are depicted in narratives. These narrative images are in the normal horizontal perspective seen from the warp direction to be horizontal.9 Such a singular figuring has frequently been encountered in early Category II (taqueté façonné). It is suggested that both artisans of the

Figure 6.7  1. Turfan (653) 2. Turfan (558 to 576) 3. (541 to 596) Uygur Autonomous Region Museum, Urumqi, Xinjiang. Photograph by Dr Kazuko Yokohari.

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early Category III, synonymous with samite façonné and the early Category II, synonymous with taqueté façonné were engaging in the fabrication of woollen tapestries, in which such unique technical traits are discernible. Many Western people wore samite tunics or clothes containing narrative images or themes that quoted from the Bible. Saint Asterius of Amasia, who was made Bishop of Amasia between 380 and 390, condemned richly decorated clothing especially containing religious images worn by laymen. Samite silk could already be mass-produced. This suggests that Chinese silk material (including ‘raw silk’) was brought into Western areas more quickly and abundantly than it is supposed. There are various scholarly opinions regarding the unearthed finds at Antinoë (Antinopolis) on the Upper Nile in Egypt. The great majority of the tombs in this burial area were excavated by French Egyptologist Albert Gayet. His excavations were made very quickly over ten seasons, beginning in 1896. The massive amount of unearthed textile relics including classical samites were taken to Musée Guimet, which was the project sponsor at that time.10 It caused a great deal of controversy with regards to defining the manufacturing centre of these samites. The ‘where’ was problematic – either at Antinoë itself, Antioch in Syria or in Iran. Otto von Falke, who was well known as the author of Kunstgeshicht der Seidenbeberi (1913, 1923), insisted that it was exclusively at Antinoë. However, several European scholars such as E. Ferzferd and Albert Grünwedel, who investigated Central Asia in the first half of the twentieth century, criticized von Falke’s opinion.11 They claimed that Iran was the centre of manufacture, pointing to illustrations of royal costume of the Sasan dynasty shown on the engraved rock paintings of Taq-i Bustan, which was constructed during the first half of the sixth century. The finds of Antinoë were taken to various European museums. The major collections are at the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Museum of Historical Textiles in Lyon.12 (LYO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) The two Sassanian samite are best known for the Japanese examples, the first of which depicts a winged horse surrounded by a pearled roundel, while the other depicts a winged goat (Capra ibex) walking in lines. Both provide majestic impressions of ‘Vertragna’, a royal power symbol. Another question has been whether the so-called samite (hexamitos) production centre was either at Antioch in ancient Syria or at Alexandria in North Africa. However, the author proposes that this is not necessarily a pertinent

question. It is most probable that both production centres of the Mediterranean world of Late Antiquity had been vigorously active and simultaneously prosperous at the same time. Their mutually influential relationship must have been very close and the classical samite (hexamitos) would no longer have been standardized. Many Western samite makers were produced, notably Syrian artisans who were consistently trained. There is a legend as to the development of the classical samite production in Iran. The skill of Syrian artisans was so superior that the Sassanian king Chapour II (reigned 309 to 379) decided to bring these workers to Persia after achieving victory in Syria, and then built his industries in Susiana, Eiwan-a-Kerkha, Gundeshapour and Shushtar.13 Presumably, these considerably Hellenized Syrian workers must have entered Iran with fresh aesthetic spirits and images as opposed to the traditional norms of the Sassanian dynasty, which were inherited from strict Achaemenid Persia. There are several samite specimens containing the Roman image of Yanus. These images show strictly symmetrical faces symbolizing ‘sunrise’ and ‘sunset’.14 (ABG 3) Rudolf Pfister insists that Iran played a worldwide role in disseminating classical samite.15 The classical drawloom must have been improved in Iran. After the collapse of the Sassanian dynasty subsequent to the Arabic invasion (645), there was an increase of the Sogdian manufacture of figured silk (samite) in Central Asia. The Sogdians united with several family tribes centred at Bukhara. They were well known as merchants who were highly interested in profit and so were very active in international East–West trade. The Sogdians strengthened the production of samite silk. They considered it one of the most profitable trade items. Sogdian samite silks with exaggerated Sassanian designs were brought into Western (Frankish) Europe where Roman Catholicism had been established. Dorothy G. Shepherd and Walter B. Henning submitted an article titled Zandaniji Identified? in 1959. This article particularly attracted interest. Shepherd, famous as a competent researcher of ancient textiles, was interested in the actual terms used for medieval textiles, and had been searching for them in ancient Persian and Islamic literary sources. She was interested in a figured silk depicting large, face-to-face stags on either side of a stylized tree standing on a roundel, which was preserved as the relic of the shroud of St. Mengold in the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame

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at Huy in Belgium. Shepherd visited Huy for research purposes. The main pattern design of the Huy silk consisted of three large-scale pearl roundels including confronting paired stags with horns that were repeated five times in the warp direction. This is evident in a later reconstruction by P. de Groot and D. De Jonghe.16 The whole design is framed by two kinds of ornamental bands, one decorates both sides and another decoration is detectable at the top and bottom edges, of which the top is now missing. The full silk measures 190 centimetres high and 122 centimetres long. This indicates that it is a complete loom piece. Many so-called Sogdian samites are similar in design and size. It is therefore assumed that such silks were originally intended as wall or door hangings. Many were later re-used as shrouds to envelop the relics of saints in the case of re-burial. Examination of the back of the Huy silk revealed a curious inscription scrawled in two lines of black ink. As Shepherd had seen similar marks on other silks, she first supposed the inscription to be Arabic, and suggested that it was a customer or merchant’s mark. However, the inscription was later examined by Henning, who was an expert in the obscure Asiatic language. He deciphered that it was possible to stylistically attribute the inscription to the seventh century Bukhara, comparing it to the Sogdian documents of the eighth century found at Kalai-Mugh where the last fortress of the Sogdian king Diwashtich against the Arabic invasion was located. The inscription was tentatively deciphered as follows, the first line read ‘Long 61 spans Zandaniji …’. The last line may mean ‘cloth’ or another special textile. The word Zandaniji is considered to originate from the town of Zandana in Sogdiana, which can be found in the History of Bukhara written by Narshakhi during the mid-tenth century which was translated from Persian by Frys (1954). He mentioned several towns centred in the Zandana neighbourhood of Bukhara in Sogdiana that produced textiles called Zandaniji. The word Zandaniji was also frequently found in other Islamic sources, indicating that Islamic Zandaniji were made of cotton. Thus, there were some debates over whether Zandaniji were made of silk or cotton. However, Shepherd accepted Henning’s opinion and attempted to stylistically and technically classify numerous silks similar to the Huy as Zandaniji of which nearly all are preserved in European museums. Shepherd initially

Figure 6.8  Huy silk; Shroud of St. Mengold reconstruction by P. de Groot and D. De Jonghe. Top, left: Surface of the Huy silk Top, right: Walter B. Henning’s drawing of the inscription. Bottom: Huy silk. Centre, right: Inscription on the reverse of the textile. Nicholas Sims-Williams and Geoffrey Khan, ‘Zandaniji Misidentified’. Bulletin of the Asia Institute 22, (2012): 207–213.

classified these specimens into two groups (1959), and later revised them to contain three groups (1980). Zandaniji attracted enthusiastic attention from many researchers who were looking for a term adequate to early medieval figured textiles. They were so familiar to European researchers that the term Zandaniji was readily accepted. Thus, Zandaniji was used to refer to figured silks similar to the Huy silk without any criticism. However, certain CIETA scholars objected to Henning’s assertion that Zandaniji were from the first half of the seventh century. Stylistic discrepancies pointed to the inaccuracy of his findings. Thus, Sogdian silks referred to as Zandaniji were ascribed to the eighth to ninth century with considerable reliance.17 In 2008, a professor of the University of London, Nicholas Sims-Williams, who specializes in the history of Central Asia (particularly the study of the Sogdian and Bactrian languages), submitted an article with Geoffrey Khan that

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placed doubt on Henning’s interpretation of 1959. SimsWilliams could not read his drawing of the inscription, and pointed out a discrepancy in Henning’s interpretation of the sixty-one span length.18 This significant finding was attributed to Geoffrey Khan, who was a specialist in early Arabic palaeography. Khan asserted that the Huy silk inscription was clearly Arabic as Shepherd had first supposed. Early Islamic documents mention several extant textiles with Arabic inscriptions that are dated to the eighth to tenth century. The Huy silk had previously been submitted to a radiocarbon analysis, which revealed a manufacturing date of between 780 and 980 (95.4 per cent probability). CIETA’s opinion was also that the silk was probably from the eighth to ninth century. Khan analytically compared the Arabic fonts circulating in those eras and read the inscription on the back of the Huy silk as follows: ‘The fabric has come into the possession of a certain military commander named Abd al-Rahman for the sum of 37 and two-third.’ Because of this, the extensive acceptance of the term Zandaniji for early medieval figured silks seems to have disappeared like an illusion. Sogdian silks had not been seen in the Shōsō-in textile treasures, however recently some examples have been seen in private collections, which had suddenly become as popular as Zandaniji. The author has proposed that the Huy and other similar silks could be integrated into the samite category: that is, Category III weft-faced compound twill.19 Samite, applicable to the figured textiles technology, expanded as a universal standard in the early medieval ages, spanning Europe and through Asia (Eurasia) even to Japan in the extreme East. Carolingian king Pepin the Short (reigned 751 to 768) enthusiastically encouraged the use of luxurious fabrics to envelop the relics of saints, and have them placed under the main altars in newly-constructed churches. The luxurious fabrics directly touched these relic remains, and were later cut into small fragments after being taken out from the reliquaries for use as amulets of spiritual practices. Almost all of today’s European museums and collections preserve them as important cultural property. A storm of iconoclasm blew over Constantinople during the eighth and ninth centuries. However, figured silk (samite) production seems to have increased depending on the secular propaganda. The most indicative of these is the ‘Mozac Silk’.20 (LYO 5) It contains the iconographic image of a lion-hunting emperor on horseback. The emperor’s costume

is influenced by Sassanian court dress. This specimen was used to wrap the relic of St. Stermonius (also known as St. Austremoine) and is exhibited at the Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs, Lyon. This silk was purchased at a high price fron La Fabrique de l’Abbaye Saint Calmin, Mozac in 1904. There is an anecdote referring to this, in which Pepin the Short dreamed of enveloping the relic of St. Stermonius with a precious fabric. He immediately carried out his dream by carrying the item himself to the newly built monastery of St. Calmin in 761. The Lyon (Mozac) hunting silk is probably one of Pepin’s votive goods. Some say that the Byzantine Emperor Constantine V (reigned 741 to 775) gave the Mozac silk to King Pepin. If this is true, the considerably iconographic silk can be attributed to the Constantinian period of iconoclasm.21 However, this image is not sacred but secular, compared to the relief on the plaque of the ivory coffin dyed purple of the Byzantine treasure of the Cathedral of Troyes, north-eastern France (tenth century). The author considers that the orthodox Byzantine manufacture of grand samite silks seems to have established the Macedonian dynasty, which ruled the Byzantine Empire from 867 to 1056. Grand samite silks depicting the brave and noble figures of eagles, lions and elephants were produced at that time. The early phase of glorious Byzantine samite fabrication is not absolutely clear. The Byzantine Empire was always concerned about the chronic shortage of Chinese silk. Byzantine silk imports were inevitably dependent on Persian exports, for which there were high tariffs. Just then, two people (probably Nestorian monks) appeared in front of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (reigned 525 to 565) and offered to bring silkworm eggs from Serindia (Sogdiana, in one opinion) to Constantinople. The promise was fulfilled. However, this did not improve the Byzantine silk shortage. Rather, it became increasingly worse. A favourable affair occurred at the time. The mission of the Western Turks– Sogdians alliance, which was conducted by the Sogdian leader Maniach, directly visited the Byzantine court in order to conduct silk negotiations (568) after suffering two failures to sell silks in Persia. The purpose of the mission achieved great success. In appreciation, Byzantine Emperor Justinian II made his general Zemarchos accompany their return home. Zemarchos was surprised at the luxury of the residence of Dizaboulos (Istämi), the boss of Western Turks, being equal to the Byzantine Empire, notably being

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decorated with hanging curtains made of colourful silk. It can immediately be imagined that those silk hanging curtains were Sogdian samite products. A large amount of Sogdian silk (samite) was brought into Byzantine workshops in which the early phase was strongly influenced by Sogdian silks. The road that connected the Western Turks– Sogdians alliance with the Byzantine Empire was extremely mountainous in the Northern Caucasus, Russia and was used to avoid passing through Persia. Menandri Protectoris Fragmenta mentions this. The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg possesses a splendid collection consisting of a great number of tremendously exciting silks excavated from the tombs of local tribes who inhabited the slope of the Northern Caucasus. The major tombs were Hassaut (excavated in 1930) and Mochtchevaja Balka (excavated in 1907 and 1969–76). There were over 300 of these silk finds, which varied in size from large to small. Among these were found several long riding garments called ‘caftan’ (PET 1), one of which was exhibited in Japan (1983) and amazed the Japanese people. The entire garment is made of silk samite decorated with a pearled medallion containing an Iranian spiritual ‘simurgh’ beast in two colours of green and a greenish-yellow.22 The decorative motif of this caftan silk is immediately comparable to a simurgh on the shroud of St. Leu, which is separately preserved in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.23 (MAD 1, 2) There are differences detectable between both as regards the technique, style and quality. They lead us to assume that The State Hermitage Museum simurgh silk was of later Sogdian production.24 The State Hermitage Museum specimens make us astonished that precious samite fragments were sewn as ornamentation for daily goods. The various silks discovered at this burial site were brought from different workshops, including those of Byzantine, Sogdian, Chinese and even native origin. They are dated to the eighth to ninth century. Originally, the simurgh motif was a supreme royal symbol of the Sassanian dynasty. However, it became popular and fashionable in these eras. Silks depicting the simurgh image were later produced in one colour tone using the ‘incisé’ technique. Eminent examples are the red silks made on the cushion and pillow of Saint Rémi in Église Saint Rémi, Reims, north-eastern France.25 The westward expansion of classical samite is evident from the ‘Peacock Silk’ of Saint-Sernin of Toulouse and

Paris, which was accompanied by the Arabic benediction letters BARAKA.26 W. F. Volbach considered this textile to be Hispano-Moresque and associated with the silk found in the tomb of St. Pedro de Osma (died 1109), of which the woven inscription on the roundels specifies Baghdadi manufacture, but epigraphic details betray its Andalusian origin. It should be noted that the St. Pedro de Osma silk was not a samite but a lampas. The author has the impression that Saint-Sernin’s ‘Peacock Silk’ was influential as the last classical samite to finally brighten its appearance. It seems that Western samite technology was not favourable for China, as the Chinese had their own specific technology – the Category I warp-faced compound tabby – which demonstrated their own identity. However, the Chinese silk manufacturing was not influenced by the developing trends of Western samite, even as they were carried out in China. A Sogdian official in the high ranks of the Chinese political sphere tried the first imitation of Persian silk by imperial command in 589. It is written in the Li-tai minghua chi (documentary book of historical masterpieces of Chinese images) that it much surpassed the original Persian model. Thus, Chinese samite technology became deeply

Figure 6.9  St. Remigius’s cushion (incised samite) ­surrounded with an embroidered inscription containing the name of the ­Archbishop Hincmar of Reims (died 882), Saint Rémi, Reims.

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rooted in the industrial manufacture and produced highly valued Chinese silks. A large-scaled silk samite depicting four persons on horseback who are practising the Parthian shot on a pearled roundel is presented as a national treasure in the Hoˉryuˉ-ji temple of Nara27 (see Figure 8.2, p. 101). This work is esteemed as one of the greatest masterpieces of classical samite. Emperor Daizong of the T’ang dynasty (reigned 726 to 779) prohibited Western decoration of the Irano-SogdoChinese samite. This is probably due to the rebellion of general An Lushan. Eventually, Chinese samite became prosperous with the decorative Buddhistic flower motifs being characteristic of Middle T’ang China. This is evident from the biwa (lute) instrument bag, which is made from samite decorated with specific Chinese floral motifs and tremendously colourful. This biwa bag was most likely donated as the bequest of Emperor Shōmu (706 to 756) for the Toˉdai-ji temple; this is now dismantled and stored separately in the Tokyo National Museum and the Shōsō-in. It would have been introduced to Japan from T’ang China. Some were clearly imported from T’ang China, however, the majority were most likely produced by Japanese workshops, of which the main purpose would have been for the important national event, the opening of the eyes of the Great Buddha of the Tōdai-ji temple on 9 April 752. These magnificently solemn and brilliant textiles would otherwise never have been seen in Japan. A great quantity of Japanese textiles were produced for use as banners adorning the temple, costumes for the ritual performances of monks, dancers and musicians, and garments for noble persons in attendance. Almost all of the Shōsō-in figured silks, that is, Category III weft-faced compound twill, may now be appraised as the Sino-Japanese samite. Some differences in details are discernible between Eastern and Western samites. Western weavers used thick, twisted (‘Z’-twist) threads for the warp, while Eastern weavers used fine threads of raw silk. However, it should be noted that the technical principles of samite were identical in both. The raw silk warps of the Shōsō-in samites have deteriorated over time. Occasionally they can be reduced to dust and therefore Shōsō-in textiles are managed with extremely strict care. Such serious conditions have precluded analytical investigations. Japanese samite production came to an end after creating the Shōsō-in textiles. Classical Japanese figured silk technology entered a new phase around the mid-eighth

century with the development of lampas or damas technology.

Category IV – Warp-faced Compound Tabby / Warp-faced Compound Twill It is certain that Category IV warp-faced compound twill inherited the Category I warp-faced compound tabby, as far as the warp-faced construction is concerned. The will weave system is essentially convenient for woollen fabrication. Chinese silk manufacture had been ignorant of twill weave until the Early T’ang (seventh century), and because of this it was not possible for Chinese silk. The warp-faced compound 2/1 twill weave poses practical difficulties to weavers operating by means of the mode of ‘face-up’ technique. Nevertheless, the twill weave system was accepted by Chinese silk manufacturing. The reason for this was most probably to compete with the popularity of Western samite, which was much more prosperous at that time. The Category IV silks do not therefore appear as old as those of Category I. The date is unclear. However, there is some archaeological evidence, for example, a depiction of a pair of winged horses in a pearled roundel with the date 635, excavated from the Astana tomb of 302. It is therefore assumed that they first appeared during the seventh century. Some warp-faced compound tabby silks modified with a Western style had appeared in advance of the warp-faced compound twill. These are to be defined as Category I due to being warpfaced. However, as Sir Marc Aurel Stein insisted, their Sassanian influence is conspicuous.28 The author places them in Category IV according to the Western–Chinese hybrid style. It is noted that the warp-faced compound silks in the Shōsō-in treasures all belong to Category IV, that is the warp-faced compound twill. (SHO 1) They were quite probably from China. We have, for a long time, had an unreasonable understanding of the essentialities of the Category IV warp-faced compound twill in comparison with the Category III weft-faced compound twill. This has resulted in some contradictory problems in the study of ancient figured textiles. Some scholars have been convinced of the Chinese origin of the drawloom, equipped with pre-Jacquard mechanism. According to this, both the Category IV as well as the Category III were manufactured with the same loom. On the other hand, some

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Figure 6.10  Otani mission. Ryukoku University Library Collection, Kyoto.

Figure 6.11  Weave plan for a warp-faced textile – technical reconstruction of j­unctions with the planning. Original concept by Gabriel Vial.

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scholars of CIETA membership advocated an innovative theory against the Chinese origin of the drawloom, based on the analysis of the conjecture of Chinese warpfaced jin, and they proposed the hypothesis of ‘Métier aux Baguettes’.29 It is a way to explain ‘rationally’ the Chinese warp-faced jin conjecture of being warp-faced.30 However, we have no ‘visual’ evidence demonstrating how the Chinese weavers operated their primitive Chinese figured-loom, despite being their greatest industry. The elucidation of the primitive Chinese figured-loom will be a task left to future research. The Category IV was short-lived compared to Category I. It had disappeared together, along with Category I, by the end of the T’ang dynasty. The weft-figuring that characterizes the samite technology urged the invention of the primary drawloom that is equivalent to the modern Jacquard mechanism.31 It was achieved by the innovation of the drawloom being equipped with a lifting shaft and a depression shaft that has guaranteed conveniently so-called ‘lampas’ (including ‘damas’) technology32 (see Figure 5.10, p. 64). The author considers that gold and silver threads have been ordinarily used since the use of the lampas technique, and not the samite technique.

Notes 1

Sueji Umehara, Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Japan (Relics discovered at Noin-Ula, North Mongolia), Vol. 27 (Tokyo: Toyo Bunko, 1959); Kazuko Yokohari, ‘The Browsing Survey of Chinese Han Silks Excavated at Frozen Burial Tombs (Kurgans) in Northern Steppes, the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg’, Bulletin Kajima Art Foundation 33 (2016): 1–12. 2 Kazuko Yokohari, ‘Textiles au Musée National de Damas’, Les Annales Archéologique Arabes Syrienne 24 (1974): 39–46. 3 Rudolf Pfister, Nouveaux textiles de Palmyre, vols 1–3 (Paris: Les Éditions d’Art et d’Histoire, 1937). 4 Krishnā Riboud, ‘The Techniques and Problems Encountered in Certain Han and T’ang Specimens’, Archaeological Textiles (1975): 166; ‘The Textile Museum, Washington D.C.’, Archaeological Textiles (1974): 153–69; ‘Further Indication of Changing Techniques in Figured Silks of the Post-Han Period (A.D. 4th to 6th Century), Bulletin du CIETA, 41.2 (1975): 13–40. 5 Kazuko Yokohari, ‘On the Kucha Silk and Kashugar Silk Encountered in the Turfan Documents’, Bulletin of the Ancient Orient Museum 13 (1992): 167–83.

6

Kazuko Yokohari, ‘On a Chinese Weft-faced Compound Tabby Silk: Study of a Silk Document Brought by Japanese Otani Expedition’, Bulletin of the Ancient Orient Museum 11 (1990): 257–81. 7 Kazuko Yokohari, ‘A Consideration Around the Imon-zakkin Written in the Chinese Document of San-Kuo-Chih’, Bulletin of the Ancient Orient Museum 14 (1993): 218–25. 8 Adèle Coulin Weibel, Two Thousand Years of Textiles: The Figured Textiles of Europe and the Near East (Published for the Detroit Institute of Arts by New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1952). 9 Anna Muthesius and Stacie M. King, Donald King’s Collected Textile Studies (London: Pindar Press, 2004). 10 Émile Guimet, Les Portraits d’Antinoë au Musée Guimet (London: Forgotten Books, [1912] 2019). 11 Ernst Emil Herzfeld, Am Tor von Asien: Felsdenkmale aus Irans Heldenzeit (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer / Ernst Vohsen, 1920); Iran in the Ancient East (New York, NY: Oxford University Press USA, 1941); Albert Grünwedel, Alt-Kutscha: Archäologische und Religiongeschichtliche Forschungen an Tempera-Gemälden aus Buddhistischen Höhlen der Ersten Acht, Jahrhuderte nach Christ Geburt (Berlin: O. Elsner, 1920). 12 Marielle Martiniani-Reber, Textiles et Mode Sassanides (Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1997); Lyon Musée Historique des Tissus Soieries Sassanides, Coptes et Byzantines V–XI Siècles (Paris: Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1986). 13 Roman Ghirshman, Iran: Parthians and Sassanians (The Arts of Mankind), trans. Stuart Gilbert and James Emmons (London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1962), 226. 14 Mechthild Flury-Lemberg, Textile Conservation and Research: A Documentation of the Textile Department on the Occasion of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Abegg Foundation (Bern: AbeggStiftung, 1988), 423–29. 15 Rudolf Pfister, ‘Le Rôle de l’Iran dans les textiles d’Antinoë’, Ars Islamica 13–14 (1948): 46–74. 16 Copyright: Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) in Brussels. Available at http://www.kikirpa.be (accessed 23.08.2019). 17 Krishnā Riboud and Gabriel Vial, ‘Quelques considerations techniques concernant quatre soiries connues’, Documenta textilia, Festschrift für Sigrid Müller-Christensen (1981): 129–55. 18 Nicholas Sims-Williams and Geoffrey Khan, ‘Zandaniji Misidentified’, Bulletin of the Asia Institute 22 (2012): 207–13. 19 Kazuko Yokohari, ‘An Essay on the so-called Zandaniji Silks’, Bulletin of the Ancient Orient Museum 26 (2006): 107–132. 20 Robert de Micheaux, ‘Le Tissu dit de Mozac, fragment du suaire de Saint-Austremoine (8e1me siècle), Bulletin du CIETA 17 (1963): 14–16. 21 Another opinion mentions he was Pepin II of Aquitaine (848).

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22 Les chefs d’oeuvres de l’art sassanide du Musée de l’Ermitage, L’Exposition Sassanide à Teheran, 1973; Anna A. Ierusalimskaja, ‘Le Cafetan aux simourghs du tombeau de Mochtchevaja Balka (Caucase Septentrional)’, Studia Iranica 7. 2 (1978): 183–211. 23 W. Fritz Volbach, Early Decorative Textiles (London: Paul Hamlyn, 1969). 24 Krishnā Riboud, ‘A Newly Excavated Caftan from the Northern Caucasus’, Textile Museum Journal (1976): 21–4; Anna A. Ierusalimskaja ascribes the post-Sassanian workshops production of simurgh silk of Mochtchevaja Balka: Ierusalimskaja, ‘Le Cafetan aux simoughs du tombeau de Mochtchevaja Balka (Caucase Septentrional)’: 183–211. 25 Jacques Dupont, F. Fuicherd and Gabriel Vial, ‘Le Linceul de Saint Rémi’ (The Saint Rémi relics), Bulletin du CIETA 15 (1962): 38–40; Volbach, Early Decorative Textiles. 26 Dorothy G. Shepherd and Gabriel Vial, ‘La Chasuble de SaintSernin’, Bulletin du CIETA 21 (1965): 19–32. 27 Kazuko Yokohari, ‘The Horyu-ji Lion-hunting Silk and Related Silks: Central Asian Textiles and Their Contexts in the Early Middle Ages’, Riggisberger Berichte 9 (2006): 155–73.

28 Sir Aurel M. Stein, Innermost Asia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928). 29 Harold B. Burnham, ‘Technical Aspects of the Warp-faced Compound Tabbies of the Han Dynasty’, Bulletin du CIETA 22 (1965): 25–45; ‘Some Additional Notes on the Warp-faced Compound Tabby Silks of the Han Dynasty’, Bulletin du CIETA 34 (1971): 16–21. 30 Krishnā Riboud, Madeleine Hallade and Gabriel Vial, Tissus de Touen-Huang: conserves au Musée Guimet et à la Bibliothèque nationale (Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1970), 175–200; Kazuko Yokohari, ‘On a Warp-faced Compound Weave Technique’ (Summary in English), Bulletin of the Ancient Orient Museum 9 (1987): 71–91. 31 Krishnā Riboud, ed., Samit & Lampas: Motifs Indiens/Indian Motifs (Paris: AEDTA/Calico Museum of Textiles, 1998). Figure 2 samite, 4 complementary wefts (one of which is latté) bound in ½ ‘S’ twill order (see Plate 6). 32 Riboud, Samit & Lampas: Motifs Indiens/Indian Motifs. Figure 3 Lampas, warp-faced 5-end satin ground weave, 3 pattern weft bound in ½ ‘S’ twill order (see Plates 1–2).

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7

Islamic Textiles LOUISE W. MACKIE

hajj, Muslims circumambulate the Ka’ba which is covered with black cloth inscribed with Qur’anic verses.1 Within a century, the Arabs spread the Muslim faith across three continents, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indus River, where they adopted the artistic, manufacturing and cultural traditions of defeated empires, especially of the Byzantine Empire (330 to 1453) and the Sassanian Empire (224 to 651) centred in Iran and Iraq. That immense territory, initially ruled by centralized governments in Damascus and Baghdad, declined as territories in Spain, Egypt and Iran gained religious and political autonomy. In 1258, the Mongol seizure of Baghdad, capital of the weakened Abbasid Caliphate (750 to 1258), stimulated political, religious and artistic turning points. Newly founded regional states were eventually consolidated into three competing empires: the immense Ottoman Empire centred in Turkey with its capital in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) beginning in 1453 (1281 to 1924), the Safavid dynasty in Iran (1501 to 1722), and the Mughal dynasty in India (1526 to 1858). Ceremonies were staged with lavish displays of the finest textiles from Islamic lands, Byzantium and China to celebrate religious, court and diplomatic occasions.2 An embassy from the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenetos in Baghdad in 917 received the original ‘red carpet’ reception. A total of 22,000 ‘carpets and mats’

Luxury textiles were conspicuous symbols of power and wealth across the vast Islamic lands. They introduced the artistic styles of wealthy dynasties with majestic splendour, as they set standards of beauty, drove economies, and fuelled prosperity. Seven representative examples are presented here. The word Islamic identifies the geographic areas where the Muslim faith dominated. The term ‘Islam’ means submission to the divine will of God, Allah in Arabic, and ‘Muslim’ refers to one who has submitted. In the Muslim religion, there are no religious emblems and neither human nor animal images are represented in mosques or holy books, whereas figural images are depicted in Islamic art and textiles. The Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 in Mecca, Arabia, where idolatry prevailed with symbols in a cubeshaped shrine called the Ka’ba. Around the age of forty, Muhammad began receiving eschatological revelations to replace the deities with a single divine being, Allah, which were compiled in the Qur’an after his death in 632. Muhammad’s migration, or hijrah, to Yathrib, later called Medina, in 622, marked the beginning of the Muslim calendar. In 630, together with an army of Muslims, they captured Mecca and the Ka’ba was re-dedicated to Allah – to the One God. During the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, or

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covered the route to the Abbasid Caliph Ja’far al-Muqtadir, excluding those not to be walked on, which were presumably jewelled carpets. In addition, the palaces had 38,000 ‘curtains of gold … [representing] elephants and horses, camels, lions, and birds’.3 Royal textiles were made primarily with silk, although wool, linen and cotton examples also qualified. Only the climates in Iran and Islamic Spain supported sericulture industries and profited from exporting raw silk. Expensive dyestuffs were also traded since colour was cherished. ‘Please my lord, the red should be as red as possible … The siglaton robe is of the utmost beauty, but not exactly what I wanted.’4 Textile designers created continuous patterns that were woven on large looms called drawlooms by a weaver who was responsible for the structure and a drawboy who activated the pattern, presumably similar to Byzantine drawlooms. In the only known historic Islamic description, a fourteenth-century Mamluk Sultan visited a weaving workshop in Alexandria, Egypt, where he observed the weaver and looked up to the top ‘where the “draw-boys” raised up and lowered the top threads … [until] the bird and other motifs were completed’.5 Designs in early Islamic art and textiles were frequently adopted from imperial Sassanian iconography. Although few textiles survive, more than fifty designs decorate garments in the ‘Royal Boar Hunt’, the Sassanian rock-cut victory monument at Taq-i Bustan, Iran attributed to King Khusrau II (reigned 591 to 628).6 Most are single motifs – birds, flora and foliation, real and imaginary animals with some standing on jewelled plinths, plus imperial symbols such as pearls, gemstones and flying scarves. Elaborate patterns were woven in seven main structures, excluding variations, three of which are illustrated here.7 Each affected the fabric’s appearance, weight and drape and has a distinctive, identifiable front face. Some have a single continuous surface dominated by wefts – samite (see the Marwan Silk, p. 142, and Figure 7.1) and tapestry weave (see Figure 7.2) – while others have two contrasting surfaces created by areas of dominant warps and by dominant wefts – lampas (see Figures 7.3–7.6). Textiles enveloped people and environments in such abundance that they created a significant textile aesthetic.8 It not only influenced decoration in other media but also permeated ideas and communication. As examples, brickwork imitates the simplest woven structure, plain

weave, in the tenth-century Mausoleum of the Samanids in Bukhara, and the perplexing sight of a zebra prompted comparison to a ‘cloth with black and white in regular stripes’ woven in eleventh-century Baghdad.9

Marwan Silk Despite its fragmentary condition, the most famous and earliest datable Islamic textile is known as the Marwan Silk (see p. 142). It is a rare example of a silk that was woven in one area and transported to another where a historical inscription was added with embroidery stitches, causing numerous mistaken attributions. The pattern features roundels, royal Sassanian symbols that became hallmarks in Islamic art and textiles. Here they frame heart-shaped petalled blossoms alternating with rows of eight-petalled rosettes. Although missing an upper border, the lower border displays heart-shaped petals flanked by simulated pearls and gemstones, Sassanian symbols of amassed wealth. This fully symmetrical pattern was woven in a samite structure with a red ground, the Sassanian imperial colour.10 A historical Arabic inscription, known as a ‘tiraz’ (see below, Tiraz), now in three fragments, was added with splitstitch embroidery after it was woven. The angular kufic script with ink dots to guide the embroiderer records the name of Caliph Marwan and a tiraz factory in Ifrīqiyah, Tunisia, read from right to left. Fragment 1: “[the servant of] God, Marwan, Commander of the FaithFragment 2: ful. Of what was ordered [8 cm. missing … to be made by] al-R … [or al-Z … ] Fragment 3: in the tirāz of Ifrīqiyah”.11 Owing to Caliph Marwan I’s brief reign (684 to 685), it is attributed to Caliph Marwan II (744 to 750) who fled from Syria and died in battle in the Egyptian Fayyum in 750, marking the end of the Umayyad Dynasty (661 to 750) and providing an end date for the silk. The tiraz workshop in Ifrīqiyah may refer to Kairawan in modernday Tunisia, despite lacking corroborating evidence. Its artistic and technical features, however, indicate it was woven in the former Sassanian territory of Greater Iran.12

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Prince’s Costume The splendid prince’s coat with matching pants, sleeveless garment and boots illustrate the movement of luxury silks across the Silk Roads as gifts, tributes or trade.13 Resplendent silk samite from eastern Iran or possibly Sogdia in Central Asia, and elegant silk damask from China form an outfit fit for an eighth-century prince, a date corroborated by carbon-14 tests.14 This fitted princely set, without known parallels, was adopted from cold climates in the east which gained dominance over the loose-fitting tunics of the warmer Mediterranean region. Royal Sassanian imagery permeates the pattern. In five brilliant colours, pearl-bordered roundels enclose confronted ducks standing on split-palmette leaf plinths that alternate with cross-shaped lotus blossom motifs. The ducks are adorned with Sassanian-derived imperial symbols – pearl collars, flying scarves and a jewelled necklace in their beaks, popular Sassanian symbols often depicted in early Islamic art. The costume is lined with the same Chinese brown silk damask displaying large floral wreaths that were fashionable by the early eighth century during the T’ang dynasty (618 to 907).15 It lines the coat, the upper part of the matching samite sleeveless garment with a Chinese silk damask skirt, and a pair of Chinese white silk damask straight-cut trousers, presumably worn under heavier matching samite trousers. Although this silk samite was woven on a drawloom, it is noteworthy that the pattern is repeated across the width without variation, whereas close observation reveals that the drawloom did not repeat the pattern automatically along the length, a subject warranting further examination. Its robust style, artistic details and technical features of the samite weave are similar to three large panels preserved in European church treasuries, part of a substantial corpus formerly known as Zandaniji that are now attributed to Eastern Iran or Central Asia in the ninth century.16

furnished his throne room with ‘nothing but glittering gold’ for an envoy of the Byzantine Emperor, Basil II (reigned 976 to 1025).18 However, riots in 1068 and 1069 forced the dynasty to sell its incomparable wealth in the public bazaar. Everything with ‘gold and silver was burned’.19 Several thousand Fatimid tiraz textiles with informative historical or generic Arabic inscriptions have survived in Muslim and Coptic Christian graves in the dry Egyptian climate.20 The Persian word ‘tiraz’, meaning ‘embroidery’ or ‘decorative work’, refers to government-sponsored workshops, called private, tiraz al khassa, and public, tiraz al amma, workshops without clarifying differences, and to fabrics manufactured therein. They were possibly adopted from prototypes since there were royal weaving factories in Egypt during the Ptolemaic and Byzantine periods, while Sassanian kings had supported them in Iraq and Iran.21 Although tiraz survive in assorted materials and techniques, most decorative bands and inscriptions were woven with imported Iranian silk thread in tapestry weave in linen plain-weave fabrics, some as ‘thin as air’, in select towns with gold thread embellishing the finest.22 Lavish tiraz from the reign of Caliph al-Musta’lī (reigned 1094 to 1101) illustrate the artistic and technical height of tiraz, including two preserved as Christian relics in French churches.23 In a shawl or turban end, the central band with an interlacing guilloche displays a large bird hovering over a tiny one – presumably a falcon and its prey – alternating with two small birds in roundels. Pairs of birds alternating with palmettes that hark back to late Roman models appear to float in the interstitial vine scroll, framed by pairs of small birds in the outermost bands. Written in simple kufic with decorative letter bowls, it reads: Upper line: “proximate victory to the servant of God and his close friend Ma‘add Abū Tamīm, the imām Ahmad [Abū] al-Qāsim al-Musta‘lī bi-Allāh and his so[ns]” Lower line: “Commander of the believers bin [a]l-Qāsim Shā[han] shāh … the believers … the Muslims[?] and the believers[?].”

Tiraz Meanwhile in Egypt, the Fatimids founded the independent Isma’ili Shi’ite dynasty (969 to 1171) and built a new capital, Cairo, that by around 1000 was ‘one of the largest and most cosmopolitan urban complexes of the medieval world’.17 Majestic ceremonies eclipsed those of the Abbasid Sunni caliphate in Baghdad. Imam al-Hākim (reigned 996 to 1020)

The individuals cited indicate it was woven in 1094.24 According to Ibn Khaldūn: ‘One of the splendors of power and sovereignty … was to inscribe their [caliphs’] names … in the borders of garments … It is an emblem of dignity reserved for the sovereign, for those whom he wishes honor.’25

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Figure 7.1  Prince’s coat. Eastern Iran or Sogdia, 8th century. Samite: silk. Lining: China, T’ang dynasty, 8th century. Twill damask: silk. H 48.0 × W 82.5 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, purchased from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1996.2.1.

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Figure 7.2  Tiraz. Egypt, Fatimid period, reign of al-Musta‘lī, dated AH 487/1094. Plain weave within woven tapestry weave: linen, silk and gold thread. H 62.3 × W 54.6 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Textile Arts Club to commemorate its 30th Anniversary, 1965.313.

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Striped Silk Silks bearing symbols of imperial legitimacy and power woven in the central Islamic lands of Iran and Iraq during the tenth through to the early thirteenth centuries incorporated new Iranian-centred renaissance styles.26 Elaborate patterns in stripes of varying widths introduced additional design and colour opportunities. One with broken brittle fibres woven with mirror-image symmetry presents rearing winged horses with jewelled halters in a new livelier contrapposto that combines addorsed and regardant positions, replacing the traditional stationary pose. They flank a tree with birds in the primary stripe, while sun masks alternate with birds and quadrupeds in the secondary stripe. The winged horses were most likely adapted from Sassanian iconography where they signified the divine sanction of the dynasty. The degraded inscription in floriated kufic has two conflicting readings. It may have read: ‘Help, good fortune, prosperity, and aid to its owner’, whereas the legible words appear to be, ‘and prosperity and (…) to its owner (…) to its owner’.27 This silk is woven in lampas, the significant new technique that Iranian weavers are generally credited with developing during the eleventh century. Lampas gradually replaced samite, being faster to weave, and was widely adopted from Spain to China.28 Lampas is a combination of two weaves; in this relatively early version, the foundation is warp-faced plain weave and the pattern is weft-faced plain-weave.29 In 1925, silk fragments were found in a disturbed mausoleum known as Bibi Shahr Banu, near Rayy, a renowned textile manufacturing centre that flourished during the Būyid (932 to 1062) and Seljuq (1049 to 1194) dynasties. A Byzantine and a Chinese silk were included.30 By 1930, the demand surpassed the small documented supply and additional silks with different diagnostic features – physical, technical, artistic, material and colour  – were marketed with the same 1925 Rayy attribution, eventually reaching at least 150 silks. Confusion and skewed scholarship ensued, known as the Būyid silk controversy.31 In 1973 and 1974, suspicions of authenticity erupted into a heated controversy with inflexible ‘scholarly’ positions. Silks that appeared after 1930 are widely accepted today as twentieth-century textiles, most likely woven in Tehran

to masquerade as medieval silks. Only the few documented and related silks epitomizing quality and beauty, including this example, provide reliable benchmarks for identifying authentic medieval Iranian silks.

Cloth of Gold The year 1258 was pivotal. The Mongol superpower conquered most of Eurasia, seized Baghdad, capital of the weakened Abbasid Caliphate (750 to 1258), and founded the Ilkhanid dynasty (1256 to 1353) in Iran and Iraq. They plundered unfathomable riches and ‘sank under the weight of the gold, silver, gems and pearls, the textiles and precious garments’, while butchering populations, and destroying prosperity and civilizations. Only learned men, artists and technicians including weavers were spared.32 The Mongols were renowned for their sumptuous cloths of gold, nasij, symbols of imperial authority and legitimacy, that incorporate Iranian, Central Asian and Chinese features reflecting gift exchanges, international commerce, and the forced resettlement of Muslim textile workers to the east and Chinese weavers to Central Asia. Radiant gold thread forms a symmetrical pattern of winged lions in traditional roundels alternating with griffins on a contrasting ground of dense foliage.33 Standing in the newer rotated position with addorsed hindquarters and regardant heads, the lions have Chinese-influenced manes, wings and dragon-head tails. Perhaps this sumptuous golden silk enriched the interior of one of the renowned Mongol tents that dazzled Iranians and Europeans alike.34 In addition, Chinese silks with asymmetrical patterns traded across the vast Mongol territory had a revolutionary impact on Islamic and European art.35 The lampas structure combines a warp-faced plainweave foundation and a weft-faced plain-weave pattern, enriched with gold thread on a paper substrate that was marketed to Buddhist regions in China and eastern Central Asia, whereas gold thread with a leather or membrane substrate was used in Islamic lands. The distinctive selvedge of weft loops that look like a fringe originally contained thick selvedge warp cords, a technical feature associated with eastern Iranian and Central Asian textiles.

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Figure 7.3  Striped silk. Iran or Iraq, Seljuq period, 12th century. Lampas: silk. H 33.7 × W 22.9 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1937.23.

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Figure 7.4  Cloth of gold. Central Asia, Ilkhanid period, mid-13th century. Lampas: silk and gold thread. H 124.0 × W 48.8 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1989.50.

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Mantle for a Statue of the Virgin The Mamluk dynasty of Egypt and Syria (1250 to 1517) defeated the Mongols, expelled the last Crusaders, retained Sunni Islam, and established Cairo as its capital. Official ceremonies with incredibly stratified dress codes were orchestrated, often with silk-paved processional routes, to astonish visitors with their power and majesty.36 The renowned Mamluk silk mantle for a statue of the Virgin illustrates Mediterranean Sea trade. The silk was woven in Cairo on drawlooms presumably brought by master weavers from Iran and Iraq who had fled Mongol atrocities. Woven in lampas with a satin-weave foundation and twill-weave pattern, it was exported to Spain where almost twenty fragments of the opulent silk were recycled into a mantle for a Virgin statue in a well-established Christian practice.37 Gilt-metal thread forms the elaborate pattern dominated by two juxtaposed motifs facing in opposite directions: stylized lotus blossoms of Chinese origin on ogival vines and tear-shaped medallions.38 The latter incorporate Arabic inscriptions in naskhi script, ‘Glory to our master, the sultan, the king’, and ‘the sultan, the king’ in the lobed roundels. Secondary vines enliven the pattern, whose layout may have been influenced by Chinese silks.39 The mantle is dated about 1430, based on an Italian painting and two lampas fabrics. In ‘Enthroned Madonna with Saints’, by Maestro del Bambino Vispo in about 1430, the Madonna wears an ivory robe with the same golden pattern.40 A very similar pattern in a chasuble is inscribed with a different title, ‘al-Ashraf’, possibly al-Malik al-Ashraf Barsbay (reigned 1422 to 1438).41 A third version occurs in a chasuble’s orphrey band.42 The rare survival of multiple artistic versions woven in several colour combinations and in different techniques reveals not only the pattern’s prestige but also, most significantly, the magnitude of the silk weaving industry. The ground colours occur in blue and in ivory, while pattern wefts appear in ivory and in blue.43 Furthermore, the pattern in this sturdy lampas was also woven in a lightweight silk damask, which affected its colour, pattern and drape.44 Damask has only one colour, although reflective light creates the impression of two, with examples known in blue, rose and pale green. Most significantly, the textile designer created a more spacious version of the pattern by omitting

small details, thereby increasing the contrasting surfaces of the pattern and ground.

Alhambra Curtain Islamic rule on the Iberian Peninsula (711 to 1492) was gradually reduced by Christian kings leaving Muslim control centred around Granada where the Nasrids (1238 to 1492) ruled from their palace, the Alhambra. Introduced by the Arabs, sericulture drove the silk textile industry which flourished and transcended religious boundaries. Sumptuous Islamic silks dressed Christian kings and bishops in life and in death, many forming an unrivalled medieval assemblage preserved in Catholic church sarcophagi.45 Multi-patterned silks are intimately related to the beauty and proportional harmony of the Alhambra. Poetry composed for the walls identify the textile aesthetic as the standard of beauty, with one poem proclaiming, ‘I am [like] a bride in her nuptial attire endowed with beauty and perfection.’46 An immense silk curtain ennobled with harmonious proportions contains two complete lengths joined by a third central strip in imposing dimensions, 438.0 by 272.0 cm.47 On a plain crimson ground, rectangles and squares display yellow palmettes and Arabic inscriptions repeating ‘Dominion belongs to God alone’, and in the elaborate upper border, ‘felicity’, ‘good fortune’, and the Nasrid dynasty motto, ‘There is no conqueror but God.’48 The central striped silk displays three superimposed designs that also decorate Alhambra stucco walls.49 One displays the Nasrid motto, another extends ‘blessing’, and the third features white palmettes forming ogees. Vertical side stripes repeat ‘Majesty is God’s’ flanked by interlacings and outer crenellations. This curtain, and a very similar one, were designed by master designers in the imperial scriptorium, Dīwān al-Inshā, and woven in the tiraz workshop in Granada in two efficient structures: lampas with a twill-weave foundation and a plain-weave pattern for areas with three or more colours and taqueté for narrow bands with only two colours.50 The central striped silk is lampas with a satinweave foundation and a plain-weave pattern.

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Figure 7.5  Mantle for a statue of the Virgin. Silk: Egypt, Mamluk period, c. 1430. Lampas: silk and gilt-metal thread. Mantle: Spain, Nasrid period. H 70.5 x W 111.15 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1939.40.

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Figure 7.6  Alhambra curtain. Granada, Spain, Nasrid period, 14th century. Lampas and taqueté: silk. H 438.2 x W 271.8 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1982.16.

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The curtain is attributed on stylistic grounds to the mid-fourteenth century, including the central striped silk which was probably recycled since it is both worn and longer. A related geometric fragment found in Mamluk Egypt supports commercial accounts, as does the previous Mantle for a statue of the Virgin.51

Notes 1

Louise W. Mackie, Symbols of Power; Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th–21st Century (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press in association with Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015), 22–6. Figure 7.6. 2 One eleventh-century satirical wish-list identifying by name thirteen fine fabrics made in six countries (Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Byzantium and China), in Robert B. Serjeant, Islamic Textiles: Material for a History up to the Mongol Conquest (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1972), 213, citing Tha’alibi. For a Byzantine silk found in Iran and in Islamic Spain, see Mackie, Symbols of Power, 153, Figures 4.26 and 177, Figure 5.8. 3 Oleg Grabar, The Formation of Islamic Art (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 1973), 168–69. For jewelled carpets, see Louise W. Mackie, ‘Jeweled Islamic Textiles’, Silk Roads, Other Roads: Proceedings of the Eighth Biennial Symposium of the Textile Society of America, September (2002): 26–8. 4 Solomon D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1: Economic Foundations (Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press and London: Cambridge University Press, 1967), 106–7. 5 Sultan al-Ashraf Sha’bān (reigned 1363 to 1377). Muhammad ‘Abd. Al-Aziz Marzouk, ‘The Tiraz Institutions in Mediaeval Egypt’, Studies in Islamic Art and Architecture: In Honour of Professor K. A. C. Cresswell (1965): 161. See Mackie, Symbols of Power, 39, Figures 1.21, 1.22 (Tehran, Iran), 456, Figure 11.9 (Varanasi, India). The weaver and drawboy face each other (at different heights). Similar drawlooms operate with limited output in India, Iran, and until recently in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. 6 Mihoko Domyo, ‘Late Sassanian Textile Designs in the Reliefs at Taq-i Bustan’, Bulletin du CIETA 74 (1997): 19–27. 7 Mackie, Symbols of Power, 36–7, Figures. 1.20a–1.20g. 8 Lisa Golombek, ‘The Draped Universe of Islam’, Content and Context of Visual Arts in the Islamic World: Papers from a Colloquium in Memory of Richard Ettinghausen, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (2–4 April 1980), Priscilla P. Soucek, ed. (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1988), 25–49.

Robert Bertram Serjeant, Islamic Textiles, 28, citing Gharnātī. Ghaˉdah al-Hijjawi Qaddūmī and Ahmad ibn al-Rashīd ibn al-Zubayr, Book of Gifts and Rarities (Kitāb al-Hadāyā wa al-Tuhaf): Selections Compiled in the Fifteenth Century from an Eleventh-Century Manuscript on Gifts and Treasures (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996), 192, no. 249, himā ‘Attābī. 10 Florence Day, ‘The Tiraz Silk of Marwan’, Archaeologica Orientalia in Memoriam Ernst Herzfeld (1952), 39–61. Mina Moraitou and Mariam Rosser-Owen, ‘Cat. no. 173A-C. Fragments of the So-Called Marwan Tiraz’, in Helen C. Evans and Brandie Ratliff, eds, Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2012), 238–41, red dyed with madder in three samples, madder and kermes in one sample. The technical repeat unit repeats on both the horizontal and vertical main axes, confirmed by the changed orientation of the stemmed quatrefoils in the centre. 11 Day, ‘The Tiraz Silk of Marwan’, 40. Moraitou and RosserOwen, ‘So-Called Marwan Tiraz’, 238. 12 For more information, see Mackie, Symbols of Power, 55. 13 Mackie, Symbols of Power, 65–9, Figures 227–30. James C. Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles (New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1997), 34–7, Figures 1–5. Amy Heller, ‘An Eighth Century Child’s Garment of Sogdian and Chinese Silks’, Chinese and Central Asian Textiles: Selected Articles from Orientations 1983–1997 (1998): 220–22. 14 The carbon-14 dating of the Iranian silk of the coat is 609 to 822 with 97.9 per cent accuracy. The carbon-14 dating of the Chinese silk damask coat lining is 664 to 891 with 100 per cent accuracy; and the Chinese silk damask of the trousers is 697 to 896 with 92.8 per cent accuracy. The test was performed by ETH Zurich and reported 12 December 1994. 15 Watt and Wardwell, When Silk was Gold, 21–4, Figure 3. 16 Mackie, Symbols of Power, 60–5, Figures. 2.22–2.24, in Huy and Liège, Belgium, and in Sens, France. 17 Richard Ettinghausen, Oleg Grabar and Marilyn JenkinsMadina, Islamic Art and Architecture, 650–1250 (Yale University Press Pelican History of Art Series) (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2001), 190. For Cairo built for ceremonial, see Paula Sanders, Ritual, Politics, and the City in Fatimid Cairo (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1994). 18 Qaddūmī and Ibn al-Zubayr, Books of Gifts and Rarities, no. 173. 19 Qaddūmī and Ibn al-Zubayr, Book of Gifts and Rarities, nos. 372 and 373. 20 Mackie, Symbols of Power, 124–7, ‘Tiraz in Death’. 21 Marzouk, ‘Tiraz Institutions in Medieval Egypt’, Studies in Islamic Art and Architecture: In Honour of Professor K. A. C.

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Creswell (Cairo: American University in Cairo, 1965): 160–62. Evidence is lacking during the Roman period. 22 Qaddūmī and Ibn al-Zubayr, Book of Gifts and Rarities, no. 330. 23 Dorothy G. Shepherd, ‘Textile Catalogue Raisonné, The Cleveland Museum of Art: Materials for the Study of Medieval Textiles’, unpublished manuscript, The Cleveland Museum of Art Archives, 1960s–80s, cat. no. 125, p. 10. This exhaustive catalogue raisonné records the inscribed Islamic textiles in The Cleveland Museum of Art. In France, Veil of Saint Anne in Apt and Saint Suaire at the Abbey of Cadouin. See Mackie, Symbols of Power, 113–16, Figures 329–30. 24 Shepherd, ‘Textile Catalogue’, cat. no. 125, p. 4. 25 Serjeant, Islamic Textiles, 7. 26 For example, see Mackie, Symbols of Power, 136–7, Figure 4.5. 27 The first translation was by Harold Glidden in 1972, and the second by Sheila Blair in 1990, both in The Cleveland Museum of Art object file. 28 Regula Schorta, ‘Zur Entwicklung der Lampastechnik’, in Islamische Textilkunst des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Probleme, Regula Schorta, ed. (Riggisberg, near Bern: Riggisberger Berichte 5, 1997): 173–80. Sophie Desrosiers and Georgette Cornu, Soieries et autres textiles de l’Antiquité au XVI siècle (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2004), 23–8. 29 For another fragment, see Desrosiers and Cornu, Soieries et autres textiles de l’Antiquité au XVI siècle, cat. no. 151. The two weaves in this early lampas can be mistaken for double cloth. Weft-connected lampas was also used in Mongol and early Italian silks. The author thanks Milton Sonday for discussing this subject. This brittle silk is under glass and some pieces are out of alignment, obscuring the mirror-image symmetry. 30 Byzantine elephant-tamer samite and Chinese boys in seedpodscrolls silk damask. See Mackie, Symbols of Power, 151–3, Figures 4.26, 4.27. 31 For a summary, see Mackie, Symbols of Power, 154–5, Figures 4a-4j. 32 Thomas T. Allsen, Commodity and Exchange in the Mongol Empire: A Cultural History of Islamic Textiles (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 28–9, citing an anonymous Georgian chronicler. 33 Watt and Wardwell, When Silk was Gold, 142–3, Figure 35. 34 Mackie, Symbols of Power, 222, Figure 6.8, five Mongol tent panels. 35 For a Yuan dynasty silk datable to 1320, see Feng Zhao, Treasures in Silk: An Illustrated History of Chinese Textiles (Hong Kong: ISAT/Costume Squad, 1999), 230–1, no. 07.09. 36 Doris Behrens-Abouseif, ‘The Citadel of Cairo: Stage for Mamluk Ceremonial’, Annales Islamologiques 24 (1988): 4–79, citing original sources. L. A. Mayer, Mamluk Costume: A Survey

(Geneva: A. Kundig, 1952), 12–60. For a costume summary, see Mackie, Symbols of Power, 244–5. 37 Mackie, Symbols of Power, 183–7, 190, 204–6, Figures 5.12–5.20, 5.23, 5.37–5.39. 38 For metal thread, see Norman Indictor, Robert J. Koestler, C. Blair, and Anne E. Wardwell, ‘The Evaluation of Metal Wrappings from Medieval Textiles Using Scanning Electron Microscopy–Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry’, Textile History 19.1 (1988): 14, 16. 39 Louise W. Mackie, ‘Towards an Understanding of Mamluk Silks: National and International Considerations’, Muqarnas 2 (1984): 134, 138, Plate 18, called Chinese, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. 8590–1863. 40 Mackie, Symbols of Power, 272, Figure 7.32. 41 Beata Biedronska-Słotowa, ‘Early 15th Century Byzantine and Mamluk Textiles from Wawel Cathedral, Cracow’, Bulletin du CIETA 72 (1994): 13–14, Figure 2. Mackie, Symbols of Power, 272, Figure 7.33, in a church in Bolechowice, Poland. 42 A. F. Kendrick, Catalogue of Muhammadan Textiles of the Medieval Period (London: published under the authority of the Board of Education, 1924), 46, no. 973, Plate XV. Heinrich J. Schmidt, Alte Seidenstoffe: Ein Handbuch fur Sammler und Liebhaber (Braunschweig: Klinkhardt and Biermann, 1958), 163, 165, Figure 137. 43 The mantle has a blue ground while the painting shows an ivory ground. The mantle has ivory pattern wefts and a chasuble has blue pattern wefts. 44 Mackie, Symbols of Power, 272–3, Figure 7.34. 45 Florence Lewis May, Silk Textiles of Spain: Eighth to Fifteenth Century (New York, NY: Hispanic Society of America, 1957), 59. Manuel Gómez-Moreno, El Panteon Real de las Huelgas de Burgos (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Instituto Diego Velazquez, 1946). Joaquín Yarza Luaces et al., Vestiduras Ricas: el Monasterio de las Huelgas y su Epoca 1170–1340 (Madrid: Patrimonio Nacional, 2005). Concha Herrero Carretero, Museo de Telas Medievales: Monasterio de Santa Maria le Real de Huelgas (Madrid: Patrimonio Nacional, 1988). Amalia Descalzo, ‘El vestido entre 1170 y 1340 en el Panteón Real de las Huelgas’, in Yarza Luaces et al., Vestiduras Ricas (2005): 107–118. 46 Antonio Fernández-Puertas, The Alhambra I: From the Ninth Century to Yusuf I (1354), Plates by Owen Jones (London: Saqi Books, 1997), 89, 107, n. 15. Oleg Grabar, The Alhambra (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978), 141, 143. 47 Anne E. Wardwell, ‘A Fifteenth-Century Silk Curtain from Muslim Spain’, Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art 70.2 (1983): 58–72. 48 Wardwell, ‘A Fifteenth-Century Silk Curtain from Muslim Spain’, 68–9.

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49 Mackie, Symbols of Power, 194, Figure 5.26. 50 For the similar curtain, see Jon Thompson, Silk, 13th to 18th Centuries: Treasures from the Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar (Doha, Qatar: National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage and London: In conjunction with the Islamic Art Society, 2004), 18–23, no. 1, excellent details. For single panels, see Wardwell,

‘A Fifteenth-Century Silk Curtain from Muslim Spain’, Figures 2, 3; May, Silk Textiles of Spain, Figures 111–13. 51 Isabelle Errera, Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire (Belgium): Catalogue d’Étoffes Anciennes et Modernes (Brussels: Vromant, 1927), 97, no. 79, village of Cronga.

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8 On Medieval Lampas: Textiles in the Iberian Peninsula from the Al-Andalus Period SÍLVIA SALADRIGAS CHENG

It is, therefore, a complex process of evolution that took place slowly and perhaps occurred in more than one geographical area simultaneously. The circulation of products and the movement of people and techniques throughout the Middle Ages is a fact that cannot be overlooked, and for various reasons, objects and goods were taken from the place they were produced to remote areas. This explains the difficulty in accurately pinpointing where the production centres for these pieces were. One of the geographical locations where numerous discoveries have been found is, without a doubt, the Iberian Peninsula. The odyssey of silk in Spain started with the arrival of Prince Omeya Abd al-Rahman I (756 to 788) from Syria during the middle of the eighth century, followed by the subsequent arrival of highly qualified weavers and dyers. They settled and established their workshops in the territory that was called Al-Andalus from then onwards until the end of the fifteenth century.

The history of the evolution of textile techniques during the medieval period is still a work in progress. Due to the pieces that are preserved to this day we are able to carry out studies that include the analysis of fibres, types of thread, dyes, weaves and designs that, taken as a whole, provide us with clues that allow us to piece together the long road travelled by these fabrics, from the simplest textiles to the most complex medieval weaves in all the splendour of their materials, textures and iconographies. Thus, by analysing the preserved fragments, it can be noted how the evolution of medieval textile technology developed in a way that can be defined as inclusive, since it does not imply the abandoning of previous techniques. It began with the tabby that combined the tapestry technique, continued on to the taqueté and the samite, and finally reached its most sophisticated form in the twelfth century with the different types of lampas.

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In addition to the numerous books and articles that have been published about this period,1 we also have contemporary Arabic sources that contain a wealth of references to the importance of the production centres and the reputation of the fabrics woven in Al-Andalus.2 Texts written by historians and travellers mention the names of fabrics and cities which were recognized for their excellence in textile work, reflecting in their writing how Muslim leaders used luxury and ceremony as a type of political propaganda to cement their power. If we study the pieces from a technical point of view, we can organize them by groups of technical families. From the written documents, we can deduce that the first Dar-alTiraz was built in the city of Cordoba during the caliphate of ‘Abd al-Rahman II (reigned 822 to 852). However, the oldest fabric piece preserved dates from the tenth century and belonged to ‘Abd-al-Rahman III. It has the caliph’s name embroidered in silk on linen fabric, in Kufic script and with the date AH 330,3 although now it is almost impossible to detect the inscription of this piece that was found among the relics of Santa Librada at the cathedral in Sigüenza, Guadalajara, central Spain.4 Another famous piece is the almaizar or veil belonging to Hisan II5 (reigned 976 to 1013) in which fine tabby silk is combined with decorative elements using a tapestry technique and goldwrapped thread. It also bears the name of the caliph, which has allowed for it to be dated precisely. The timeframe established for both pieces is the tenth century. The following group of fabrics that we can mention that is related to the Iberian Peninsula dates from the eleventh century and coincides with the period of the Taifas in Al-Andalus (1013 to 1086). This important group of fabrics is produced using the samite technique, in which the majority of pieces are dyed red, dark blue and yellow using kermes,6 indigo and weld.7 Mention must be made of some of the most outstanding pieces, which include, among others, the fabrics known as the ‘Palio de las Brujas’8 and the ‘Tejido de las Águilas’ from one of the shrouds that came from Saint Bernat Calbó’s tomb in the Cathedral of Vic, Catalonia, Spain, nowadays divided into numerous fragments which are preserved at various museums and collections. The first piece is decorated with a repeating pattern of fantasy creatures looking straight ahead with a long mane of hair, lion’s claws and wings on their backs with ibis birds at their feet. The second fabric displays two-headed eagles located below arches and facing forwards, with open wings and

lions clasped in their talons. There is not a clear consensus among experts on the origin of these pieces, with some experts pointing to possible Byzantine or Egyptian origins as an alternative to the Al-Andalus production centres. The shift from the previous textile techniques to the lampas technique has been studied by Regula Schorta and Sophie Desrosiers, who provide various explanations for this change.9 The most plausible one describes the lampas technique as a result of the weavers’ effort to streamline the process by using part of the warp threads to create the ground weave as well as for binding the pattern wefts.10 It could also be interpreted as the evolution of the taqueté technique, where the main warp threads take on a more important role as they use their own weave and work with an independent weft to create the base of the cloth. Be that as it may, it is easy to imagine that weavers began to experiment towards the end of the eleventh century or beginning of the twelfth century by separating the work of the warp threads according to function, thus creating two different groups. One group (main warps) would work with its own weft (main weft) to create the ground fabric, while the other group of warp threads (binding warps) would work only with the pattern wefts; in addition, they use two separate beams, one for each group of warp threads. Nowadays, this structure is what we consider the lampas,11 and we can find different variations among fabrics developed throughout the medieval period in the Iberian Peninsula. The earliest and most important collection comes from the workshops in Almería, south-east Spain at the beginning of the twelfth century. The high degree of similarity between these pieces, as well as their technical and iconographical characteristics, makes them particularly valuable. In addition, two of the pieces have decorative elements that have enabled them to be dated and associated with the Al-Andalus workshops with a degree of accuracy that is rare in these cases. In the 1950s, Dorothy G. Shepherd, fabric curator at The Cleveland Museum of Art, drew the attention of the academic world with the publication of a series of articles about a group of fabrics12 that use tabby as the binding for both the ground fabric and the pattern decoration, with the particularity that the main warp threads work in groups of two to create an irregular tabby that may be described as 2.2.4/2.2.4. This characteristic technique is also combined with the use of a gold-wrapped thread that creates a honeycomb pattern effect.

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These pieces are called pallia rotatta in medieval documents, due to the fact that the motifs are found inside large diameter circles.13 There are elaborate representations of fantasy animals and sphinxes facing each other, eagles with open wings, and in one fabric we can even see a human figure looking forwards with open arms, holding an animal by the neck in each hand (perhaps a lion, although there is no mane). Along the border of each circle, we can usually find small four-legged animals, stylized vegetation, palmettes, eight-petal flowers and strands of pearls. In some pieces, the decoration is interrupted by bands with epigraphic decoration that run from one selvedge to another, using the taqueté technique only working with two wefts. These fabrics can be associated with those referred to in the Liber Pontificalis as vela serica cum rotis14 or with the paintings in Romanesque churches where mock wall coverings appear with decorative patterns in circles, imitating the pannos greciscos.15 According to Shepherd, the reference point for this group of fabrics is the chasuble traditionally associated with San Juan de Ortega (died 1163), which is preserved at the church in Quintanaortuño, Burgos, Spain. This piece bears an inscription which can be transliterated as ‘Victory of God to ‘Ali, Emir of Muslims’. Shepherd identifies this emir as ‘Ali ben Yusuf, who ruled Al-Andalus and northern Africa between 1107 and 1143.16 Two other fabrics also have an inscription: the one known as ‘El Estrangulador de Leones’ from Saint Bernat Calbó’s17 funeral tomb and the fabric that belonged to the Bishop Pedro de Osma (died 1109), preserved at the Burgo de Osma Cathedral in Soria, central Spain. These pieces were initially thought to come from the workshops in Baghdad due to their inscriptions and decorative patterns. However, in 1954, Florence E. May18 suggested that these pieces were actually from workshops in Al-Andalus. Although the fabric inscriptions on the fabric from Burgo de Osma read ‘this is made in Bagdad, may God bless it’, the epigraphy is not typical of Baghdad, but rather of Al-Andalus. Based on the epigraphic evidence, these pieces are called ‘false silks of Baghdad’ although Shepherd refers to them as diaspre19 using the term employed by Otto von Falke, while Gómez-Moreno calls them tafetán largo and tafetán corto or also baldaquíes.20 Based on the inscription on the chasuble that belonged to San Juan de Ortega, these pieces are considered to be dated from the first half of the twelfth century, the Almoravid

period (1090 to 1147). Based on the type of Kufic epigraphy associated with some tombstones found in Almeria, it is considered that they were probably produced in the area around this same city.21 A great number of fabrics from this group have been located and identified, but a full inventory has not yet been carried out. Shepherd suggested that there are approximately fifty-five fabrics22 in this group; around fourteen are from the first half of the twelfth century and are directly related to the Quintanaortuño group, while the rest are fabrics that, according to the author, date up to the beginning of the thirteenth century. Apart from the pieces already discussed, we must mention the ‘Tejido de los Grifos’ and the ‘Tejido de las Águilas’, both from the shrine of Santa Librada;23 the ‘Tejido de las Esfinges’ that belonged to Saint Bernat Calbó; the ‘Tejido del Águila’ that belonged to Saint Pere Cercada and the ‘Tejido de las Aves’ from the cathedral archives in Salamanca, north-western Spain. Nowadays, we are able to add new clarification to the observations made by Shepherd by directly studying a great number of the pieces preserved. Perhaps the most interesting discovery is that, in addition to the many well-known pieces that have been studied and discussed, other pieces were also woven with the same technical characteristics and a very similar design, but on a smaller scale using a reduced diameter. Pieces have been found that show us what the products from less prominent workshops may have been like: a formerly unpublished fragment of fabric from a wooden reliquary box found in the Romanesque church of Santa María of Val d’Aran of Tredòs in the Catalonian Pyrenees, Spain and a fabric found in the reconditorium of Crist Majestat24 wood carving from the Urgell diocese, which was wrapped around relics, along with a scroll with the date of consecration from the year 1147.25 There is another subgroup that can be technically derived from the original group which maintains the goldwrapped thread honeycomb pattern; however, it is woven in a regular tabby (2/2)26 using the threads of the main warp working in pairs. Pilar Borrego Díaz27 explains that this modified technique, which simplifies the process, goes hand-in-hand with the progressive stylization of the patterns. The author cites the following pieces for this group: the ‘Tejido de los Leones’ at the Museo Arqueológico de León, the decoration in the bottom part of the alb belonging to Ximénez de Rada and the piece known as the ‘Manto de Toledo’.

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Figure 8.1 ‘Tejido de los Grifos’ (Woven textile with Griffins), from the shrine of Santa Librada. 12th century. Lampas. Silk and gold thread. H 78.0 × W 62.5 cm. CDMT 6469. © Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil / Photograph by Quico Ortega.

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Figure 8.2  Fabric from the reliquary at Santa María de Cap d’Aran. Lampas. Silk and gold thread. H 9.2 × W 13.4 cm. Musèu dera Val d’Aran. NR.2592. © CRBMC Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya / Photograph by Ramon Maroto.

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The evolution continues with another group of fabrics that share very specific common elements. Both the ground and the decoration are created using regular tabby (1/1) by all the threads of the main warp that are working individually, instead of in pairs. The characteristic honeycomb pattern disappears, although the motifs in brocaded gold-wrapped thread remains. The decoration of the majority of pieces in this group is very similar to previous groups, except for small details. In general, the design consists of reduced diameter circles28 with pairs of four-legged animals inside facing each other with eight-pointed stars at the interstices and a circular shape in the centre, created with gold thread, which is also used for the heads of the animals. The following three pieces are examples of this technique: the ‘Tejido de los Leones’ that came from the monastery at Saint María de l’Estany,29 a fabric preserved at the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan30 in Madrid and the fabric referred to as the ‘Baldaquíno de Cuenca’.31 The Saint Valero’s ecclesiastical vestment from the Roda de Isábena cathedral was first mentioned in medieval documentation in the year 1279, and it displays a completely different type of design. Nowadays, there are various fabric pieces from the different pieces of the collection32 that

are very fragmented and scattered throughout different museums and collections. We shall examine the ‘Tejido las Estrellas’, which was part of the cape. The design displays rigid, reticulate, fine, repetitive, symmetrical work that brings to mind goldsmithing due to the richness of the gold thread used. The golden ground of the decoration is combined with silk dyed in a rich array of colours that imitate the shine of a glaze, and the tabby lampas displays star and flower patterns framed by bands of double weave33 of white silk. The decoration follows the new trend in fabrics in the thirteenth century, where small geometric shapes, poly-lobed elements and bands with inscriptions replace the previous designs of circles with animals. This style change took place when the Almohads came to power in northern Africa (1160 to 1238) and imposed a more austere and simpler design in fabrics, according to historical sources. Nevertheless, these fabrics are characterized, as can be seen by the pieces preserved, by the plentiful use of highpurity,34 gold-wrapped threads as a rich ground material in the decoration of the fabrics, rather than the small brocade details from the previous period. The silks preserved from the Nasrid period were also woven using the lampas technique. These display bright

Figure 8.3  ‘Tejido de las Estrellas’ (woven textile with stars), fragment from the vestments of St. Valerius. 13th century. Pseudo-­lampas. Silk and gold thread. H 11.5 x W 16.0 cm. CDMT 2374. © Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil / Photograph by Quico Ortega.

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Figure 8.4  Lampas with multi-patterned decoration. Granada, Nasrid period. 14th century. Silk. H 36.0 x W 22.5 cm. CDMT 188. © Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil / Photograph by Quico Ortega.

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Figure 8.5  Lampas with epigraphic decoration. Granada, Nasrid period. 14th century. Silk. H 46.5 × W 77.5 cm. CDMT 289. © Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil / Photograph by Quico Ortega.

colours such as red, green, blue, white and yellow, where the quantity and the quality of the gold used gradually decreased until its use disappeared altogether. The lampas technique has continued to evolve, with the addition of not only taqueté but also by using twill and satin in conjunction with the tabby weave in order to create various combinations. During the long Nasrid dynasty based in Granada (1237 to 1492), the palace walls of the Alhambra were designed using textile motifs which were inspired by the fabric pieces adorning the walls, while at the same time, these fabric pieces were influenced by decorative aspects of the walls themselves, showing mutual symbiosis in complete harmony. Examples of the magnificent drapery that decorated the palace rooms can be found at the Hispanic Society of America,35 the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum36 or The Cleveland Museum of Art.37 These collections display the past splendour of these fabrics which contain inscribed cartouches with repeating messages of happiness, glory and prosperity, accompanied by eight-pointed stars, plant arabesques, latticework and intertwined designs. Other fabrics from this same period reflect the importance of writing in the Muslim world, where long epigraphic

bands play a central role in the decoration, bearing phrases in Al-Andalus Naskhi and Thuluth38 referring to Yusuf III (1408 to 1417) and accompanied by decorative plant elements such as palm trees and leaves. After the fall of Granada, the textile workshops there probably continued working with Moorish weavers that carried on using the lampas technique with new designs. Many fabrics were preserved that showed the most popular patterns at that time, with a clear influence of Gothic art seen through the layout of the patterns and the pointed shapes. We can see rampant crowned lions facing a stylized tree of life with pomegranate fruit, sometimes replaced by birds, other times combined with escutcheons from the Nasrid dynasty that are sometimes inverted, sending a clear message about the new power in place in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, while other fabrics show large palmettes combined with stylized leaves. The era of the medieval lampas in Al-Andalus finishes here. From then on, velvet and damask fabrics would take over from the technique with which such extraordinary pieces were woven that we can still enjoy them today.

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Figure 8.6  Lampas with crowned lions and inverted escutcheons. 15th century. Silk. H 35.5 x W 17.0 cm. CDMT 50. © Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil / Photograph by Quico Ortega.

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Notes 1

Florence Lewis May, Silk Textiles of Spain: Eighth to Fifteenth Century (New York, NY: Hispanic Society of America, 1957); Cristina Partearroyo Lacaba, ‘Tejidos andalusíes’, Artigrama 22 (2007): 371–419; Robert Bertram Serjeant, Islamic Textiles: Material for a History up to the Mongol Conquest (Chichester: Packard Publishing Ltd., and Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1972), 165–76. 2 Ahmed Ibn Muhammad Al-Makkarī, The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain (Vol. 2 of 2: Extracted from the Nafhu-T-Tíb Min Ghosni-L-Andalusi-R-Rattíb Wa Táríkh Lisánu-D-Dín Ibni-L-Khattíb (Classic Reprint Series), trans. Pascual de Gayangos (London: Forgotten Books, [1840–1843] 2018), 120–1; Abu Abdallah Muhammad Al-Idrisi, Description de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne, trans. R. Dozy and M. J. de Goeje (Leiden: Brill [1866] 2015); Al-Saqati, Muhamma, ’Kitab al faqih al-ajall al-’alim al-’arif al-awhad’, trans. Pedro Chalmeta, ‘El kitab fi adab al-hisba de al-Saqati’, Al-Andalus, 32–3 (1967–8). 3 941/2 CE. 4 The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1977.188. See: Louise W. Mackie. Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th–21st Century (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press in association with Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015), 167–209. 5 Real Academia de Historia, inv. 292. 6 Although Dorothy G. Shepherd indicates lac dye for the red colour in ‘The Third Silk from the Tomb of Saint Bernard Calvo’, The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 39.1 (January 1952): 13–14 the latest studies carried out by the Proyecto Colors del Mediterrani: colorants naturals per a un tèxtil sostenible?, Terrassa: Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil, 2010 show that kermes was used. Available at: http:// cdmt.cat/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/publicacions/cataleg_ col_mediterrani.pdf (accessed 18 December 2018). 7 For dyes and technical analysis in medieval textiles see: Pilar Borrego Díaz, Pedro Pablo Pérez, Ana Albar Ramírez, Ángela Arteaga, Susanna Marras, Ana Roquero, Cristina Partearroyo and Estrella Sanz. ‘Caracterización de materiales y análisis técnico de tejidos medievales’, Ge-conservación 12 (2017): 6–30. Available at: https://ge-iic.com/ojs/index.php/revista/ article/view/544 [accessed 18 December 2018]. 8 Number reference MEV 557. 9 Sophie Desrosiers, Soieries et autres textiles de l’Antiquité au XVI siècle (Catalogue du Musée National du Moyen Âge – Thermes de Cluny, Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2004), 14–28; Regula Schorta, ‘Zur Entwicklung der Lampastechnik’, Islamische Textilkunst des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Probleme, Vol. 5, Regula Schorta, ed. (Riggisberger Berichte, Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung, 1997), 173–80. 10 This is what the Centre International d’Etude des Textiles Anciens (CIETA) defines as warp à liage repris.

11 CIETA, Vocabulary of Technical Terms (Lyon: CIETA, 1959). 12 Dorothy G. Shepherd, ‘The Textiles from Las Huelgas de Burgos. A Review of the Original Publication with Some Additional Notes’, The Bulletin of the Needle and Bobbin Club 35 (1951): 19–22; ‘Two Hispano-Islamic Silks in Diasper Weave’, Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1 (1955); ‘A Dated Islamic Silk’, Ars Orientalis II (1957): 373–82, laminas I–X. 13 They measure between 29 cm and 35 cm. 14 Liber Pontificalis, CV Leo IV (847–855),108. 15 Isidro G. Bango Torviso, ‘La vieja liturgia hispana y la interpretación funcional del templo prerrománico’, VII Semana de Estudios Medievales. Actas. Nájera: Instituto de Estudios Riojanos (1997): 86, note 84. 16 Shepherd, ‘A Dated’, 373. 17 Currently distributed amongst different collections. 18 Florence Lewis May, ‘The Inscription of the Boston “Baghdad Silk”. A Note on Method in Epigraphy’, Ars Orientalis 1 (1954): 191–4. 19 Dorothy G. Shepherd, ‘Two Hispano-Islamic Silks in Diasper Weave’, The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 1 (1955); Otto von Falke, Historia del Arte del Tejido (Barcelona: V. Casellas Moncanut, 1922), 25–6. It must be noted that there is no general consensus on the meaning of the word diaspre. See: Donald King, ‘Sur la signification de diasprun’, Bulletin du CIETA 11 (1960): 42–7. 20 Manuel Gómez-Moreno, El arte árabe español hasta los almohades [y] arte mozárabe, Vol. 3 (Madrid: Ars Hispaniae, 1951), 351. 21 Lacaba, ‘Tejidos andalusíes’, 388. 22 Shepherd, ‘A Dated’, 378, note 15. 23 The Centre de Documentació I Museu Tèxtil (CDMT) pieces have open access through the image bank. Available at: http:// imatex.cdmt.cat/_cat/pubindex.aspx 24 Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC), no. 15950. 25 The fabric can be found nowadays at the Museu del Disseny in Barcelona, Museu Tèxtil i de la Indumèntaria collection, no. MTIB 49743. Rosa María Martín, ‘Crist del 1147. Teixits’, Catalunya Romànica VI (1992): 525–32. 26 Tabby 2/2 or louisine. 27 Pilar Borrego Díaz. ‘Análisis técnico del ligamento en los tejidos hispanoárabes’, Bienes Culturales, Revista del Instituto del Patrimonio Histórico Español V (2005): 94. 28 Diameters between 6 and 7 cm. 29 Museo Episcopal de Vic (MEV), nos. 4133, 7775 and 7776. 30 Instituto Valencia de Don Juan, no. 2059. 31 Museo Arqueológico Nacional (MAN), no. 65433. 32 This referes to a cope, a chasuble and two dalmatics preserved at the Museu del Disseny in Barcelona, although there are fragments of these pieces at various museums and collections. See: Mechthild Flury-Lemberg and Gisella Illek, ‘Der sogenannte Ornat des heilingen Valerius von Saragossa

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aus der Kathedrales von Lérida’, Spuren kostbarer Gewebe, Riggisberger Berichte, Vol. 3 (Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung, 1995), 56–117; Rosa María, ‘Les Vêtements liturgiques dits de Saint Valère. Leur place parmi les tissus hispano-mauresques du XIIIe siècle’, Techniques & Culture 34 (1999): 49–66. 33 This is what Gabriel Vial refers to as pseudolampas. See: ‘Vêtements liturgiques dits de Saint Valère. Étude technique de pseudo lampas à fond (ou effect) double-étoffe’, Techniques & Culture, 34 (1999): 67–81. 34 Gold which came from territories controlled by the Almohads in sub-Saharian Africa. The quality of the gold in some pieces reaches 85 to 90 per cent purity Bárbara Culubret Worms, ‘Catálogo de los Tejidos Hispanomusulmanes Estudiados’, Bienes Culturales, Revista del Instituto del Patrimonio Histórico Español, ‘Tejidos Hispanomusulmanes’, V (2005): 147–60. 35 Hispanic Society of America, New York, NY, no. H921.

36 Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, no. 1902.1.962. 37 The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.16. Louise W. Mackie. 38 Lacaba, ‘Tejidos andalusíes’, 407.

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9

Byzantine Court Dress RYOKO YAMANAKA KONDO

As noted in previous chapters most Byzantine silk was woven for the Emperor, Empress, courtiers, foreign nobility and important members of the church. It was mainly used for full-length garments, for both men and women. Other uses consist of palace and church decorations, manuscript covers and reliquaries. This silk was later used in the West as holy shrouds and as coffin linings. (BUR 2, 6, 7) Here, examination focuses on Byzantine dress, which was the main use of Byzantine silk. Diagrams of clothing (see Diagrams A, B, pp. 113–18) are depicted to reference that Byzantine dress was genealogically from Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome as well as Sassanian Persia and its relationship noted with neighbouring cities, the West, Russia, China and Japan. It is demonstrated that Byzantine silk remains in some Orthodox church vestments and in folk dress in the Middle East including Syria. From the third to the sixth century, the Early Christian Period, tunica were worn as underwear in the Early Roman Period, gradually undergoing changes in both the body and sleeves, that grew to at least 25 centimetres in width. The garment then came to be called dalmatic or

colobium. This name was derived from the wide-sleeved garments of the Dalmatia region (present day Croatia) that is located across the east coast of Italy where Christianity arrived early. A semi-elliptical toga on top of the dalmatic covered the body. Colour was used to make stripes on the warp at the edges of the white cloth. In ancient Rome, senators wore a cloth with wide purple stripes, which became thinner to denote a lower status. The garments gradually became garish, with decorative clavus or clavi with woven or embroidered border patterns in gold, purple and red on the body and sleeves. Initially, there was almost no gender difference for this type of clothing. The Imperial dress of the Byzantine era is depicted in Variations of Byzantine Court Dress. It is said that ‘Constantine the Great’ had garish tastes and owned a ceremonial costume with embroidered flowers on a gold fabric. In the Roman period, the semi-elliptical toga, which used large amounts of fabric, was usually only permitted for Roman citizens and worn over a loincloth. It was draped from the left shoulder. Sewn-sleeved garments were disdained as clothing for barbarians, but this gradually disappeared in the Byzantine period.

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Figure 9.1  Draperies at the nave in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy. 6th century. Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda.

Figure 9.2-1  Jewelled upper cover of the Lindau Gospels, in Latin. Circa 880. Photograph courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, NY, USA.

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Figure 9.2-2  Inside front cover of the Lindau Gospels. Byzantine silk brocade features imagery of confronting pigeons with rings, ribbons and pearl necklaces designed on a monochrome red ground studded with two types of flower. 9th century. Photograph courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, NY, USA.

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Figure 9.2-3  Inside back cover of the Lindau Gospels. Samite woven in Syria with imagery of griffins and birds (most likely peacocks) surrounded by flowers in a lozenge c­ omposition. 8th to 9th century. Photograph courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, NY, USA.

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Figure 9.3  Reliquary box with silk samite that features confronting bird imagery. Cathédrale Saint-Paul de Liège, Belgium. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

After the fourth century, by the edict of Emperor Constantine, purplish-red silk fabrics and gold thread brocades were exclusively for use by the Royal Court. The dalmatic or colobium was tailored, and it gradually changed to delineate the body more, and the hem and sleeves were loosely widened. An embroidered clavus was sewn on white unbleached wool, hemp or cotton fabric. During this period, capes from the Etruscans (the native people of the Roman region) were used as above-knee cloaks (mantles) for the military uniform. However, these cloaks became the long rectangular chlamys held at the right shoulder with a fibula (brooch) that was worn to enable free movement of the right arm. These are represented on the gold solidus coins and silver missorium of the time (see Variations of Byzantine Court Dress – images 1 and 3 on p. 117). Women started to wear tunics with slim sleeves to the wrist and then layering on a pallium (palla). In the fifth century, an example of Byzantine dress is depicted on the murals of the St. Maria Maggiore church arches in Rome, Italy.

In the sixth century, during the Justinian dynasty, the chlamys lost its role as a military uniform, but Romanstyle dressing remained until around the eighth century. Anastasios I of the sixth century (reigned 491 to 518) is considered to be the first to wear the chlamys as a divetesion (a long ceremonial silk robe). Later, divetesion were worn at ceremonies named the paludamentum; these garments had embroidered or figured woven tablions sewn on silk fabric dyed a deep Tyrian purple. In the wall mosaics of the Basilica di San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527 to 565) is wearing paludamentum and silk tzangia (slippers) and Empress Theodora can be seen in a similar attire. Ladies of the court wore multi-coloured woven-figured dresses (see Variations of Byzantine Court Dress – images 5 and 6 of Emperor Justinian I and Empress Theodora on p. 118). This is proof of the formation of unique Byzantine dress and it became popular in the court for its use of silk and its woven samite technique. The heavy toga underwent changes to become the trabea or triumphalis, being folded

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Diagrams of Clothing - A

Waist Cloth ・Schenti (Egypt)

・Sarong (Southeast Asia)

Egypt

Assyria

Winding Cloth ・Palla (Babylonia)

FABRIC

・Assyrian Shawl (Assyria)

Babylonia

・Himation (Greece) ・Sari (India) ・Pallium (Rome)

Folding Cloth ・

(

)

・Peplos (Ionia)

Ionic Peplos

Skirt Put On ・ ・

Trousers

(Assyria) (

・Parthia ・Persia

)

Assyria

・

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Clavus Babylonian Palla

Akakia

Byzantine Pallium, 4th–5th century

Stola

Orthodox Sakkos

Loros Stripes Loros

Roman Toga

Byzantine Loros, 5th–8th century Chasuble with Loros Loros

Sakkos

Paludamentum

Dalmatic with Tablion

Byzantine Emperor and Empress, 9th–12th century Crete

Illustrated by Hiromi Yoshihara Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

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Diagrams of Clothing - B

・ ・ ・

Kantoi

Byzantine Court Dress

115

Segment Fibula

Jewelled Collar

Paludamentum

Paenula Tablion

Cloak Tunic with Brocade Segments

Tzangia Byzantine, 4th–10th century

Byzantine,11th–14th century Pallium and Torapare

Clavi

Holy Rome

Paenula Islamic Kaftan

Chasuble

Byzantine Dress

Isabel 1 of Spain, 16th century

Syrian Folk Dress

Illustrated by Hiromi Yoshihara

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1. Arcadius Medal - Solidus of Arcadius, 4th century.

2. Crown: Diadem. Style of dress.

3. Missorium of Theodosius I. 4th century.

Credits: 1. Image: © Getty Images; 2. Illustrations: Hiromi Yoshihara; 3. Image: © Alamy.

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4. Justinian I and Theodora. 6th century. Mosaic - Hagia Sophia, 994.

Crown: Pendulia.

Pattern of a tablion.

6. Theodora (Empress of Justinian l) and court ladies. 6th century. Mosaic - San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy. 5. Justinian I. 6th century. Mosaic - San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, 548.

Patterns of needlework and figured weaving.

Styles of dress.

4. Image: Dr Tomoyuki Masuda; 5. Image: Dr Tomoyuki Masuda; 6. Image: Alamy. All illustrations: Hiromi Yoshihara.

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7. Heraclian dynasty (625-638). 7th century. Mosaic - Saint’ Agnese, Rome, Italy.

8. Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. 10th century.

Styles of dress.

Pattern of a sakkos.

10. Constantine IX. 11th century (1042-1055). Mosaic - Hagia Sophia, 11th century.

9. Leo IV. Mosaic - Hagia Sophia, 10th century.

Pattern of a tunic.

7. Image: Dr Tomoyuki Masuda. 8. Image: Wikimedia; 9. Image: Dr Tomoyuki Masuda; 10. Image: Dr Tomoyuki Masuda. All illustrations: Hiromi Yoshihara.

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Crown: Stemma

11. Nikephoros III Botaneiates and his third wife, Maria of Alania being crowned by Christ (detail). 11th century. Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, around 1078. Manuscript Coislin 79, folio 2.

Pattern of a tunic.

12. Nikephoros III Botaneiates and his courtiers (detail). 11th century. Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, around 1078. Manuscript Coislin 79, folio 2.

Pattern of a chlamys.

13. Nikephoros III Botaneiates, Saint John Chrysostom and the Archangel Michael – detail depicting Nikephoros III and the Archangel Michael. 1078. Manuscript Coislin 79, folio 2.

Styles of Dress.

Pattern of a chlamys.

11. Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; 12. Image: Bibliothèque ­nationale de France, Paris; 13. Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. All illustrations: ­Hiromi Yoshihara.

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14. Alexios I. Late 11th century. MS gr. 666, fol.1 v.et 2r. Biblioteca ­Apostolica Vaticana.

Pattern of a paenula.

15. Manuel I Komnenos. 12th century. Manuel I with his second wife, Maria. Miniature in Cod. Vaticanus’ grave. 1176.

16.1 Byzantine leggings. 8th c­ entury. Musées de Sens.

16.2. Byzantine shoe.

17. Emperor John II Komnenos (1087-1143) and Empress Saint Irene. Mosaic - Hagia Sophia, 12th century.

Styles of dress.

14. Image: Getty Images; 15. Image: Getty Images; 16. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 16.1. Image: Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 16.2. Image: The Walters Art ­Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. 17. Image: Dr Tomoyuki Masuda. All illustrations: Hiromi Yoshihara.

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Pattern of a tunic.

18. Alexios Apokaukos as Grand Duke (Andronikos II). 13th century. Hippocrates Manuscript c.1342 397 ff.

19. Theodoros Metokhites. 14th century. Palaiologan dynasty (1270-1332 ): Byzantine author, philosopher, and patron of the arts and a stylish person who depicted his dress style. Mosaic Chora Church.

21. A part of the crown of ­Constantine IX depicting a dancing woman. 11th century. National Museum, ­Budapest, Hungary.

Pattern of a tunic. 20. Byzantine, Dance of Miriam. 11th century. Manuscript Vatican Vat.gr 752 pt.2 19v. Women in the style of court dresses make the imagined circle of God’s heavenly court. Exodus 14.19.31: God and Nations.

Style of dress.

18. Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; 19. Image: Dr Tomoyuki Masuda; 20. Image: Pinterest. 21. Image: Wikimedia. All illustrations: Hiromi Yoshihara.

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22.1 Crown: Cameran. ‘Kamelaukion’–Crown of Costanza II d'Altavilla.

22.2 Double-headed bird of prey, a symbol of the Palaiologos family.

23. Alexios III. 12th century (copy 18th century). Athos, Dionysiou Monastery.

24. John VI Kantakouzenos. 14th century. Presiding over a synod of bishops. Manuscript of Cantacuzenos Gr. 1242 f.5 v.

Pattern of a dress of an empress.

Style of dress.

22.1. Image: Pinterest. 22.2. Image: Wikimedia. 23. ­Image: Wikimedia; 24. Image: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. All illustrations: Hiromi Yoshihara. Byzantine Court Dress

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25. Manuel II. 1408. With Empress Helena and his children, the co-emperor John VIII and the despots Theodore and Andronikos. Title/name: The complete works of Dionysius the Areopagite, from Constantinople. Manuscript sur parchemin, 237 ff (1634~1755) Saint Denis I’Aréopagite.

26. Alexios V. 13th century. Manuscript Cod. Hist graech. 53. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.

Pattern of a dress. Crown of an empress.

Pattern of a dress.

Pattern of a tunic.

27. Theodore Synadenos with his wife. Lincoln College Typikon (1328-1344).

29. Probably John VIII. 15th century. Fresco Magi Chapel of Riccardi Palace 1459-1462, Florence, Italy.

28. Constantine XI Komnenos Palaiologos and Euphrosyne Ducaena Palaiologina. 15th ­century. Lincoln College Typikon. Around 1400. Oxford, United Kingdom. The Bodleian Library.

Styles of dress.

25. Image: Musée du Louvre, Paris; 26. Image: Alamy; 27. Image: Wikimedia; 28. Image: Alamy; 29. Image: Alamy. All illustrations Hiromi Yoshihara.

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Neighbouring Countries 1: Persia. A mosaic at the nave in Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy.

2: Egypt. Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai. 6th century.

Patterns of a chlamys (long cloak).

3: Greece Thessaloniki. Church of Agiou Dimitriou mosaic. 7th century.

4. Greece, Thessaloniki. Church of Agiou Dimitriou mosaic. 7th century.

Pattern of a chlamys.

Pattern of a chlamys.

1. Image: Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo; 2. Image: Getty Images; 3. Image: Dr Tomoyuki Masuda; 4. Image: Dr Tomoyuki Masuda. All illustrations: Hiromi Yoshihara.

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5: Skopje, Macedonia. Saint Nikita monastery. Wall painting. 15th century.

6: Skopje, Macedonia. Saint ­Nikita monastery. Wall painting. 15th century.

Patterns of a chlamys.

Pattern of a dress. Crown.

Pattern of a dress.

8: Serbia. Family of Tsar Stefan Dusan. 14th century.

7: Serbia. Queen of Stefan Uroš IV. Wall painting. 14th century.

5. Image: Hisao Takahashi; 6. Image: Hisao Takahashi; 7. Image: Wikipedia; 8. Image: Alamy. All illustrations: Hiromi Yoshihara.

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9: Bulgaria. Boyana Church. Queen of the Sebastocrator Kaloyan (donor). Wall painting fresco. 13th to 14th century.

Pattern of a dress.

Pattern of a dress. 10: King Levon (Leo) II and Queen Keran. 13th century. Israel, Jerusalem. Armenian Patriarchate, MS 2660, Gospel, 1262, artist Toros Roslin, portrait of King Levon and Queen Keran.

Pattern of a dress.

11: Bulgaria. Boyana Church. Wall painting fresco. 13th to 14th century. Tsar Constantine Asen Tikh and Tsarista Irene.

Pattern of a chlamys.

9. Image: Wikiwand; 10. Image: Wikimedia; 11. Image: Alamy. All illustrations: Hiromi Yoshihara.

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12: Bishop’s dress, Venezia. 13th century. Mosaic of St. Mark’s Basilica.

13: Exultet Roll - a deacon reading the roll and the Earth in summer dress, 1056 CE, Cathedral Archives, Bari, Italy. 11th century. Pattern of a dress.

14: Salome. 13th century. Mosaic of St. Mark’s Basilica.

15: Icon from Novgorod. Russian Orthodox church. 15th century. Commemoration. Pattern of a dress.

12. Image: Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 13. Image: Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo; 14. Image: Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 15. Image: The Charnel-House. All illustrations: Hiromi Yoshihara. Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

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into three, 20-centimetre wide folds, with the surface being decorated. This was wrapped around the body, fastened by a sash and draped over the right hand. An indicator of high social status, this was ceremonial attire for consuls and clergy. The shape gradually became simpler, resulting in a simple apron style. It evolved to become a luxurious and slender embroidered sash with a jewelled surface called a loros, a sash made of a dense fabric, distinctive of the Byzantine Empire. The loros went from being part of Orthodox priests’ sakkos to being the decorative belts of vestments for the Holy Roman emperors and Catholic bishops. While at first there was no difference in apparel in terms of gender, with the spread of Christianity in the middle period of the Empire, such differences appeared and gradually became significant. For men, tight-sleeved tunics, originally underwear, became outerwear, and from the fifth century onwards, short hems became popular and thin-sleeved tunics became the norm. In this period, the clavus or clavi were altered and decorated in a variety of patterns, including figured brocades and embroidery in a patchwork style around the neck, shoulders and knees. Female apparel gradually came to fit the body more closely and expanded in length, with cuffs becoming broader. This style came from T’ang China and spread to Western Europe, and remains a folk dress around Syria today. Between the sixth and the tenth centuries, silk fabric flourished as a ceremonial costume in the period of Constantine VII (913 to 959), a fact discussed in depth in De Ceremoniis. However, Emperor Basil II (976 to 1025), whose reign took place at the peak of the Macedonian dynasty, was constantly engaged in fighting with Kiev, Bulgaria and Italy and exclusively devoted to expanding the power of the Byzantine Empire. He did not marry, and showed no interest in learning, or the arts and culture, nor did he conduct court ceremonies, unlike his grandfather Constantine VII. He also disdained court dress and wore mostly military uniforms. In the eleventh century, although Nikephoros III (1078 to 1081) is depicted in manuscripts in different varieties of dress, generally speaking, the figured samite patterns are mid-sized and the colouring is not opulent, mainly blue, and only decorated by gold and jewellery (see Figures 9-V-4,-11,-12,-13). This was in contrast to kings and courtiers, who were shown in figured samite dress in

red colours. In the eleventh century, Alexios I (1081 to 1118), depicted in manuscripts in the Vatican, is shown in a dress that is a large figured garment, indicating that the production of larger figured textiles of silk samite was being used from this period onwards. The queen during the time of Alexios III (1195 to 1203) is depicted in a dress with a red background and a double-headed hawk pattern that became the symbol of the subsequent Palaiologan dynasty (see Figures 9-V-7-22,-23). After the twelfth century, with the weakening of imperial authority, emperors attached jewel studded loros-style sashes with the edge falling over the left hand to make long, deep red dalmatics, and wore them as if they were uniforms. The similar large figured red dress worn by Alexios III is also depicted for the families of Alexios V (1204) and Manuel II (1391 to 1425) in a manuscript from the fourteenth century (see Figures 9-V-8-25,-26). However, as noted separately, silk samite was no longer produced in Constantinople during this time but produced in neighbouring cities. It is written that Manuel II did not wear a purplish-red imperial dress; he always wore white. In the Byzantine Empire, the colour of mourning was white, which was also the colour of the Umayyad Dynasty in early Islamic history. Alexios III, John VI (1347 to 1354) and Manuel II are depicted in manuscripts in similar ceremonial dresses, as if it was inherited (see Figures 9-V-7-23,-24). In contrast, kings of neighbouring countries, who gained power at the time, can be seen in murals in their respective areas wearing a variety of medium- to large-sized samite garments in woven silk samite that came from the Byzantine Empire. It is said that Theodore Metochites, who sponsored the Chora church, was obsessed with keeping a daily record of his clothing, which suggests that garments woven in silk samite had extended to the wealthy (see Figures 9-V-6-19). Also, there remains a portrait of Theodore Synadenos wearing such a garment, an influential man who supported Andronikos III (1328 to 1341) both militarily and politically (see Figures 9-V-8 -27). These garments changed little in terms of pattern and style from the last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI (1449 to 1453). Constantine XI wore a robe of a mediumsized pattern, and only a narrow sash is tied around the dress (see Figures 9-V-8-28). No silver, gold or jewellery can be seen.

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Jewellery Crowns: Diadem: a crown tied at the back of the head and decorated with a jewelled cloth pendant. This was worn by Constantine I until before the Justinian dynasty. Colours: red, white and green. Pendulia: a crown with flower-shaped ornaments and pearls hanging on both sides of the face. Stemma: a crown made of gold in a circular shape with a cross attached to the centre panel in most cases. Cameran: a crown in a dome shape that is typically made of silk and decorated with pearls including jewels with a cross on top. From the fifteenth century onwards, this became the mitre for Orthodox bishops.

Clothing Imperial Court Akakia: a purplish-red sack-style garment worn by emperors on formal occasions (the sack had soil in it, meaning that all beings come from the earth and will return to the earth). The sack became open with each footstep of the wearer as they walked in ceremonies. Maniakion/Collar: neckwear for the Byzantine queen (from Egypt or Persia) embroidered with gold thread, pearls, jewels and beads and worn for ceremonies. Fibula: a large clasp that was fixed to the right shoulder of a garment such as a divetesion and paludamentum with jewels attached. Tzangia: silk shoes decorated with embroidery and jewels. Gems: believed to ward off evil and reduce eye ailments, the effects of headaches and other illnesses. Loros, stemma and tzangia were treasures of the emperor as well as being health amulets. Tablion: a pair of rectangular, embroidered or figured woven fragments sewn on the right side of the edges of chlamys. The chlamys was adorned with tablion, and was a mark of civilian status. Some of these were purplish-red. Only the empress was permitted to wear a tablion among women. Divetesion: a full-length silk tunic that was worn for ceremonies. A close-fitting chemise was worn down to the heels under a tunica-style gown with a belt and veil sewn in

the chest and back to accommodate both arms. Colours: red, blue, green and white. Ladies of the court: Dressed in dalmatics with clavuses and figured patterned stola or palla (a rectangular shawl with a thin cloth gauze veil). Clergy: dalmatics were worn with black clavi and then a chasuble vestment was layered on top. Long white hemp or wool loros were draped from the shoulders. These are still worn today. Citizens: on a daily basis, citizens wore a simple paenula with a hole for the head and a clavus, and for work, they wore a short, hooded paenula. This garment was worn in Germany and became everyday wear during the Middle Ages. Trousers from Persia and Central Asia were also gradually adopted. Silk garments were forbidden outside of ceremonies and were limited to being worn by those of high status. With regard to the Byzantine silk used mainly by the Imperial Court, extremely few items remain in the form of clothing. It is assumed that the garments were cut into pieces since they circulated as currency at the time. Thus, clothing needs to be studied from manuscripts, murals, icons and ivory carvings. The historical study of the depicted garments is based on knowledge gained by the church at the time, as well as the ability of painters to express garments and patterns. In this book, the changes in the dress and patterns of historical emperors are listed and illustrated according to eras. Broad changes in pattern theme (Illustrations: Variations of Byzantine Court Dress), composition of each design and colour can be observed. Based on this, it is an aim that this book will be an aid in the historical research of the Byzantine era.

Publications consulted 1

2 3 4 5

Jennifer L. Ball, Byzantine Dress: Representations of Secular Dress in Eighth- to Twelfth-century Painting (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). J. Anderson Black, A History of Fashion (London: Orbis Publishing Ltd., 1975). François Boucher, Histoire du costume en Occident, de l’Antiquité à nos jours (Paris: Flammarion, 1965). Constantine VII Porphyrogénète, Le Livre des cérémonies, trans. Albert Vogt (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, [1935] 1967). Timothy Dawson and Graham Sumner, By the Emperor’s Hand: Military Dress and Court Regalia in the later RomanByzantine Empire (Barnsley: Frontline Books, 2015).

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6 Yoshito Harada, Chinese Dress and Personal Ornaments, in the Han and Six Dynasties (Tokyo: Tokyo Bunko, 1937). 7 Mary Galway Houston, Ancient Greek, Roman & Byzantine Costume and Decoration (London: Adam & Charles Black, 2003). 8 Yasuo Inoue, History of Folk Dress (Tokyo: Bunka Shuppan Kyoku, 1982). 9 Mary Hunt Kahlenberg, Frieda Sorber, Valérie Bérinstain, Claudine Delecourt, Sandrard, Mauro Magliani, Zaira Mis and Marcel Mis, Asian Costumes and Textiles from the Bosphorus to Fujiyama: The Zaira and Marcel Mis Collection (Milan: Skira, 2001). 10 Lady Ariadne Karbonopsina, 11th Century Byzantine Clothing Construction, 2013. Available at: https://docs. google.com/document/d/1yyNfYJAuEauFozftZgoy7N_ ICJ7xifMZFWIb0vgqYkM/edit?pli=1 (accessed 02.08.2019). 11 Alexander P. Kazhdan, ed. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (3 vols) (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1991). 12 Wajiro Kon, History of Clothing (Tokyo: Domesu Publishers, 1991). 13 James Laver, Costume and Fashion: A Concise History (World of Art Series) (London and New York, NY: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1983). 14 Lloyd Llewllyn-Jones, ed. and Sue Blundell, Women’s Dress in the Ancient Greek World (Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales, 2002). 15 Maureen C. Miller, Clothing the Clergy: Virtue and Power in Medieval Europe, c. 800–1200 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2014).

16 Donald M. Nicol, The Reluctant Emperor: A Biography of John Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor and Monk, c.1295–1383 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996). 17 Donald M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). 18 Herbert Norris, Church Vestments: Their Origin & Development (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications Inc., [1950] 2002). 19 Blanche Payne, History of Costume: From the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century (New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1965). 20 Elisabeth Piltz, Loros and Sakkos Studies in Byzantine Imperial Garment and Ecclesiastical Vestment (BAR International Series) (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports Oxford Ltd. (BAR Publishing), 2013). 21 Carol Shaw, ‘The Costume of Byzantine Emperors and Empresses’, Rosetta 9.5 (2011): 55–9. 22 Gudrun Sporbeck, Die Liturgischen Gewände 11 bis 19 Jahrhundert (The Liturgical Vestments 11th to 19th Centuries) (Cologne: Museum Schnütgen, 2001). 23 Hisao Takahashi, Murals of Cathedrals in Macedonia (Tokyo: Pal Publishing, 1989). 24 Anna Vanzan, Ancient Persia: History and Treasures of an Ancient Civilisation (Vercelli: White Star, 2003). 25 Stephane Yerasimos, Constantinople: Istanbul’s Historical Heritage (Königswinter, DE: Tandem, [2000] 2007).

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10 Collections of Museums, Cathedrals and Churches   1  Musei Vaticani: VAT

16  Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire: BRX

  2  Victoria and Albert Museum: VAM

17  Cathédrale Saint-Paul de Liège: LIE

  3 Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs: LYO

18  Sint-Servaas Basiliek: MAA

  4  Musée du Louvre: LOU

19  Abegg-Stiftung: ABG

  5  Musées de Sens: SEN

20  Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil: IMA

  6 Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen Âge:

21  Museo e Instituto Valencia de Don Juan: MIV 22  Museu Episcopal de Vic: VIC

CLU

23 Monasterio de Santa María la Real de las Huelgas:

  7  Musée des Arts Décoratifs: MAD

BUR

  8  Musée d’Archéologie et d’Histoire du Maine: LMA   9  Musée-Bibliothèque, Fonds Anciens, Saint-Calais: SC

24  The State Hermitage Museum: PET

10  Musée d’Art et d’Histoire d’Auxerre: AUX

25  Sankt Knuds Kirke, Odense Domkirke: OSC

11  Museo Diocesano Hofburg di Bressanone: BRE

26  Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum: CH

12  Domkapitel Aachen: AAC

27  The Metropolitan Museum of Art: MET

13  Treasure House of St. Heribert: KSH

28  Museum of Fine Arts: MFA

14  St. Kunibert (Basilika minor): KSK

29  Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum: SRM

15  St. Ursula (Basilika minor): KSU

30 Shōsō-in / The Imperial Household Agency: SHO

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1. VAT: Musei Vaticani Viale Vaticano, 00165 Rome, Italy https://m.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani-mobile/en.html Tel: +379 06 6988 4676 The first church built on the Vatican site was the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, established by Constantine in 312 before he became emperor. After Constantine moved his capital to Constantinople, the Vatican area was overrun by barbarians. In 781, Charlemagne commissioned renovations to provide a palace. This was further augmented by Pope Innocent III, and Pope Nicholas III made the Lateran Palace into a permanent papal residence. Entering the Renaissance period, the city became more secure, and from the time of Pope Nicholas V onwards, the Vatican area shifted from being a fortress and a site dedicated to Saint Peter, to a site with a role in Renaissance humanism. That led to the emergence of institutions such as art museums and libraries, which can be seen as secular. Pope Innocent VIII constructed his Villa Belvedere, and its courtyard became the location for a collection of ancient Greek statues. The religious collection from the library created by Pope Sixtus IV was added, with the result that in the eighteenth century there were two separate streams, with the second being named the Vatican Museums. In the nineteenth century, the museums were upgraded for the exhibition of paintings, but were considered inappropriate for the purpose, and were instead used to exhibit the tapestry collection. In 1906, relics dating from the Early Christian Church period to the Middle Ages were discovered under the altar in the Laterano’s Sancta Sanctorum (the pope’s private chapel), together with silk textiles used for wrapping them. At first, these were exhibited in the Museo Sacro of the Vatican Library. In recent years, they have been exhibited at the Vatican Museums. Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. VAT 1 Geese in pearl roundels. H 22.8 x W 29.2 cm. Roundel: 22.0 cm. Ring motif: 2.5 cm diameter.

Reverse. 6th to 7th century. Sassanian samite. Discovered beneath the altar in the Sancta Sanctorum private chapel. Incorporated in the roundels, along with the circular motifs for the linking sections and the pedestals for the birds, are strings of pearl motifs with accurately woven circles, rendered in black dye that has not faded, which requires some of the most difficult dyeing techniques. The geese peck at a beautifully curving grapevine arabesque. Their bodies have compositions of soft lines and straight lines, with ribbons added at the feet.

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VAT 2 Cockerel with halo. 7th century. Sogdian. On the basis of its theme, heart-shaped roundels and other features, some publications interpret this fragment simplistically as having a Sassanian origin. However, the orange (discoloured yellow) and blue/green gradations float irregularly from the reverse side, indicating that this silk is woven with a flush technique. Similar flushing was used with a white ground to produce silks in large volumes in 18th-century Britain. H 35.0 x W 74.6 cm. Repeat: 30.0 x 35.0 cm. Cockerel: 18.5 x 16.0 cm.

The shapes of the large secondary motifs are common to patterns over an area ranging from China to Central Asia. However, no textiles with similar flush techniques have been discovered from the same period, so many questions still remain. Considering the trends in the motifs and the uneven finish of the weave, the closest match would probably be a 7th-century Sogdian product modelled on Sassanian silk.

Reverse.

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VAT 3 Amazones. 7th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. Addorsed Amazons on horseback patterns resemble those of the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht and MET 4, but ­different due to being a deeper red colour. The eyes of the human figures, the lions and the tails of the horses are depicted more ­naturalistically. On the other hand, the roundel is more distorted. These differences demonstrate that this was the model for the other two silks. From features such as the heart-shaped motifs and depiction of the eyes, it can be considered that it was produced in Syria in about the 7th century before the establishment of the floral motif roundels. The Liber Pontificalis records for 827 to 844 mention the Amazons from Greek mythology. Amazon motifs continued to be used subsequently. H 24.0 x W 25.0 cm.

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VAT 4 Hunting. 7th to 8th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. In the Sancta Sanctorum, this remnant was found in use as a cushion placed inside the reliquary casket containing the sandals of Christ. The patterns incorporated into the roundel and the palm motifs are from a period when the characteristics of the Byzantine period were beginning to emerge. The patterns cover the whole cloth with little marginal space, and both colour and composition are well balanced. H 42.2 x W 34.7 cm. Warp: twist 2 yarn: 24 ends. Weft: 28 picks. Reverse.

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VAT 5 Annunciation. Syria during the Byzantine era. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This textile is thought to be part of an altar cloth from the Laterano, cut up to be used for wrapping the sacred relics. The Liber Pontificalis has a record of a gift from Pope Leo III (795 to 816) described as a roll of cloth made in Syria depicting the birth of Jesus Christ. However, evidence of silk weaving in Alexandria has yet to be found. Otto von Falke considers this textile to have been produced in Egypt, but the labelling of many Alexandrian silks suggests that the city functioned as a hub, consolidating the trade of textiles from many different regions. Pliny the Elder described the same view in Natural History: A Selection, 1 CE. H 68.7 x W 33.0 cm. Roundel: three types of flower pattern: 32.5 cm. Warp: hard-twist 22 ends. Weft: 28 picks.

Reverse.

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VAT 6 Nativity. 7th to 8th century. Syria before 636 (Saracen took over Syria) or Constantinople after the 8th century (Imperial silk atelier was built in 713). Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This textile is found in the Laterano as 61231. H. 31.5 x W 27.5 cm. Roundel with three types of flower is typical of the Byzantine style: 30 cm diameter. Warp: Hard-twist single-ply yarn: 22 ends. Weft: 28 picks.

According to the attribution of the floral roundels and the colour, the two textiles seem to be made in the 8th century in Constantinople. Rudolf Pfister claimed that the red of the ground colour weft is dyed using a different cochineal from 61231, and a comparison of the colours today shows that the remaining red is deeper than the red of 61231. Otto von Falke suggests that the floral patterns incorporated into the roundels have their origin in lotus patterns from Egypt. However, considering the use of pearl patterns in Persian textiles at a time when pearls were seen as particularly valuable, it may be more appropriate to consider the design of the floral patterns as similarly based on the rose garlands that were valued in Rome at the time. Marielle Martiniani-Reber thought it was produced at the time before the Byzantine Iconoclast period (726 to 842).

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VAT 7 Hippogriff. 8th to 9th century. Syria in the Byzantine era. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. The reverse of a cushion discovered inside a silver container (fabricated around 817 to 824) in the Sancta Sanctorum. H 21.2 x W 21.3 and H 21.2 x W 20.9 cm. Warp thread: Twisted yarn, 18 ends. Weft thread: 24 picks / cm. Repeat: 11.0 x 14.0 cm.

Reverse. The hippogriff changes orientation from left to right on alternate rows. There are no secondary motifs. Large and small flowers on the bodies are similar to CH 3 of the horse’s body. The patterns are arranged in parallel, with the orientation of the patterns reversing on alternate rows, a feature of early Christian textiles. The blue/red ground colour is dense, and like the dark green of the hippogriff’s body, has hardly faded. The dyeing is thought to have used Armenian cochineal, produced using techniques that were later lost to history. Considering also the presumed dates of the patterns, this textile is thought to have been produced in Syria. The flower patterns covering the hippogriffs’ bodies date from the early Byzantine period. Similar patterns can be seen decorating the bodies of elephants in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Later these became complex plant patterns, like those on the body of animals such as the ‘Lion Silk’ at the shrine of Saint Heribert, Archbishop of Cologne. The ribbons positioned away from the head show that this textile dates from before the Byzantine Empire took Khosrow’s palace in 627, i.e. before there had been a real spread of Sassanian patterns.

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VAT 8 Confronting lions. 7th to 8th century. Central Asia. Silk samite. ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Two large edged fabrics sewn together. The fact that the roundels are not completely round, the lions’ feet, the pedestals that they stand on and the secondary motifs are clear indications that this textile was produced in Central Asia in the seventh to 8th century. In Otto von Falke’s day, little information was available about Central Asia. He gave the origin as eastern Iran, but the styles of the patterns on silks produced in that region are quite different. Secondary patterns are typical style of Central Asia. H 53.0 x W 33.3 cm. Edge: 2.0 cm. Oval ① W 13.5 x H 18.2 cm. ② H 15.7 x W 8.8 cm. Weft: bundle 2 yarn: 18 picks / cm. References: Wolfgang Fritz Volbach, I Tessuti del Museo Sacro Vaticano (­Catalogue of the Museo Sacro. Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica ­Vaticana,1942). Bulletin du CIETA, 63-64, 1986. Rudolf Pfister. ‘Sur les Tissus du Sancta Sanctorum’. Congress ­Internazionale Degli Orientalisti, XIX (1938). Photographs by Musei Vaticani.

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2. VAM: Victoria and Albert Museum Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL, United Kingdom https://www.vam.ac.uk Tel: +44 207 942 2682 The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is one of the world’s most important museums of decorative arts and design. In 1837, the School of Design was founded at London’s Somerset House to improve British industrial design and its education. In 1853, the museum’s name was changed to the Decorative Art Museum. In 1857, it moved to the South Kensington area and was renamed as the South Kensington Museum. Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone at the ceremony in 1899, then the museum changed its name to the Victoria and Albert Museum to commemorate the involvement of Prince Albert. The V&A holds the national collection of textiles and fashion, about 75,000 objects that span a period of more than 5,000 years, from Pre-dynastic Egypt to the present day. Dr Rei Ito. Tokyo Zokei University. VAM 1 Dress ornament. 6th century. Found and made in Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite ∅22.0 cm. Beautifully woven curved line of plant. Warp: dark brown. Weft: greyish green, white. Similar fabrics in Lyon, Maastricht and Boston. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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VAM 2 Dress ornament. Late 6th century. Found and made at Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite ∅20-21 cm. Warp: dark brown. Weft: greyish brown (red), white. The pattern is turned from side to side but the organization chart is not turned from side to side. Patterns in the roundel are complex flowers. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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Reproduction. VAM 3 Marwan Silk and reproduction. 7th to 8th century. Islamic. Egypt. Silk samite. This textile was woven in the former Sassanian territory of Greater Iran, and the historical tiraz inscription was added in a government workshop in Ifrīqiyvah (possibly) Kairawan in modern-day Tunisia. The textile is embroidered with the name of the Islamic caliph of Marwan Commander. H 111.0 x W 57.0 cm. Frame mount. Warp: orange / yellow. Weft: red, green (indigo + madder), yellow and natural white. See Chapter 7, p. 84. Photographs by Victoria and Albert Museum and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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VAM 4 Horseman. 7th to 9th century. Byzantine, Syria. Silk samite. The horsemen are shooting an arrow at lionesses of different postures. Each horse looks in different directions. The roundel incorporates three types of flower patterns quite similar to the Nativity Silk in the Vatican. The red colour has not faded, which attests it was dyed with cochineal (probably Armenian). H 9.5 x W 8.5 + 10.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

VAM 5 Charioteer. 8th century. Byzantine, probably Constantinople. Silk compound weave. This fragment shows a part of Byzantine emperor on a quadriga. The connecting part of the roundels is a sign of his imperial status. H 25.0 x W 10.0 cm. ∅ about 41.0 cm. Photograph s by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

Paul Williamson, The Medieval Treasury: The Art of the Middle Ages in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London: V&A Publishing, 1997).

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VAM 6 The Lion Strangler. 6th to 8th century. Byzantine, probably Syrian. Silk samite. The Lion Strangler wears a Hellenistic short tunic with Roman chlamys. The main pattern is set between arches which includes red rectangles and buds. Similar lion-strangler patterns remain in small pieces as it was used as an alternative to currency. H 41.0 x W 32.2 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

VAM 7 Mythical animal. 9th to 11th century. Silk compound weave probably made in the early Islamic region. With a griffin’s beak and simurgh’s ears, it was woven from thin threads but shows a rough line of form. It attests that it was woven in an area not accustomed to weave figures at that time. H 23.0 x W 28.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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VAM 8 Peacock followed by unicorns. 1100 to 1150 CE. Spain (probably Almeria). Silk samite. Dyed with kermes and indigo. The inscriptions seem to be decorative in shape. H 34.0 x W 24.0 cm. Photographs by Victoria and Albert Museum.

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3. LYO: Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs 34, rue de la Charité, 69002 Lyon, France https://www.museedestissus.fr Tel: +33 4 78 38 42 00 By the end of the eighteenth-century some people in Lyon already felt it necessary to collect the best examples of the city’s silk productions as well as fabrics from the rest of the world to help the ‘Fabrique’ create better textiles. What is the Fabrique? The term in Lyon refers to all trades involved in designing, manufacturing and marketing silk fabrics. The leaders of the Fabrique also wished to keep watch over the progress of foreign silk manufactories and thus retain their leadership. A lengthy process led to the birth of the Musée d’Art et d’Industrie (Art and Industry Museum) in 1864. This museum encompassed all the branches of industry from metal work to pottery and, of course, textiles. Oriental textiles were then sought after for ‘the delicate harmony of their colours’. The museum’s textile collection was created by assembling gifts from the main silk houses in Lyon and by purchasing intensively. Envoys bought fabrics from the universal exhibitions, from antique dealers or from private collectors. The Chamber of Commerce also financed commercial and scientific expeditions such as the archaeological excavations in Antinoë, Egypt. Many silk samites, imported from the East to Egypt in the first millennium were discovered at that time by Albert Gayet. The dry climate of Egypt had preserved these delicate fabrics in the graves for more than a thousand years. After 1891, the museum focused mainly on textiles and changed its name to ‘Musée Historique des Tissus’. The curators maintained a very important enrichment policy and bought extensively. Many Islamic silks were purchased from the Catholic Church. The museum thus acquired the shroud of St. Austremoine from Mozac Abbey in 1904. By the end of the ninth century, a king had given the relics of the Saint, the first Bishop of Auvergne, to Mozac Abbey. They were previously kept in Volvic. The abbey was then under royal protection and became very rich and powerful. Other examples of Byzantine silks entered the collections in the same manner. The shroud of St Lazarus, a fine Islamic embroidery came from the tomb of the saint in the cathedral church of Autun in Burgundy. Until the 1920s, no thorough inventory of the museum existed. Henri d’Hennezel set himself to the task and came up with a total of 552,000 items. However, he concentrated his research on the most important objects. After the Second World War, the museum was moved to its current location and reopened in 1950. New donors then gave the museum many textiles, some related to the silk roads: Charles Arsène-Henry, for Asian art (from China and Japan mainly), and Jean Pozzi, for Islamic art. Recent estimates place the museum collections at about two million pieces. An extensive assessment of the collections shall take place soon and might help further scientific discoveries. The public may enjoy them through the exhibitions, while scientists from all the world can come and study them. Esclarmonde Monteil. Managing Director and Scientific Conservator in Head of Heritage. Public Interest Group, Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon. LYO 1 Winged horse. 7th century. Silk samite. Sassanian Persia, found in Albert Gayet’s excavations in Antinoë, Egypt. A sharp woven line of pearl ring, crescent and form of ribbon proves this to be a fragment from Sassanian Persia. H 32.0 x W 18.0 cm. Repeat: H 13.0 x W 13.0 cm. Photographs by Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs.

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LYO 2 Persian ibex in a line. 7th century from Albert Gayet’s excavations in Antinoë. Silk samite. Gift from Émile Guimet. An ibex is a motif used in Achaemenid Persia. From the woven details of face and small well-shaped pears, this fabric was undoubtedly made in Sassanian Persia. H 17.0 x W 29.0 cm. Repeat: H14.0 x W 11.0 cm. Photographs by Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs.

LYO 3 Mantle of high status. 6th to 7th century, Antinoë. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Thought to be woven in Syria due to the level of ­technical skill. H 38.7 x W 33.6 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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LYO 4 Crowned faces juxtaposed with birds. 4th to 5th century. Syria or Iran. Silk samite. Albert Gayet’s excavations in Antinoë. Woven and dyed using different skills from LYO 1 and LYO 2, notably seen on the depiction of the face, especially its round eyes and nose. This feature is found in typical orange, light beige, yellow green dye and painted with white pigment, the same as LOU 1. H 23.0 × W 38.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LYO 5 Silk samite patched on a kaftan. The silk fragments appeared to be similar to LYO 1 and LYO 2. This well-sewn cashmere kaftan could be from the 8th century, as the hem of neck and sleeves are patched with figured woven silk. It was influenced from T’ang China, see SRM and PET. Photographs by Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs.

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LYO 6 7th to 8th century. ­Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Excavation in Akhmim, Egypt. Pattern with similar trend seen in VAM 3 Orange and light yellow. H 20.0 x W 23.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LYO 7 Shroud of St. Austremoine from Mozac Abbey. 9th century. Byzantine. Silk samite. Emperor (possibly Basil I) wearing a long jewelled tunic for parading. The fabric shows an original Byzantine design except for the deformed ribbon. Patterns in medallions are not stylized yet. Ground: dark blue is not discoloured Pattern: orange red, natural white H 74.0 x W 71.0 cm. Repeat: about H 80.0 x W 40.0 cm. Photographs by Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs.

Reference: Lyon, Historique des Tissus Soieries Sassanides, Coptes et Byzantines V-XI Siècles, 1986.

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4. LOU: Musée du Louvre Rue du Rivoli, 75001 Paris France https://www.louvre.fr Tel: +33 1 40 20 53 In 132, the Roman emperor Hadrian founded the city of Antinopolis, commonly referred to as Antinoë. The excavations conducted in the necropolis at the end of the nineteenth century revealed astonishing costumes garnished with silks. (LOU 1, 2, 4, 6). They differ from the linen and wool garments that have been found in abundance in the Egyptian tombs of the Roman Empire. Egypt had no sericulture; Persia, which was governed at that time by the Sassanids, may have manufactured these fabrics before they were transported to Egypt. This hypothesis accounts for the presence of Kashmir goat hair in coats and leggings decorated with silk (LOU 4), as well as the motifs familiar to Central Asia: winged horses, animals set in circles of pearls, palmettes, and rhombus patterns. (LOU 1, 3–7, 9, 10) These garments are also decorated with numerous braid ornaments – that sometimes also feature silk threads using the technique of tablet weaving. The yarns used in these fabrics as well as in woollen taqueté cushions (LOU 5, 8) have a ‘Z’ twist, whereas Coptic fabrics are characterized by an ‘S’ twist. Another hypothesis is that Byzantine clothing was produced for high officials of the Roman Empire in the Orient, which included Egypt from the fifth to the mid-seventh century and at which time silks were used at Antinoë. The technology and iconography of these fabrics have been studied for nearly a hundred years, and scholars have been unable to reach a consensus. Textual and archaeological research has not provided answers. Taqueté and samite weaving were complex processes, and not found in evidence in Egypt, although weaving cards found in several tombs in Antinoë show that tablet weaving of braids was produced locally. The main pieces are now located in the Bode Museum in Berlin, the Louvre in Paris and the Museum of Textiles and of Decorative Arts (Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs) in Lyon. Dominique Bénazeth. General Heritage Curator. Louvre Museum Department of Egyptian Antiquities. LOU 1

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LOU 1 Ornament of a coat. 7th century. Antinoë. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. H 66.0 x W 52.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. The set pattern appearing along the width of each ­fragment is repeated from the top to the bottom. Pigments of white and red are painted in some places, as though to highlight ­certain motifs by using livelier colours.

LOU 2 Ornament of a coat. 7th century. Antinoë. Silk taqueté. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. This very simple pattern consists of striding lions separated from each other by a serrated motif and a four-pointed rosette. The theme of striding animals ­appears frequently in ancient Near Eastern architecture. H 6.0 x W 14.0; H 3.5 x W 7.0; H 4.0 x W 12.0; H 5.0 x W 7.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LOU 3 Ornament of leggings. 6th to 7th century. Antinoë. Silk taqueté. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. This large piece of silk which decorated leggings attests to luxury goods. The pattern, organized horizontally, is composed of winged palmettes, kantharoses and oval-shaped buds that could be frequently found in borders of Sassanid silks. H 21.3 x W 20.5; H 21.0 x W 15.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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LOU 4 Palmettes. 6th to 7th century. Antinoë. Woollen taqueté. Warp: ‘S’ twist. Pattern with drop-repeated palmettes. H 18.0 x W 15.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LOU 5 6th to 7th century. Antinoë. Woollen taqueté. Warp: ‘S’ twist. The warp and weft threads are the same yellowish green and other weft threads are green. These would be dyed twice in indigo and then in yellow to ensure the colour would not fade. H 53.0 x W 20.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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LOU 6 7th century. Antinoë. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. The pattern of small winged palmettes repeats within the width of the fabric. Garlands, highly stylized winged palmettes are shown. H 5.5 x W 3.0 cm; H 7.0 x W 3.5 cm. H 5.0 x W 3.0 cm; H 5.5 x W 3.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LOU 7 7th century. Antinoë. Woollen taqueté. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. The pattern is organized horizontally: between two large borders decorated with garlands. The main patterns are quite similar to LOU 6. H 43.0 x W 34.0 cm; H 9.5 x W 24.0 cm. Photograph by © Musée du Louvre, dist.RMN - Grand Palais / Raphaël Chipault.

LOU 8 7th century. Antinoë. Woollen taqueté. The pattern consists of squares bordered with small squares and lozenges. The horizontal squares contain four spotted animals followed by other small animals (perhaps dogs). Figured taqueté. Warp: ‘S’ twist. H 87.5 x W 29.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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LOU 9 7th to 8th century. Antinoë (most likely). Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. Thought to be woven in Syria due to the technical skill employed. The pattern consists of a mask, a square with a quatrefoil and an incomplete meander. The neck accessory, hairstyle, hair wreath and the depiction of eyes are imitation tapestry. H 9.5 x W 4.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LOU 10 Tapestry, animal protomes and human heads. 7th century. Antinoë. Warp: ‘S’ twist. H 100.0 x W 200.0 cm.

The pattern is organized horizontally and separated by spaces ornamented with semi-circular motifs on white ridges on a red base. The four sides of the have borders of winged palmettes with floral patterns composing of three circular petals. A stem with flowers and leaves grows out of each petal. The background of the border is blue. On a red background, the central part shows animal protomes on a base decorated with rosettes and human heads on a trefoil. Each head is covered with two birds. The variation and liveliness in colour and, above all its remarkable execution testifies the high quality of this piece, which undoubtedly belonged to a noble person.

Reference: Direction des Musée de France, Musée du Louvre Textiles et Mode Sassanides, 1997, ­l’edition dirigé par Anne de ­Margerie.

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5. SEN: Musées de Sens Passage Moïse et 135 rue Déportés et de la Résistance, 89100 Sens, France https://www.musees-sens.fr Tel: +33 3 86 64 46 22 The Musées de Sens are located in the former synodal hall in the Burgundy province. The list of treasures of Sens Cathedral started from the tenth century. Treasures of Charlemagne were imported in the twelfth century by his testament. From the book of Memoirs of Crusades (Geoffroi de Villehardouin, around 1150 to 1218) Guillaume of Sens participated in the Fourth Crusade of the large expedition in Bourgogne. The origin of the museum is that in 1791 Father Laire exhibited manuscripts, books and objects derived or confiscated from the neighbourhood monasteries. In 1844, the Société Archéologique de Sens started research and conservation projects, then many people made donations. In 1950, the prehistoric collection was added to by the donation of Auguste Hure. These are the biggest collections of Byzantine textiles from early times to the present. It is considered that these treasures are related to the Fourth Crusade. Reference: Inventaire de Trésor de Sens, 1897, Sens.

SEN 1 Animals and flower on a white ground. 7th to 8th century. Iran. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. H 12.5 x W 10.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SEN 2 Man being attacked. 6th to 7th century. Byzantine. Silk tabby. H 12.0 x W 13.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 3 Life of Joseph. 5th to 6th century. Silk samite. H 11.4 x W 17.5 cm. H 7.1 x W 14.7 cm. H 4.0 x W 4.4 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 4 Birds and palmettes. 5th to 6th century. (Dorothy G. Shepherd). Samite. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. From the reliquary casket of an anonymous saint. H 10.2 x W 9.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

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SEN 5 Bust of an ­emperor. 8th century. Byzantium. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Emerald green and purple bust of an emperor set within a medallion. H 10.6 x W 9.7 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 6 Human heads. 7th century (Anna Muthesius). Eastern Mediterranean. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. H 4.5 x W 3.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 7 Human face. 5th to 6th century Photograph by Musées de Sens. (Anna Muthesius). Silk samite. Reliquary casket of an anonymous saint. H 4.8 x W 3.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SEN 8 Human busts. 6th to 7th century. Egypt (most likely, Armant). Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. H 14.5 x W 23.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. SEN 9 Horses set within medallions. 8th to 9th century. Iran. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. Similar trend in design and colour to MAD 3. Reliquary casket of St. Paul. H 29.0 x W 40.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SEN 10 Reliquary pochette (small bag). 11th century. (Dorothy G. Shepherd). Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. From the reliquary casket of an anonymous saint. The pattern is a part of a large bird. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SEN 11 Lion stranglers. 7th to 9th century. (Gabriel Vial). 8th century. (Dorothy G. Shepherd). Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Shroud of St. Victor. H 160.0 x W 66.0 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SEN 12 Confronting lions. 8th century. Iran. (Gabriel Vial). Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. From the reliquary casket of St. Colombe. H 240.0 x W 118.0 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SEN 13 Birds and griffins. 12th century. Byzantine. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. Ten fragments forming the shroud of St. Potentianus. The flame of circle composed of pseudo-kufic inscription. The design is mixed of Byzantine and early Islamic, also heavy paws and legs are originally Sassanian. H 145.0 x W 97.0 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SEN 14 Confronting lions. The shroud of St. Leo, Archbishop of Sens. 12th–13th century. Spain. (Dorothy G. Shepherd). Hispano-Moresque weaving. Silk brocade. Palmettes are filled in all small spaces. H 108.5 x W 48.5 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SEN 15 Griffin or simurgh in a medallion. 12th century. (Gabriel Vial). 11th century. (Dorothy G. Shepherd). Byzantine. Silk brocade. The shroud of St. Siviard. H 135.0 x W 89.0 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SEN 16 Chasuble of St. Thomas Becket. 12th century. Lampas. H 135.0 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko ­Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 17 Peacocks. Ornament for a lectern. 10th to 11th century. Violet brocade. H 181.0 x W 78.0 cm.

Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reference: René Fourrey, SENS Ville d’Art et d’Histoire,1982, Lyon.

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6. CLU: Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen Âge 6 Place Paul Painlevé, 75005 Paris, France https://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ Tel: +33 1 53 73 78 00 The Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen Âge houses more than 23,000 objects, which are mainly of medieval art. The foundation of the museum is related to the Du Sommerard family. In 1832, Alexandre Du Sommerard (1779 to 1842) brought his personal collection to the apartment on the second floor of the Hôtel de Cluny. After the death of Alexandre, in 1843 the government acquired the Hôtel de Cluny and more than 1,500 objects from his collection. The museum was founded in the ruins of the ancient Roman baths which were transferred from the City of Paris to the government. His son, Edmond Du Sommerard, served as the first director of the museum for forty years. The museum was under the direction of the Commission des Monuments Historiques and its collection spans from the Roman period to the Renaissance. The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, considered today as the great masterpieces of Western medieval art, were acquired in 1882. When Edmond passed away in 1885, the museum held nearly 11,000 objects. Alfred Darcel and Edmond Saglio succeeded as the directors of the museum. In 1977, the heads of Kings of Judah and parts of other statues from the Galerie des Rois de Notre-Dame Cathedral, destroyed during the French Revolution, were unearthed. Since 2016, the Cluny Museum has been undergoing massive renovation work, but is partially open. Dr Rei Ito. Tokyo Zokei University. CLU 1

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CLU 1 Quadriga. 8th to 9th century. Byzantine. Silk samite. Originally from the Aachen Cathedral Treasury. Between the medallions are ibexes facing each other, their jaws tightened around floral stems. H 75.0 x W 72.5 cm. Medallion diameter: 66.0 cm. Photographs by Musée de Cluny - Musée National du Moyen Âge and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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CLU 2 Mounted Amazons hunting leopards. 6th to 8th century. Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite. This fragment is similar to MET 1 but is not the same for the leopard’s head. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

The brown colour should be a dark red that used madder dye. H 20.5 x W 20.4 cm.

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CLU 3 Musician. Fragments from Vic Cathedral. These are preserved at the Museo e Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

CLU 4 Geometric pattern. 6th century. Byzantium or Syria. Samite. H 7.1 x W 17.8 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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CLU 5 A fragment of St. Exuperius’s shroud. 12th century. Andalucia, Spain. Silk samite, 4 last ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. This is conserved at the Basilica of St. Sernin at Toulouse. The colours of the peacock alternated between red and pale yellow/orange. The peacock is a symbol of power in the Islamic world, the same as the lion. H 45.0 x W 21.6 cm. Photographs by Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen Âge.

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7. MAD: Musée des Arts Décoratifs 107 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France https://madparis.fr/en Tel: +33 1 44 55 57 50 Musée des Arts Décoratifs is a museum of decorative arts and design, located in the western wing of the Palais du Louvre in Paris. In 1864, Union Centrale des Beaux-Arts was founded, then it became to the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs (UCAD) in 1882. In 2004, the Union changed its name to the Les Arts Décoratifs. The museum has contributed to the recognition and diffusion of decorative arts and craftsmanship. The collection was acquired by members of the Union des Arts Décoratifs, which were largely led by the architect Gaston Redon in 1905. It holds 788,000 objects, which include furniture, interior design, altarpieces and paintings, including religious paintings. It spans from the Middle Ages to the present, and is especially known for furniture made in France, tapestries, ceramics and glassware by René Lalique and Émile Gallé. Furthermore, the museum exhibits the house of Jeanne Lanvin designed by the architect Armand Rateau and the dining room that Eugène Grasset made. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs translates to the Museum of Decorative Arts, and there was a major difference between its name and its vast collection. In recognition, finally, in 2018, the museum was renamed the MAD. Dr Rei Ito. Tokyo Zokei University.

MAD 1 Simurgh. 6th to 7th century. Sassanian Persia. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. A green colour and expertly woven pearl rings together with the complicated side pattern proves that it is Sassanian made. H 46.0 x W 56.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MAD 2 Simurgh. 7th to 8th century. Byzantine with a Sassanian silk influence. Silk samite. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. Woven using thicker threads than MAD 1. H 33.0 x W 52.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MAD 3 Heraldic pattern. 12th century. Figured samite with linen. H 7.0 x W 15.0 cm. H 27.0 x W 42.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MAD 4 Spanish style of a falcon beside thin trees. 11th to 12th century. Spain. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Shroud of St. Front of Périgueux. H 29.0 x W 40.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MAD 5 Lions, trees and heart pattern. 12th to 13th century. Spain. Lampas. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. A typical Spanish pattern of crowned lions that is similar to IMA 5. H 84.0 x W 55.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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8. LMA: Musée d’Archéologie et d’Histoire du Maine 2 rue Claude Blondeau, 72000 Le Mans, France https://museedupatrimoine.fr/carre-plantagenet-musee-d-archeologie-et-d-histoire-du-maine-sarthe/34559.html Tel: +33 2 43 47 46 45 The Musée d’Archéologie et d’Histoire du Maine (Carré Plantagenêt) is a museum of the region’s history and archaeology from Prehistory to the Late Middle Ages. The museum is located at the Abbey of the Couture, in the Saint-Nicolas district of Le Mans and most of the collection was derived from the Marshal Tessé, an émigré expatriate in Switzerland after the French Revolution. Despite the museum existing before the French Revolution it was only officially opened in 1801. The prefect of Le Mans, Louis-Marie Auvray decided to call on the naturalist Louis Maulny to classify the objects. Maulny identified the Enamel of Geoffroy Plantagenêt, the Count of Anjou, who died in 1151 and was buried at St. Julien’s Cathedral in Le Mans. Dr Rei Ito. Tokyo Zokei University.

LMA 1 Two lions beside the altar of Zoroastrianism. 9th to 10th century. Constantinople. Silk taqueté. The origin of the pattern is Sassanid. It is considered that this fabric is a shroud of St. Bertrand. Red: kermes. Blue: indigo. H 76.0 x W 108.0 cm.

Photographs by Musée d'Archéologie et d'Histoire du Maine and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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9. SC: Musée-Bibliothèque, Fonds Anciens, Saint-Calais Centre Culturel, Place de l’Hôtel de Ville, 72120 Saint-Calais, France https://www.saint-calais.fr/musee-bibliotheque-fonds-ancien-et-cabinets-curieux/ Tel: +33 2 43 35 63 03 The Musée-Bibliothèque, Fonds Anciens, Saint-Calais, the oldest monastery in the traditional province of Maine, France, is now a museum and library. The museum holds the relics of Carilephus, the founder of the monastery, the origin of SaintCalais, called ‘Suaire de Saint-Calais’. Dr Rei Ito. Tokyo Zokei University. SC 1

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Dress of Otto II. The shroud of St. Calais. 8th to 9th century. Byzantine. This fabric is the most complex and sophisticated design in Byzantine samite using a ‘Z’ twist. Variable purple and green threads were woven alternately to create the animal imagery and used for long scarves and caps. Also, there are colours of pale blue, purple and green in the circle. The fabric comes from a legend of ­Bahram V. It was woven in a later year – KSK 1. Every part of the fabric seems to be woven using a highly skilled technique. The legendary fabrics are assumed to relate to Otto II whose queen was a niece of the Byzantine Emperor Johannes I. She carried many silk trousseaux with her. H 114.5 x W 75.0 cm. Repeat: H 89.0 × W 85.0 cm. Photographs by Pinterest and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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10. AUX: Musée d’Art et d’Histoire d’Auxerre Abbaye Saint-Germain 2bis Place Saint-Germain, 89000 Auxerre, France https://www.auxerre.fr/Attractive/Patrimoine/L-abbaye-Saint-Germain Tel: +33 3 86 18 05 50

This museum occupies Auxerre’s former abbey, including the abbot’s lodgings, the fourteenth-century pantry, the monks’ hall, the twelfth-century chapter room and the sacristy. There are treasures of Gallo-Roman and the Prehistory and Protohistory Bronze Age and Iron Age. Saint Germanus (378 to 448), the Bishop of Auxerre was buried in the oratory of Monastery of St. Maurice Auxerre. He was canonized from spreading Christianity in the British Isles and stemmed the Pelagianism. His shroud of silk was presented from Bishop Hugo of Chalons in 1030 by document of the abbaye. It was noted that there were red eagles on a purple background. The colours are faded because the red was not dyed using cochineal but madder, and the purple was not using Tyrian purple but indigo plus madder (experiment of L’Institut Textile de France). But these faded colours are shown to be red and purple by referring to other silks of the Byzantine era. Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. AUX 1 Single-headed falcon. The shroud of St. Germanus. 10th century. Constantinople. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This is in two pieces, so it must have been used for drapery. It is the biggest size in the existing figured silks. This decorative pattern of raptors is different from the symbolic eagle of the Byzantine era. H170 x W 120.0 cm. (noted 236.0 cm). 1 repeat: W 58.0 x H 84.0 cm. Warp: 30 / cm. See also Chapter 11. Photograph: https://www.pinterest.jp/pin/197173289909721557/ Bronze door of Basilica di San Paolo, Rome, 1070.

Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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11. BRE: Museo Diocesano Hofburg di Bressanone Hofburgplatz, Piazza Palazzo Vescovile 2, 39042 Bressanone BZ, Italy https://www.hofburg.it Tel: +39 0472 830505 Bressanone (Brixen) is located on the Italy/Austrian border. The cathedral, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta was built in the tenth century. The bishop of the cathedral Albuin (975 to 1006) was a person of standing who supported Otto Ⅱ to control northern Italy. He therefore gained his patronage also from HeinrichⅡ (1002 to 1024 as king, 1014 to 1024 as emperor). This chasuble of Albuin was presented by HeinrichⅡ. Reference: Elizabeth Coatsworth and Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Clothing the Past: Surviving Garments from Early Medieval to Early Modern Western Europe. (Leiden: Brill, 2018). BRE 1

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BRE 1 The chasuble of Albuin was presented by Heinrich II. (P. Mair, Cassianus Vigilius Ingenuinus). Back (top image). Front (bottom image). Raptors pattern. 11th century. Constantinople. Chasuble of Albuin. Gold thread. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This pattern of raptors must be falcon the same as the Auxerre shroud. Purple, red and dark blue are not faded therefore the red is dyed using cochineal. The composition of the pattern is clear and was effective on a garment. The expression of each woven detail is more delicate and complex by having a denser warp than the Auxerre shroud. Weave width: 266.0 cm. 1 repeat: W 65.0 x H 72.0 cm. Warp: 42 / cm.

Photographs by Museo Dicesano Hofburg di Bressanone and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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12. AAC: Domkapitel Aachen Klosterplatz 2, 52062 Aachen, Germany https://www.aachenerdom.de/en/ Tel: +49 241 477090 The cathedral of Aachen, Germany was built in 793 as the collegiate church of Charlemagne’s favourite dwelling, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In order to make this first substantial church north of the Alps a viable institute he supplied it with important relics. The major ones are known as: the dress of Mary, the swaddling cloth of baby Jesus, the linen that held the decapitated head of John the Baptist and the loincloth Jesus wore when executed on the cross. Other, less substantial relics followed and were honourably wrapped in the most precious material of the moment: figured silks. At present some thirty fragments of medieval silk are kept in the church treasury. Eleven of these, mostly decorated with birds, must have been given to Charlemagne as diplomatic gifts and pre-date 814. Two others, the ‘Elephant’ and ‘Hare’ silk, are still used as honorary wrappings. They cover the bones of Emperor Charlemagne in the gold shrine they were put in some fifty years after he became beatified. A woven-in inscription in the ‘Elephant’ silk identifies it as an imperial cloth from the Byzantine court. Its exact production date is controversial, but it is generally accepted to be a gift of Emperor Otto III in the year 1000. Succeeding rulers – until 1531, thirty-one were crowned in Aachen – followed his example. Charles the IV of Bohemia presented at least six different textiles including his coronation cope commemorating his coronation in 1349. Having lived in Lucca, Italy, as a young adult it seems safe to assume that these silks, two of which complete loom widths, were produced in this weaving centre. Apart from relic covers, the cathedral of Aachen treasury holds some medieval vestments. A chasuble of St Bernard from around 1150; two complete chapels, consisting of a chasuble, cope, two dalmatics, two stoles and three maniples, one from 1443 and one from 1482; and the chasuble of St. Louis a rare example of Parisian medieval embroidery, possibly a gift of King Louis XI in 1481. Last but not least, Aachen’s treasury boasts a gift from Maximilian of Habsburg and his wife Mary of Burgundy. It is an embroidered Flemish altar piece for private devotion representing a Schutzmantelmadonna. Flemish embroidery, at it’s height of perfection is called needle painting and was the richest gift royals could make to show their devotion. Monica Vroon. Textile Conservator of the Domschatzkammer, Aachen. AAC 1 Elephant Silk. 10th to 11th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Made in Constantinople by inscription. Taken from the tomb of Charlemagne in 1843. This fabric is woven using the highest technique in Byzantine. The complicated pattern is representative of the Byzantine design. Theophanu, Queen of Otto II (came from the Byzantine era) had much silk as a wedding dowry and donated some of the pieces to churches in Aachen and Cologne. Photographs by Alamy and Domkapital, Aachen.

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AAC 2 Ducks. 6th to 7th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Blue was dyed using indigo. Light green was dyed twice using Isatis tinctoria and yellow. It is thought to be Sassanian silk by pattern, weaving technique, colour and the shape of the small circles and hearts were clearly depicted. H 25.0 x W 19.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

AAC 3 Ducks. 6th to 7th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. The red colour seems to be from kermes dye. The light green was dyed twice using Isatis tinctoria and yellow. It is thought to be Sassanian silk due to the pattern, weaving technique and colour. H 25.0 x W 19.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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AAC 4 Line drawing pattern. 11th to 12th century. Byzantine Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Dark green line on purple ground. The purple colour has remained, probably derived from shellfish. H 13.8 x W 33.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

AAC 5 Mask for a skull. The angel pattern is a restoration of Italian (Lucca) lampas/ tabby pattern on a ground of five-shaft satin from the 14th century. The original fabric ­remains in the Musée de Cluny. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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AAC 6 Otto von Falke noted that this probably dates to Alexandria 6th to 7th century, but recently it is an accepted theory that Alexandria is not a place that produced figured silk. The central pattern resembles the Sassanian style and pure white circles most likely to indicate pearls. Threads are densely packed (weft: 42 to 50) so the curves are depicted beautifully. It must be woven in Iran during the post-Sassanid era. H 67.0 x W 43.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

AAC 7 Part of a duck. Central Asia. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. There are many similar patterns remaining from Central Asia. The red colour used kermes dye. H 35.0 x W 19.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reverse.

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13. KSH: Treasure House of St. Heribert Tempelstrasse 2A, 50679 Cologne, Germany Tel: +49 221 8019500 St. Heribert is one of the largest churches in Cologne and a parish church. The architect Caspar Clemens Pickel built the church in the Neo-Romanesque style from 1891 to 1896. It is located in the Deutz district of Cologne. The church houses the relics of Archbishop Heribert of Cologne, the founder of the monastery of Deutz. During the Second World War, the church was damaged and between 1949 and 1951 the architects Rudolf Schwarz and Josef Bernard rebuilt it into a contemporary space. The shrine for the relics of Heribert completed in 1175 is one of the important works of the Romanesque period. Currently, the shrine is kept in a glass case placed on four columns. On the shrine, Christ, Heribert, Virgin and Child are surrounded by angels, six apostles and six prophets, and the acts of Heribert are represented in twelve medallions. The collection of the treasury is vast and includes the Pallium of Heribert, the relics, and ivory objects dating from the ninth and tenth centuries. Dr Rei Ito. Tokyo Zokei University.

KSH 1 Lion. 10th to 11th century. Byzantine. 976 to 1025. Constantinople. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. Found in a holy relic for St. Heribert (970–1002). Inscription: Emperor Basil II and his brother, Constantine II. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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The fabric looks brilliant – a golden body of a lion and a bright orange ground. The face, hair, tail and tree on the lion’s back are depicted using a slim, stylized line. H 160.0 x W 121.0 cm.

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KSH 2 Trees and birds in red rings. 12th century. Brocade (from the time when the relic was stored for St. Heribert). It is different from a number of Byzantine silks as the colour and pattern show Spanish rather than Byzantine styles. H 108.0 x W 132.0 cm.

Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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14. KSK: St. Kunibert (Basilika minor) Kunibertsklostergasse 2, 50668 Cologne, Germany Tel: +49 221 121214 St. Kunibert was an archbishop of Cologne who died in 663. The ninth-century St. Kunibert Monastery was founded, and in the middle of the eleventh century the former church was built. KSK 1 Dress with a pattern depicting hunters. 9th century. Byzantine, Syria. Silk samite. The pattern comes from the Sassanian emperor, Bahram V, an expert of hunting. A similar pattern is SC 1 but this is more about detail and use of colour. The face of the horse and the human eyes look similar to LYO 5. H 75.0 x W 114.5 cm.

Reference: Legner, Anton, Schnütgen-Musuem and Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle Köln. Ornamenta ecclesiae 2: Kunst und Künstler der Romanik: Katalog zur Austellung des Schnütgen-Museums in der Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle Köln. Köln: Schnütgen-Museum der Stadt, 1985: page 259. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Collections of Museums, Cathedrals and Churches

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15. KSU: St. Ursula (Basilika minor) Ursulaplatz 24, 50668 Cologne, Germany Tel: +49 221 133400 The church of St. Ursula is located near the cathedral and was built in the Romanesque style, the same as the St. Kunibert church. It stands on the ruins of the ancient Roman cemetery. According to tradition, Saint Ursula, patron saint of Cologne was shot with an arrow by the Huns, and her followers (allegedly numbering between 11 and 11,000 virgins), were beheaded. Saint Ursula is said to have been buried in this place. The nave and crossing tower date back to the Romanesque period, and the apse dates back to the Gothic period. The Goldene Kammer (Golden Treasury), a chamber of the church, contains the remains of St. Ursula and 11,000 virgins which were discovered in 1106. In January 1456, Jan van Scheyven drew the thirty scenes of Saint Ursula. Dr Rei Ito. Tokyo Zokei University.

KSU 1 Lion hunting. 9th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. The red circle with a hunting pattern on a white ground is not typical of Byzantine silk. H 76.0 x W 52.0 cm. Repeat: H 23.4 x W 25.0 cm. Photographs by Alamy and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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KSU 2 Lion hunting. 7th to 8th century. Early Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Relic of St. Hippolytus (Rome) then the textile moved to St. Ursula in 922. The face of a hunter is the same type as the Roman god Janus - ABG 3. Pegasus or griffin, lion and ibex are all decorated. The deep blue colour would be dyed repeatedly and the threads are worn out. H 51.0 x W 61.0 cm. Repeat: H 242.5 x W 30.5 cm. Photographs by Alamy and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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16. BRX: Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire 10 Parc du Cinquantenaire, 1000 Brussels, Belgium https://www.brusselsmuseums.be/en/museums/royal-museums-of-art-and-history Tel: +32 2 741 73 31 Byzantine and early Islamic silk textiles reside in the Royal Museums of Art & History, Brussels. The first two silk samites entered the Royal Museums of Art & History in 1887, when 109 ‘Coptic’ textiles were purchased from the Egyptologist and dealer Albert Daninos Pasha from Alexandria. These textiles (ACO.Tx.49 and ACO.Tx.2013) were registered as coming from Akhmim (Upper Egypt). A very important acquisition for our museum collection was made in 1900, when three marvellous silks were bought from the Church Factory of the village Munsterbilzen (Limburg, Belgium): the Byzantine ‘Quadriga Silk’ (ACO.Tx.371) and ‘Tiger Silk’ (ACO.Tx.373) and the Central Asian ‘Lion Silk’ (ACO.Tx.372). All three fragments came from the shrines of Saints Landrada and Amor in the former abbey church of Munsterbilzen. Many silk acquisitions of the Royal Museums of Art & History are owed to the endowments and the bequest of Isabelle Errera (Florence, 1869–Brussels, 1929). Her interest in ancient textiles was probably encouraged by her uncle, Baron Giulio Franchetti (1840 to 1909), who was an important collector of ancient textiles in Florence. In 1900, Isabelle Errera donated a collection of 205 ‘Coptic’ textiles (including silks) to the museum and in 1901 she endowed 420 textiles. She stipulated one condition for the endowment of 1901, namely the possibility to continue to manage this collection in the museum during her entire life. She bequeathed by testament 269 textiles more, which she deposited on loan in the museum before her death. Among the silk textiles which she donated and bequeathed are some interesting and important fragments, such as more than twenty pieces from Akhmim and bought by her from Stanislas Baron in Paris, a little fragment of the famous ‘Marwan Silk’ (IS.Tx.606) and the Byzantine silk with ‘senmurvs’ (ACO.Tx.609). Isabelle Errera is considered the founder and first curator of the Textile department in the museum. Alexandra van Puyvelde. Scientific Collaborator, ‘Art of the Islamic World’ and ‘Art of Eastern Christianity’ collections. Royal Museums of Art & History, Brussels.

BRX 1 Reliquary of St. Denis. 12th century. Silk samite, last 3, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. H 15.0 cm x W 10.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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BRX 2 Simurgh. 9th to 10th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. Same fabric as MAD 2. H 31.5 x W 40.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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BRX 3 Quadriga. 7th to 9th century Byzantine. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. Reliquary of St. Landrade (7th century) and St. Amour (9th century). The design of the dress and medallion show 7th to 9th century Byzantine style. H 25.7 x W 78.0 cm. H 25.5 x W 14.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

Reverse.

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BRX 4 Lion. 8th to 10th century CE. Central Asia. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. H 12.0 x W 17.0 cm; H 30.0 x W 18.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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BRX 5 Stars in the lozenges. 5th to 6th century. Byzantine. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This is a simple pattern but the texture of this fragment is woven regularly and the small rings in the centre are figured correctly. This means it must have been woven in the early Byzantine era. H 23.5 x W 11.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

BRX 6 Asymmetrical birds. 12th to 13th century. Lucca, Italy. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. This was woven at an earlier time than SEN 3. H 17.5 x W 18.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

Reference: Musées Royaux du Cinquantenaire, Madame Isabelle Errera, Catalogue d’ Étoffes, Anciennes et ­Modernes,1927.

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17. LIE: Cathédrale Saint-Paul de Liège Place de la Cathédrale 6, 4000 Liège, Belgium https://www.cathedraledeliege.be Tel: +32 4 232 61 31 Saint-Paul Cathedral contains the cathedral of the diocese of Liège and it was dedicated to the Apostle Paul and the Virgin Mary. It was founded in 966 by the successor of Bishop Notger (959 to 971), Bishop Eracle and was the first cathedral in the l’île district. During the French Revolution in 1794, the Lambert Cathedral was destroyed and in 1804 the Saint-Paul Basilica became the cathedral of the Diocese of Liège. The cathedral houses the textile of Bishop Notger and ivory dated from 1025 to 1060, representing Christ, ‘Raising of the daughter of Jairus’, ‘Raising of the Son of the Widow of Nain’ and ‘Raising of Lazarus’. Elena Ota (Waseda University) + Cathédrale Saint-Paul de Liège.

LIE 1 7th to 8th century. Byzantium. Silk samite. These were used as an alternative to currency. The red colour has remained beautifully without fading, that means it was probably dyed using Ararat kermes or Armenian cochineal. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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LIE 2 7th to 8th century. Iran. Silk samite. Geometric and foliate, the side pattern resembles that of VAT 8. From the reliquary box of St. Madelberte. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LIE 3 10th to 11th century. Islam. Silk samite. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LIE 4 12th to 13th century. Spain. Silk samite. From the reliquary box of Saint Simètre of Lierneux. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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LIE 5 Second shroud of St. Lambert. 11th to 12th century. Central Asia. Silk samite. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. From the shroud of St. Lambert (died 705). St. Lambert was the Bishop of MaastrichtLiège. H 290.0 x W 118.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LIE 6 First shroud of St. Lambert. 8th century. Central Asia. Silk samite. Allegedly the best one of the so-called ‘­Zandaniji’ silks. H 190.0 x W 110.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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18. MAA: Sint-Servaas Basiliek Keizer Karelplein 3, 6211 TC Maastricht, the Netherlands https://www.sintservaas.nl Tel: +31 43 321 2082 Servaas Basiliek was dedicated to Servatius, Bishop of Tongeren, who came from Armenia and died in Maastricht in 384. The church was built on the site of his grave. In the late tenth century, the original church was demolished, and the construction of a new church began. After many extensions the church took its current shape in the tenth to twelfth century. The treasury of the basiliek holds many precious items including a wide variety of silk fabrics from the sixth century onwards, which is a unique collection. Elena Ota (Waseda University) + Cathédrale Saint-Paul de Liège. MAA 1 Humans and angels. 7th to 8th century. Byzantium. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Similar to MET 3 but these ­fragments are the originals. H 56.8 x W 52.2 cm. H 36.2 x W 48.0 cm. H 14.2 x W 32.4 cm. H 11.2 x W 9.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MAA 2 Buffalo in hearts. 11th to 12th century. Eastern Iran or Central Asia. Silk samite, ‘S‘ direction of twill weave. H 32.5 x W 20 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MAA 3 Lion pattern. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. 10th to 11th century. Central Asia. Stylized patterns prove influence from Islam. Reliquary box of St. Servatius. H 11.7 x W 33.0 cm. H 19.5 x W 90.0 cm. H 18.9 x W 22.0 cm. H 19.5 x W 53.4 cm. H 12.0 x W 53.9 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MAA 4 Silken robe. 8th century. Probably China. Figured gauze. The so-called ‘dalmatic of St Lambert’. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MAA 5 Silk with floral pattern. Damask, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. 6th to 7th century. Egypt. H 18.0 x W 39.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MAA 6 Bag. 10th century. Spain. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. H 25.2 x W 10.6 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MAA 7 Red silk with lion. 11th century. Iran. Lanciette plain weave. The brilliant red means Ararat kermes was probably used. H 15.0 x W 18.0 cm. H 30.0 x W 16.2 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MAA 8 Part of a funny animal. 9th to 10th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. H 23.3 x W 28.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MAA 9 Floral geometrical pattern. Silk lampas with gold thread. 12th to 13th ­century. Spain. H 10.7 x W 28.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MAA 10 Lion pattern. Silk lampas, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. 13th to 14th century. Italy. H 12.3 x W 11.5 cm. H 5.7 x W 5.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MAA 11 Silk bag. 14th to 15th century. Italy. Lampas. H 18.0 x W 19.3 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Comments are taken from Annemarie Stauffer, Die Mittelalterlichen Textilien von St. Servatius in Maastricht (Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung, 1991).

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19. ABG: Abegg-Stiftung Werner Abeggstrasse 67, 3132 Riggisberg, Switzerland https://abegg-stiftung.ch/en/ Tel: +41 31 808 12 01 The Abegg-Stiftung is committed to the collection, conservation and study of historical textiles. It is based just outside the village of Riggisberg at the foothills of the Bernese Alps, which is where the museum of textiles and applied art, the research library and the Villa Abegg, the Abeggs’ former home that is now a museum, are situated. The studio for textile conservation and restoration is also a training centre for budding young conservators. The Abegg-Stiftung publishes books and papers in which it shares its research findings with fellow historians and conservators as well as a lay readership. Quoted from the Abegg-Stiftung website home page. ABG 1 Nile Silk. 4th to 5th century. Woven in Egypt or the eastern Mediterranean, probably Syria. Silk samite. This silk shows the song in praise of the Nile, as its annual flooding was greatly celebrated in Egypt. It depicts a portly, bearded god with animals, birds and Erotes, the Greek gods of love. It was woven to run in the direction of the width. As a consequence, it was possible to weave many patterns in a long repeat along the width of the material. H 82.0 x W 111.0 cm. Repeat: H 40.0 x W 4.0 cm. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung. ABG 2 Tunic with Erotes. 1st half of the 4th century. Woven in Egypt or the eastern Mediterranean, probably Syria. Silk samite. Silk was a luxury good that had to be imported from China right up to the 6th century. These tunic fragments are among the few silk robes from Late Antiquity to have survived. The silk is patterned with medallions containing little Erotes holding baskets of fruit, animals or musical instruments. H 154.5 cm x W 100.0 cm. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung.

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ABG 3 4th to 5th century. Woven in Egypt or Sassanian Iran. Silk samite. The Roman god Janus is depicted with two faces - looking to the future and to the past. This fabric of the garment was restored from many surviving fragments by the Abegg-Stiftung. Its weaving chart is similar to silks of Antinoë, with a weft density of about 20 to 29 picks per cm. This textile shows the detailed lines of the god’s face and flowers. H 25.0 x W 24.5 cm. Repeat: H 21.0 x W 9.0 cm. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung.

ABG 4 Double-headed bird of prey, probably a hawk, sitting on lions. 10th to 11th century. Bu¯yid dynasty. Silk samite. The double-headed hawk was a symbol of the Palaiologan dynasty in Byzantium. Previously the hawk was single-headed like those of Auxerre and Bressanone. (AUX 1, BRE 1) The patterned design is dense and seems to be influenced by Islamic design. Warp: unbleached white. Weft: orange and dark blue. Eyes, ring and talon: gold thread. H 68.5 x W 57.0 cm. Repeat: H 63.0 x W 28.5 cm. Side pattern: 8.0 cm in diameter. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung.

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ABG 5 Mythical wolves in patterned landscape. 14th century. Italy. Silk lampas – partially twill weave. Clusters of trees with heart-shaped leaves and bands of oriental wave pattern in light yellow green. Mythical wolves appear to be the ‘Wolf of Rome’ as they have breasts. They are emphasized by a dark colour and a twill woven using a differently spun silk. H 42.0 x W 32.0 cm. Repeat: half step in a horizontal direction. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung.

ABG 6 Dalmatic with a pattern of facing pelicans and animals. 13th to 14th century. Fabrics from Italy, China or Persia, Spain and Germany. Silk lampas. The main fabric is an Italian lampas silk. The pelican is a significant pattern for Christianity, symbolizing Jesus Christ. The sleeves are made of Spanish silk patterned with a courtly device, while a Chinese or possibly Persian silk was used for the side pieces. The matching vestment worn by the sub-deacon is to be found in the Hanseatic city of Stralsund in Germany. H 120.0 x W 142.0 cm. Repeat: H 58.5 x W 24.0 cm. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung. Colour: the ground colour is a greyish-blue and partially uses gold threads.

Reference: Karel Otavsky and Muhammad ‘Abbas Muhammad Salim, Mitterlaterliche Textilien I, Abegg-Stiftung, Riggisberg, Switzerland,1995.

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20. IMA: Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil Carrer de Salmeron, 25, 08222 Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain https://cdmt.cat Tel: +34 937 31 52 02 The Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil (CDMT) is located in Terrassa, in the region of Catalonia, in the province of Barcelona. The CDMT has its origins in the collection of historic textiles donated by the woollen merchant Josep Biosca that became the Museo Textil Biosca in 1946 and the collection of Ricard Viñas was also purchased by Barcelona. After its foundation, ancient fabrics and passementeries with decorated trimmings and clothing were added to the collection. Since 1995, the centre functions as part of the Barcelona Provincial Council Local Museum Network organization called Xarxa de Museus Locals. The centre consists of a collection of textiles and fashion, library, photo archive and restoration division. They serve as an education and research institution, and hold workshops for children and adults, and collaborate with universities and other research institutions. The centre built a database called IMATEX which houses over 30,000 examples of data from various regions of the world. Dr Rei Ito. Tokyo Zokei University.

IMA 1 Confronting lions. Silk lampas. 12th century. Iberian Peninsula, Spain. H 12.0 × W 8.5 cm. There are many kinds of confronting lion designs in Spain and the types of surrounding rings are different. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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IMA 2 Single-headed falcon. Silk lampas. 12th century. Al-Andalus, Spain. From Siguenza Cathedral. Single-headed Spanish falcon is depicted alternately facing left and right. Gazelles are set in rings of wings also gazelle and human-like harpy in rosettes. The kufic script means ‘blessing’. H 92.0 x W 44.0 cm. Photographs by Centre de Documentació i ­Museu Tèxtil and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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IMA 3 Single-headed falcon. Silk lampas. 13th century. Iberian Peninsula, Spain. The simple design of a falcon is influenced by the Byzantine style but the face and legs are influenced by the Spanish original. H 15.5 x W 14.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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IMA 4 15th century. Magreb, Spain. Silk taqueté. H 123.0 x W 44.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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IMA 5 14th to 15th century. Granada, Spain. Silk lampas. The design of the crowned lion emphasizes the botanical pattern rather than the lion. The crown is not particularly clear. H 68.5 x W 40.5 cm. Photographs by Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil.

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21. MIV: Museo e Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan Calle de Fortuny, 43, 28010 Madrid, Spain https://useum.org/museum/Instituto-Valencia-of-Don-Juan Tel: +34 913 08 18 48 In 1916, the Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan was founded in Madrid by the diplomat and archaeologist Joaquín Guillermo de Osma y Scull. It mainly houses the objects of decorative art and the possessions of Condes de Oñate y de Valencia de Don Juan and is considered to be one of the most important museums of decorative art in Spain. The museum has a library and an archive with 710 manuscripts dating from 875 to 1500, as well as 248 other manuscripts. The manuscripts related to the King of Felipe II and the church are well known. In addition to these, the current collection houses textiles, coins, ceramics, weapons, paintings and jewellery. The Instituto is located in the Palacete de Osma built in the Moorish Revival style by the architect Enrique Fort in 1886. From 1889 to 1893, D. Guillermo de Osma and Da Adelaida Crooke, parents of Guillermo de Osma y Scull, financed its foundation to commemorate their son’s marriage and to reside in. After the Instituto’s opening in 1916, the interior and the garden of the Palace were refurbished. In 1946, the western facade was altered. Since 1981, the Palace was registered in the Bien de Interés Cultural. Dr Rei Ito. Tokyo Zokei University.

MIV 1 Dalmatic of St. Valero. Silk and gold thread lampas / taqueté / tapestry. 13th century. Spain. Attached to the dalmatics of Saint Valero. Geometrical floral pattern and line drawing similar to kufic script due to the use of thick gold thread. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MIV 2 Cape of St. Valero. 13th century. Spain. Silk and thick gold thread. Lampas / taqueté / tapestry. Two kinds of pentacle floral pattern on a white ground, shared with an Islamic tile pattern. This is formed with interlacing curved lines and uses much gold thread. H 22.0 x W 25.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MIV 3 Alte Nazari, cope. Inscription – ‘Glory to our lord, the Sultan’ 1408 to 1415. Spain. Silk lampas. One of the same fabrics as the royal family. Floral design of typical Nazari style mixed with botanical motifs of western Gothic style. Part of the design is similar to a ceramic pattern. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MIV4 Arte Morisco. 15th century. Silk lampas. Reproduction. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MIV5 Gran capa (cope) – mantle. Silk lampas 15th century. Bands of Arabic floral pattern in reddish colours. H 120.0 x W 380.0 cm (approximately). Reproduction of MIV 5. Photographs by Museo e Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan (reproduction) and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo (detail). Reference: Bienes Culturales, Tejidos Hispanomusulmanes. Instituto del Patrimonio Histórico Español, 2005.

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22. VIC: Museu Episcopal de Vic Plaça del Bisbe Oliba, 3, 08500 Vic, Barcelona, Spain https://www.museuepiscopalvic.com Tel: +34 938 86 93 60 In 1882, an ancient Roman temple was excavated and Bishop Morgades i Gili founded the Societat Arqueològica de Vic and the Museu Lapidari in Vic. He then founded the Museu Episcopal de Vic in 1891, for the revival movement of Renaixença (Catalan Renaissance) in Catalonia culture. In 1995, the diocese of Vic, Vic City and Comunidad Autónoma de Cataluña decided to found a new museum, and it was moved and built in a new building in 2002. Dr Rei Ito. Tokyo Zokei University.

VIC 1 Altar frontal (Witches Cloth). 12th century. Barcelona, Spain. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. From the monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses. H 108.0 x W 238.0 cm. Reproduced from Jerrilynn D. Dodds, ed. Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain. 1992. (New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013).

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VIC 2 13th century. Italy. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. The pattern is mixed Islamic, geometric and Byzantine eagle – the patterns and ground are uneven. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

VIC 3 13th century. San Cugat del Valles, Barcelona. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. H 20.0 x W 28.0 cm.

Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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23. BUR: Monasterio de Santa María la Real de las Huelgas Plaza Compás, s/n, 09001 Burgos, Spain https://www.patrimonionacional.es/en/visita/monastery-santa-maria-la-real-de-las-huelgas Tel: +34 947 20 16 30 Burgos is the seat of an archbishop that comprises the dioceses of León, Santo Domingo and Santander. The city’s cathedral, founded in 1221 by Ferdinand III of Castile and the English Bishop Maurice of Burgos, is a fine example of florid Gothic (completed 1567) and has fifteen chapels. It was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1984. The bones of the eleventhcentury hero known as El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, who was born about 1043 at nearby Vivar del Cid) and of his wife, Jimena, have rested there since 1919, and there are numerous relics of El Cid and other treasures. In the aisle-less Gothic church of Santa Agueda, or Santa Gadea, tradition relates that El Cid compelled Alfonso VI of León, before his accession to the throne of Castile in 1072, to swear that he was innocent of the murder of Sancho, his brother and predecessor on the throne. Other historic landmarks include the Gothic churches of San Nicolás (1505) and San Esteban (1280 to 1350); the monastery of Santa María la Real de las Huelgas, which was originally a summer palace of the kings of Castile and transformed into a Cistercian convent in 1187 by Alfonso VIII; and numerous convents and monasteries in the environs of the city. Quoted from the website home page.

BUR 1 Coffin cover: Lady of Palazuelos or Maria de Almenar. Silk samite. 12th century. Spain. The red colour is dyed using kermes. Confronting lions are in circle bands of kufic script, figured with gold thread. H 225.0 x W 175.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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BUR 2 Pillow case of Leonor of Castile. 13th to 14th century. Spain, probably Granada. Silk with gold thread taqueté. This pattern is the Almohad type. H 49.0 x W 71.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

BUR 3 Pillow case of Fernando of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Silk brocade. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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BUR 4 Coffin cover of Fernando of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Silk brocade. Lions and peacocks are in the centre of large, middle and small pearl rings. H 49.0 x W 71.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

BUR 5 Pillow case of Leonor of Castile in his coffin. 13th century. Spain. Taqueté. H 84.0 x W 395.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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BUR 6 Coffin cover of Henry I of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Lampas. Silk with gold thread. H 165.0 x W 43.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

BUR 7 Coffin cover of Alfonso de la Cerda. 13th to 14th century. Spain. Lampas. Silk with gold thread. The kufic design is similar to MIV 3. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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BUR 9 Jubba of Fernando of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Embroidery on taffeta of silk and rabbit hair. H 130.0 x W 100.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

BUR 8 Saddle blanket of Fernando of Castile. 13th century. Spain. H 130.0 x W 100.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

The details of BUR 8, BUR 9 and BUR 10 show the same patterns as Lion and Castle in a lattice pattern - a noble design motif of the shield of Castile and León. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

BUR 10 Mantle of Fernando of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Brocade. H 122.0 x W 390.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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BUR 12 Saddle blanket of Leonor of Castile. Silk brocade. 14th century. Spain. The patterning demonstrates cultural exchange and trade in tiraz between the Christian church and Al-Andalus. The inheritance of skills from Persia can be sensed in the profuse use of light green colours hardly ever seen in Byzantine textiles. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

BUR 11 Saddle blanket of ­Henry I of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Silk taffeta with gold tape. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

BUR 13 Cap of Fernando of Castile. 12th to 13th century. Spain. Taffeta and tapestry. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

Reference: F. L. May, Silk Textile of Spain, New York, NY: The Hispanic Society of America, 1958.

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24. PET: The State Hermitage Museum Russia 190000, St. Petersburg, Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya 34 https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/?lng=en Tel: +7 812 571 34 65 The collection of The State Hermitage Museum includes more than three million works of art and artefacts of the world culture. Among them are paintings, graphic works, sculptures and works of applied art, archaeological finds and numismatic material. The main architectural ensemble of the Hermitage is situated in the centre of St. Petersburg and consists of the Winter Palace, the former state residence of the Russian emperors, the buildings of the Small, Old (Great) and New Hermitages, the Hermitage Theatre and the Auxiliary House. The museum complex also includes the Menshikov Palace and the Eastern Wing of the General Staff building, the Staraya Derevnya Restoration and Storage Centre and the Museum of the Imperial Porcelain Factory. This landmark collection of archaeological textiles derives from Moshchevaya Balka, the burial mound of the Alanian and Adygheian tribes from the eighth to the ninth century (North-western Caucasus, upper reaches of the Bolshaya Laba River, the left confluent of the Kuban River). There, in the highlands, items from organic materials including clothing, headgear and shoes were well-preserved. Given that silk was valued as highly as gold at that time, it is especially rare that abundant imported silk fabrics could be found among local tribes. This is explained by their control over the Caucasian passes where the Silk Road made a detour. Part of the Hermitage collection is made up of objects assembled in the early twentieth century and added to the museum in 1935 from the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences; the most prominent finds were discovered by the Hermitage expedition led by Anna Ierusalimskaja in the 1970s (on permanent display in Room 57). Quoted from The State Hermitage Museum, The State Hermitage Textile Collections, 2017.

PET 1 Kaftan. 9th century. Silk taqueté, Central Asia. Excavated from graves in north-western Caucasus. It is patched with silk samite (Byzantine: see left) inside of collar. The kaftan is the same style as the patriarch of the region. The samite is similar to KSK 1 and MAD 1 H 140.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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PET 3 Small bag for a talisman. 7th to 8th century. Syria. Silk samite. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

PET 2 9th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Part of a large pheasant or peacock. The red colour could be made from kermes dye. Warp: 15.0 x 2.0 cm. Weft: 53 / cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

PET 4 Pegasus. 8th to 9th century. Zandana. Silk samite. Warp: 18.0 to 20.0 / cm. Weft: 38.0 / cm. The fragment was elaborately woven in Central Asia. H 62.0 × W 70.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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PET 5 Altar frontal. 12th century. Spain. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. From the monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses. H 108.0 x W 238.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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PET 6 Upper part of a kaftan. 7th to 8th century. Sogdiana. A few kinds of figured silks are patched on the surface of this jacket. Silk fragments are woven using the samite technique. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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PET 7 7th to 8th century. Central Asia, probably Sogdiana. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Silks patched on a sheepskin. A garment for a man, in linen with a fur lining. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

PET 8 Part of a cap. 7th to 8th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Elements of the pattern express characteristics of Central Asia, but are of high quality. Warp: 26.0 × 2.0 / cm. Weft: 40.0 / cm. H 32.0 x W 36.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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PET 9 Woman’s cap. 8th to 9th century. Zandana. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This shows part of a simurgh pattern. From the monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses. H 32.0 × W 36.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

PET 10 Man’s cap. Birds in a ring of pearls belt. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. The ground colour is probably discoloured red using madder dye. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

PET 11 Soldiers in a ring of pearls. 7th to 8th century. Byzantine, Syria. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Part of the lining of a cape. The details of the pattern were woven clearly. The ground of the collar is probably a faded red using madder dye. H 13.5 x W 32.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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25. OSC: Sankt Knuds Kirke, Odense Domkirke (St. Canute’s Church, Odense Cathedral) Klosterbakken 2, 5000 Odense C, Denmark www.odense-domkirke.dk Tel: +45 66 12 03 92

In Odense, Denmark the Danish King Canute IV was murdered on 10 July 1086 in front of the altar in Albani Church. In 1100, Canute became a saint, and St. Canute the Holy’s remains were wrapped in a silk with eagle motifs and put into a shrine. Today, the shrine is in the Odense Cathedral, St. Canute’s Church in the cathedral’s crypt, where St. Canute lies on a yellow silk pillow, and next to this appears the ‘Eagle Silk’ in a glass case. The Eagle Silk is dated to 1050 to 1100, and measures 110 × 133 centimetres; it is red with a pattern of dark blue eagles. The cloth has been trimmed, and, judging from the symmetry of the pattern, the width must originally have been at least 195 centimetres, perhaps as much as 230 centimetres. The silk is woven as samite, the weave is close and the ‘Z’-spun warp is relatively coarse, alternating in reddish-brown and undyed silk, while the weft is of unspun red and bluishblack silk in various thickness. The pattern of the Eagle Silk appears almost black against a dark-red ground. The pattern is built up with large oval patterned medallions, interconnected in both height and width, a feature also known from Byzantine and Sassanid silk weaves. Inside each medallion is an eagle with spread, patterned wings, spread tail feathers, and with its head in profile. In its beak the eagle carries a jewel in the shape of a crescent ring with a pendant. The large medallions with the recurrent eagle motif are 82 centimetres in height and 65 centimetres in width. On the base on which the eagle stands there is an inscription of which there have been various interpretations. Some scholars think it consists of Islamic characters, others that they are Greek. Colour analyses, which were carried out at the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN) in Amsterdam, shows the red colour was achieved with indigotin (from indigo or woad) and alizarin (from madder), which, combined, produced the red-brown colour. The blue colour was achieved with three dyestuffs: luteolin (from weld), alizarin (from madder) and indigotin (from indigo or woad). The Eagle Silk is most likely from the Byzantine era, the Eastern Empire (330 to 1453), where the capital, Constantinople was the largest city in Europe around the turn of the millennium. There was export of Byzantine silk to Western Europe, especially between 900 to 1100, both as merchandise and as diplomatic gifts, and it had a great effect on the use of silk in religious contexts. This was also true in Denmark. The Eagle Silk from Odense is characterized by both the Byzantine culture and the influential Sassanid culture in Iran (226 to 661), and it is woven in the technique samite, which became widespread throughout the Mediterranean, including Byzantium, and also further north in Scandinavia. The donor of the silk is most often said to be Canute the Holy’s widow, Edel, who a few years after the killing of the king married the southern Roger II, an Italian Duke of Apulia. Anne Hedeager Krag. Byzantine Studies, Institute for Greek and Latin, Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen.

OSC 1 Eagle Silk. 11th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave.

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OSC 2 Eagle Silk or Single-headed Falcon. Photograph by Annemette Bruselius Scharff.

OSC 1 Eagle Silk. 11th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. 45.0 / cm. Weft: unspun. 30.0 / cm. The red colour is achieved using Alizarin. Photograph by Annemette Bruselius Scharff.

Reference: Anne Hedeager Krag, The Eagle Silk and Other Silks in the Shrine of St. Canute in Odense Cathedral. Herning, DK: Poul Kristensen, 2010.

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26. CH: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum 2 E 91st Street, New York, NY 10128, United States of America https://www.cooperhewitt.org Tel: +1 212 849 8400 In 1902, the prominent New York financier and industrialist John Pierpont Morgan (American, 1837 to 1913) donated more than 1,000 textiles to the Museum for the Arts of Decoration of Cooper Union. Founded by Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt in 1897, the young museum suddenly found itself in possession of a prize collection of important historic textiles that rivalled those of the great museums of Europe. The collection was comprised of three groups of textiles from important European collectors: the Antonio Vivès y Escudero (Spanish, 1859 to 1925) collection in Madrid, the Francisco Miquel y Badía (Spanish, 1810 to 1899) collection in Barcelona, and the Stanislas Baron (French, died 1910) collection in Paris. The group included Coptic and Byzantine textiles, Italian Renaissance silks and velvets as well as early Islamic and HispanoMoresque silks. While there is still much research needed on all three men, the broad outlines of their collecting interests are known. Badía was a writer, art critic and collector, whose collection of historic textiles was published in 1900 – Collection de Tissus Anciens de D. Francisco Miquel y Badía (Barcelona). The publication mentions that he was a professor of the History and Theory of Industrial Arts at the Beaux Arts Academy in Barcelona. Vivès abandoned his education in medicine for training in business and later became an archivist, librarian and archaeologist. He was known for his expertise in numismatics, specifically Arabic, and in 1893 he wrote Monedas de las Dinastías Arábigo-Españolas, an important study of Spanish-Arabic coins. Stanislas Baron was a Paris dealer who began his career as a wine merchant and toured through Spain, where he also purchased works of art and antiquities. He soon focused solely on valuable antiquities with an emphasis on Merovingian archaeology. The three collections had worldwide importance, and soon after their donation, the Cooper Union Museum loaned several of Baron’s textiles to the Berlin Kunstgewerbe Museum. Today, this group of textiles remains among the most important part of the Textiles Department, attracting textile experts from around the world. Kimberly Randall. Collections Manager of Textiles, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

CH 1 Fantastic animals. 11th century. Byzantine. Silk samite. This textile was donated by J. P. Morgan in 1902 and is said to have come from the Monastery of Santa María de l’Estany, Catalonia. Ex-coll. Francisco Miquel y Badía. Provenance: a church in Aragon. 51.0 x 31.0 cm. Diameter of roundels: 16.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reverse.

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CH 2 Peacock with four stylized feathers and Sassanian palmette tree. 8th to 9th century. Byzantine. Samite. H 25.0 x W 18.5 cm. 1 repeat: 17.0 × 14.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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CH 3-1 and 3-2 Elephant. 8th to 9th century. Byzantine. Silk samite. Found in a Pyrenean church in Aragon. Ex-coll. Francisco Miquel y Badía. The ornament of the elephant’s body is similar to VAT 7. The pattern of rosettes is characteristic of the 8th to 9th century. (a): H 38.5 x W 47.0 cm. (b): H 24.0 x W 47.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

Reverse. Reference: Adèle Coulin Weibel, Two Thousand Years of Textiles: The Figured Textiles of Europe and the Near East. (New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1952).

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CH 4 Lion strangler. Late 11th to 12th century. Lampas possibly woven in Almeria in the Almoravid dynasty (1090 to 1150). Ex-coll. Francisco Miquel y Badía. Provenance: the tomb of St. Bernard Calvo, Bishop of Vic, Spain (1233 to 1243). This textile appears to be a tunic. Warp: light-brown silk. Wefts, white, yellow, red, dark green silks and gold and silver thread.  H 50.0 x W 48.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

CH 5 Sphinxes. 13th to 15th century. Hispano-Moresque (or Baghdad). Silk taqueté. Ex-coll. Francisco Miquel y Badía. Provenance: the tomb of St. Bernard Calvo, Bishop of Vic, Catalonia (1233 to 1243). Warp: light-brown, Wefts: white, golden-yellow, red, dark green and gold gilded parchment on silk thread. The same colour scheme and technique as CH 4. Two winged sphinxes sit confronted, with one forefoot raised and touching the slender tree between them. Their haunches are adorned with a palmette; the tails end in an elaborate split palmette. The wings are richly elaborated. The features are strongly marked, with eyes outlined by heavy brows. The head is covered by a bonnet. Beaded bands adorn neck, chest and wing. The small animals at the sphinxes’ feet are practically destroyed. The roundel is framed by a border with a palmette tendril between pearl bands. H 33.0 x W 31.5 cm. Quoted from: Adèle Coulin Weibel, Two Thousand Years of Textiles: The Figured Textiles of Europe and the Near East (New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1952). Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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CH 6 Fragment of the mantle of Don A. Leonor. 13th century. Hispano-Moresque, Granada (most likely). Almeria, Spain. Silk taqueté. Warp: yellow / beige. Weft: dark blue, natural white, red, mustard-yellow and gold. Ex-coll. Francisco Miquel y Badía. Provenance: the tomb of infante Don Felipe of Castile (1231 to 1274). The stylized kufic inscription baraka, ‘blessing’, in white silk with red outline on gold ground, is a variant of the inscription on Don Felipe’s tunic. In the complete fabric there were probably two inscription bands, with a central band showing the two rows of eight-lobed blue and gold medallions and the cross-stars, laid across the field. The registers of decoration are reminiscent of the walls and mosaics of Islamic architecture.  H 37.0 x W 19.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

CH 7 Cheetahs. 15th century. Probably woven in Almeria, a centre of silk production in Andalucia, Spain. Indigo-dyed silk and gold metallic thread gilded parchment on linen. This figured pattern expresses the best quality of lampas, as realistic animals and stylish beautiful plants are surrounded by sharp geometrical patterns. H 37.0 x W 19.0 cm. Repeat: H 29.0 x W 19.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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27. MET: The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028, United States of America https://www.metmuseum.org Tel: +1 212 535 7710 In 1870, The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded and located in the City of New York, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in said city a museum and library of art, of encouraging and developing the study of the fine arts, to encourage the application of arts to manufacture and practical life, of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects, and, to that end, of furnishing popular instruction. It is the largest museum in the United States, with a collection that comes from all over the world, spanning more than 5,000 years. The museum’s core collection comprises approximately 36,000 textiles. There are departments responsible for setting guidelines for storage, care and handling, and display of the collection. Restoration of textiles began very early, with the Department of Textile Conservation becoming an independent entity in 1973, under the leadership of Nobuko Kajitani. Dr Rei Ito. Tokyo Zokei University. MET 1 Mounted Amazons hunting leopards. 6th century. Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite. The edges of the fabric rings are turned back and remain stitched using linen. The border of the medallion is formed mostly by heart-shaped patterned leaves. Colours are natural white and faded purple-red. It is the shroud of St. Fridolin who was buried in his abbey in Säckingen on the Upper Rhine in the late 6th century. H 22.0 x W 19.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MET 2 Fragmentary band with scenes from the infancy of Christ. 5th to 6th century. Syria. Wool, linen and silk warp-faced compound twill. This is one of the earliest examples of woven silk-figured fabric, with mixed materials. H 9.5 x W 55.2 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MET 3 The original is 6th to 7th century. Attributed to Syria. Silk samite. The design was copied in 1895 in Germany and varies in the colour and expression of the eyes. It also differs in the wings and the faces of the bulls at the base of the column from the Maastricht textile (MAA 1). H 27.0 x W 27.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MET 4 The original is 7th century. Attributed to Syria. Silk samite. H 26.3 x W 26.3 cm. This fragment was acquired in Maastricht in 1888 and is referred by Annemarie Stauffer to be copied in 1895 in Germany. It was instructed by Eugen Vogelsang from the Textilschule in Krefeld, Germany. It differs in weaving density, colour and expressiveness of pattern from the similar fabric in (VAT 3). Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

Reverse. MET 5 Silk, wrapped gold. First half of the 12th century. Lampas. Addorsed griffins, gazelles in secondary crest and designed animals in the medallion. H 43.2 x W 30.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MET 6 Riding coat. First half of the 13th century. Iran. Silk samite. The pattern and composition are in the traditional style of Iran – trees, birds, lions and flowers cover the entire fabric. H 175.0 x W 128.0 cm. Repeat: 22.0 x 21.0 cm half step. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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28. MFA: Museum of Fine Arts 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States of America https://www.mfa.org/ Tel: +1 617 267 9300 This museum was founded in 1870, the same period as The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. It has become one of the largest museums in the United States and houses about 500,000 objects. Collections of this museum include items from all over America and Asia, including collections consisting of 100,000 objects from Japan, China, South-east Asia and Islamic regions. The Japanese art collection is especially known for its outstanding variety. The textile collection has a long history as Boston was a centre of the textile industry. The collection comprises about 27,000 textile objects. As for Byzantine silk, the collection holds many objects of good quality, such as precious fragments of well-known works. Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MFA1 A herdsman. 5th century. Syria. Silk twill, reversible. This textile was found in a Coptic grave. The colours are natural white and faded purple/red. H 9.1 x W 7.1 cm. Repeat: about H 7.5 × 5.0 cm every half step. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MFA2 Fragment of trim from a coat. 5th to 6th century. Probably Sassanian, Persia. Silk samite. Found in a grave at Antinoë, Egypt. The colours are dark blue, orange, light yellowish green and white. The weaving technique is fine enough to depict various types of curved line. H 18.5 x W 31.0 cm. Repeat: about H 7.5 × 5.0 cm every half step. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Collections of Museums, Cathedrals and Churches

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MFA 3 Two birds beside a holy tree in a lozenge pattern. 5th to 6th century. Probably woven in Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite. The red colour has faded and changed to brown, and was probably dyed using safflower. H: 8.3 × W 13.0 cm. Repeat: H 7.5 × W 16.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MFA 5 Bud-flowering tree in a medallion of curved lines. 6th to 7th century. Probably woven in Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite. H 19.0 x W 19.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MFA 4 Griffin attacking a dog or leopard. 6th century. Early Byzantine, woven in Syria. Silk weft twill. Found in the stone coffin of the daughter of Great Pippin. H 20.0 x W 34.0 cm. Repeat: about H 26.0 x W 19.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MFA 6 Flowering tree in a medallion. 7th to 10th century. Early Byzantine or early Islamic, copied from MFA 5. Silk samite. H 16.5 x W 15.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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MFA 7 Part of a tunic. 12th to 13th century. Iran. Griffins, birds and foxes around a tree with arabesque ornament. The pattern and composition are in the traditional style of Iran, but also adopt a Chinese style. Silk plain weave with supplementary patterning wefts. The ground colour is light yellow/beige and the patterns are dark blue/green. H 34.0 x W 50.0 cm. Repeat: H 12.5 x W 17.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MFA 8 Griffins and ibexes. 11th century. Būyid/Iran. Silk plain weave with supplementary patterning wefts. Dark purple and reddish white. The symmetrical stylized pattern shows an arabesque taste. H 70.0 x W 35.5 cm. Repeat: H 27.0 x W 21.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MFA 9 Harpies and lion with griffins. Early 12th century (Spanish Almoravid). Probably woven in Almeria, Spain. In a medallion with a wide border is a man with a creative griffin. Silk lampas with supplementary discontinuous metal-wrapped patterning weft. This fragment is one of the highest quality in medieval Spain. Connecting roundels have inscriptions; this is the shroud of San Pedre de Osma. The secondary crest is also large and displays a geometric pattern with animals. H 43.0 x W 50.0 cm. Photograph by Museum of Fine Arts. Reference: Pamela A. Parmal, Lauren D. Whitley, Susan Ward, Alexandra B. Huff and Tiffany Webber-Hanchet. MFA Highlights: Textile & Fashion Arts. (Boston, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, 2006).

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29. SRM: Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum 2000–6 Nagasakakacho Koarama, Hokuto, Yamanashi 408–0031, Japan http://www.silkroad-museum.jp Tel: +81 551 32 0225 The Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum is situated in a green highland with an expansive view overlooking Mt. Fuji and the Yatsugatake Range. The museum opened in July 2004 and houses a collection of works by Hirayama Ikuo (1930 to 2009), a popular painter in the Japanese style, and a collection of Silk Road art that Mr and Mrs Hirayama collected over a forty-year period. The museum’s Silk Road collection includes some 9,000 pieces: paintings, sculptures and crafts with ages ranging from ancient to modern, created in some thirty-seven countries across European, West Asian, Central Asian and East Asian regions, from Rome in the West to Japan in the East. Hirayama Ikuo, known as the ‘Silk Road’s Painter’, began travelling with his wife in 1968 to the countries along the Silk Road and returned to the area over 150 times, sketching the landscape, deserts and ruins, and the lives of the people he met during the journey. Thus, the couple obtained many friends in Silk Road countries and became more and more fascinated by the Silk Road’s culture, history and art. Eventually, they gathered numerous Silk Road artefacts and archaeological materials. In 1988, Mr and Mrs Hirayama founded a research centre called the Institute of Silk Road studies in Kamakura. Here, the Hirayamas provided their collection to researchers of the archaeology and art history of the Silk Road, both in Japan and abroad to promote Silk Road studies (some of the research results are summarized in Silk Road Art and Archaeology: Journal of the Institute of Silk Road Studies 1990–2004). Their collection remains the contemporary core of the Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum. Among the museum’s collections, over 2,500 highly appreciated Silk Road textiles were collected through the enthusiasm of Mrs Michiko Hirayama, the director of the museum, a painter and a jewellery designer. However, she would never talk much about her acquiring of this wonderful textile collection. Regarding her motive for starting to gather textiles, she only speaks modestly and with characteristic self-effacing humour: ‘Our collection of Silk Road art was started with Gandharan Buddhist sculptures that would become an inspiration for Hirayama’s paintings. When the collection gradually became bigger, it was suggested to us that “you founded the Institute of Silk Road Studies but have no silk material in your collection.” From this advice, I started to consider collecting Silk Road textiles. Eventually, in addition to silks, I thought I had to collect all textiles made of other fibres such as wool, cotton and hemp from the Silk Road, and I began to collect Kashmir shawls, Sogdian textiles, Indonesian Batiks, Cambodian Ikat and so forth.’

SRM 1 Pair of silken socks. 7th to 8th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 21.5 x W 14.0 cm. Photograph by Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum.

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Nonetheless, Michiko Hirayama’s desire for the textiles of the Silk Road was strong to begin with. During the Second World War, when she was still a school student, she was attracted to the two volumes of Gomotsu Jodai Senshokumon, textile fabrics of the sixth to eighth century from the Japanese Imperial collection, chiefly from the Shōsō-in, sold at the Tokyo National Museum’s shop. Looking back at those volumes, she later realized that they were the start of a life fascinated by the Silk Roads, ‘At that time, I had never seen a book with colour printing, so when I opened the book, I thought I stepped into a completely different world, and I was also surprised at the price, 150 yen (about 500,000 yen at present), since I had little money except for train fare. I gathered my courage to ask my strict father tearfully to buy the beautiful book on the Shōso¯-in’s textiles. My father unexpectedly admitted my outrageous request. Soon afterwards, fierce air-raids started in Tokyo, 1945. Horrible days continued when I had to jump into an air-raid shelter with this book in my bug-out bag, regardless of anything else. After the war, I entered the Tokyo Fine Arts School, and after graduation, I got married to a painter named Hirayama, and became a housewife. But I think it was this book that opened the way to travel the Silk Road.’ Toko Hirayama. Vice-director, Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum. SRM 2 Duck pattern. 8th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 70.0 x W 24.6 cm. Photographs by Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum.

SRM 3 Duck motif. 7th to 8th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 41.6 x W 24.8 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SRM 4 Silk with simorgh pattern. 7th to 8th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 25.4 x W 41.4 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SRM 5 Silk with bird pattern. 8th to 9th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 76.8 x W 14.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SRM 6 Silk with deer pattern. 10th to 11th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 71.0 x W 36.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SRM 7 Deer pattern. 6th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 139.0 x W 82.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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SRM 8 Silken po (round-necked robe). 8th century. China (T’ang dynasty). Silk. H 122.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

Reference: A Glitter of Silk Road, Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum, Japan, 2006.

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30. SHO: Shōsō-in / The Imperial Household Agency 〒630-8211 129 Zoushi-chou Nara-city https://shosoin.kunaicho.go.jp/en-US/ Tel: +81 742 26 2811 The Imperial Household Agency’s Office of the Shōsō-in Treasure House is located behind the Great Buddha Hall at Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara City, Nara Prefecture, Japan. On the office’s grounds is located the treasure house or repository (shōsō), housing articles related to Tōdai-ji Temple. Built in the eighth century, the Shōsō-in Treasure House, also known as the Shōsō-in Repository, is divided into three rooms – the North Section, Middle Section and South Section. The North Section has housed articles related to Emperor Shōmu (701 to 756), who ruled during the Nara Period. After his death, his consort Empress Kōmyō donated the emperor’s personal items to the Great Buddha (also known as Vairocana Buddha) of the Tōdai-ji Temple in prayer for his repose. A total of five such donations were made in all. The donated articles were accompanied by lists of the items, including the Kokka chinpo cho (List of Rare Treasures of the State). It is very rare for both the list and the actual treasures recorded on it to be successfully handed down together over time until the present day. The items that were donated include personal belongings, musical instruments, items for games and amusement, costumes, and weapons and armour. Since ancient times, these items have been housed in the North Section, with the current emperor’s permission being required to open the doors. The Middle Section has housed items related to Tōdai-ji Temple. The Great Buddha, which represents Vairocana Buddha, was built at the Tōdai-ji Temple in 752. At this time, a ceremony was held to consecrate the Great Buddha. Nobility made donations of articles, and these donations have been stored in the Middle Section. The South Section has housed items related to Tōdai-ji Temple, such as articles used on Buddhist altars and traditional Japanese bugaku court dance costumes used in Buddhist memorial services. Items in the treasure house were stored for a long time inside wooden karahitsu chests. They were removed from the chests, organized and repaired in the latter half of the nineteenth century. There are about 9,000 treasures that have been organized in this way. Thereafter, management of the Shōsō-in Treasure House and its treasures was taken over by the government, and is currently handled by the Imperial Household Agency’s Office of the Shōsō-in Treasure House. Today, the office undertakes the organization, repairs, research of these treasures, and the production of replicas. Yoko Tanaka. Director of Preservation Science Department. Preservation Division. Office of the Shōsō-in.

SHO 1 Ungenkin, flower stripes. 8th century. Warp-faced brocade (nishiki) in compound three-harness twill weave. This lines the inside of a mother-of-pearl box. The cloth has an interface of handmade paper (washi) and a lining of green bind-resist-dyed (kōkechi) ashiginu. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House.

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SHO 2 Biwa (lute) bag with a karahana design. 8th century China (T’ang dynasty). Silk samite, eight flowers with sculpted rims surround a central lotus flower, and concentrically farther out, a vine connects eight large tilted lotus flowers. The subordinate motif fills the interstices with a vine scroll (karakusa) in the style of a ho¯so¯ge (a fabulous peony-like flower) depicted as side-view flowers and leaves. The main motif is the greatest of all the floral patterns found on nishiki in the Sho¯so¯-in. H 95.0 x W 48.0 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Sho¯so¯-in Treasure House.

Restoration.

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SHO 3 Vest with short-sleeves for Tōkogaku performance. 8th century. Silk brocade. The Shōsō-in stores several costumes for the ancient T’ang music that was performed at the consecration of the Great Buddha (752), and presumably this vest was worn at that time. H 73.0 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House.

SHO 4 Covered armrest with image of a phoenix on a purple ground. 8th century. Brocade. A phoenix spreading its wings and standing on one foot appears in the centre of a ring of grapevine scrolls and forms the main motif, while diamond-shaped flower motifs with a central compound flower surrounded by flowers depicted in side views form the subordinate motif. The placement of the main motif and construction of the subordinate motif has similarities to karahana designs. A nishiki cited as resembling this was found by the Frenchman Paul Pelliot in the Astana cave in Turfan. H 20.0 × W 25.0 × L 78.0 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House.

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SHO 5 Armrest covered with striped nishiki. 8th century. This piece corresponds to the chōhankin, or ‘striped-pattern weave’ armrest mentioned in the Kokka chinpō chō (Record of the Nation’s Rare Treasures; Item 15). Karahana floral motifs and flying bird motifs appear in broad vertical stripes of alternating purple and light green grounds. Narrow white stripes with half-flower (nozokikamon) lie between the broad stripes. H 16.0 x W 21.6 x L 71.0 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House.

SHO 6 Standing screen with nishiki fragments. 8th century. Japan. Brocade. The main motif of this magnificent karahana design measures over 20 cm in height. The soft expression and skilful colour arrangement mark this as an outstanding example among the karahana designs on textiles in the Shōsō-in. Identical patterns rendered in different colours were manufactured. Textile: W 115.0 cm. Standing screen: H 149.4 x W 57.0 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House.

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SHO 7 Mat 8th century. Twill weave nishiki (a colourful, patterned woven silk) with design on a purple ground for an offering table. Materials and techniques – the obverse side is nishiki with a design on a purple ground. The border is nishiki with striped patterns, trimmed with silk braid. The reverse side is a plain weave silk, dyed green using the method of ko ¯kechi (tie-dyeing). Furthermore, it is padded with bast-fibre cloth and silk floss. H 107.0 x W 52.5 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House. Reference: Kaneo Matsumoto, Jo ¯ dai-Gire 7th and 8th Century Textiles in Japan from the Sho ¯ so ¯ -in and Ho ¯ ryu ¯ -ji. (Kyoto: Shikosha Publishing Co., 1984).

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11 Pattern and Colour in the Byzantine Empire RYOKO YAMANAKA KONDO

Pattern

2. Primary motifs (religious humans, mythical humans, mythical animals, wild or domesticated animals, mythical birds, birds of prey) + Secondary motifs (florals, foliage, fruit, birds, animals, geometry) 3. Surrounding frames (pearl, rings, florals, braids, geometry, scripts) 4. Single pattern with decoration

In Chapter 10, examples of Byzantine silks from all over the world are listed. Similar patterns have been found again and again in silk brocades from the around 1,100 years of the Byzantine era. The factors behind this may be the novel allure of patterns appearing on fabrics, as well as the fact that the production techniques for patterns were complicated. This implies that figured brocade requires craftspeople who have the technique of weaving and dyeing as well as those who are skilled in preparing weave diagrams. Please refer to Chapter 5 for the history of silk brocade patterns that spread widely irrespective of religious precepts, traditions and customs. Below is an overview of the commonly used patterns: Layout (stripes, symmetry, circles) Themes (geometrics, florals, religion, fighting scenes, Paradise, etc.) Classification of Patterns:

Particular attention is paid to the following representative figures of the Byzantine period: simorghs, eagles or falcons, lions, elephants, peacocks, Pegasi or griffins, and human figures, arabesques and rosettes.

Simorgh The simorgh is a fabulous bird from Persian myths. It is said to originate in the Saena that ruled the realms of the Earth and sky. In Zoroastrian creation mythology, the Saena bird lived in the tree of life, and the beating of its wings spread the tree’s seeds, bringing plants to the earth. In the Middle Ages, the simorgh was said to be strong enough to lift an elephant, and its feathers had the power to save people.

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In the Shahnameh (eleventh century) and the Conference of the Birds (a twelfth-century poem) the simorgh is described as the ‘king of the birds’. The simorgh can be found as a motif on medieval silks and metal objects. A silk in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs has simorghs in roundels containing circular motifs that appear to be pearls, with crescent-like patterns in the sections linking the roundels. (MAD 1) The sophistication of the weave and its artistic composition indicate that this is a Sassanian silk produced in Persia. The roundel can be compared to the halo and to the radiance of the khvarenah that indicated royalty, symbolizing the high value placed on the simorgh motif. Simorghs are normally depicted with the head of a dog, the front legs of a lion, and the wings and tail of a peacock, but details gradually varied. Here, the simorgh is given a tender portrayal, rather than emphasizing its great strength. No definitive record remains of how this motif gained its name, but the folds below its eyes, its mouth and its wings are very similar to those of the winged lion on an Achaemenid gold rhyton

(fifth century BCE) in the National Museum of Iran, and its tail feathers, said to be those of a peacock, are shaped in such a way as to be reminiscent of a goblet. Consequently, it is reasonable to conclude that it may have been influenced by the winged lion of an Achaemenid motif. (BRX 2; PET 1; CH 1; SEN 15)

Eagles or Falcons The ‘eagle pattern’ was used in all works depicting birds of prey, one of the major patterns of the Middle Ages. The eagle was well known as a symbol of authority in Rome, from the ancient Roman Empire through to the Holy Roman Empire, and in Russia and America. They were commonly used in crests in the Byzantine Empire as well, but as stated in Alain Boureau’s 1985 book L’Aigle: Chronique Politique d’un Emblème, they were considered secondary to other symbols. Moreover, the 1980 book Cronica: Gesta Karoli Magni Imperatoris by Dietrich Von Nieheim, Katharina Colberg and

Figure 11.1-1  The abduction of Zal by the Simorgh. Image: Wikipedia.

Figure 11.1-2  An Achaemenid gold rhyton. 5th century BCE. The National Museum of Iran.

Figure 11.1-3  A simorgh in a flower roundlet. Fukai Shinji and Mihoko Domyo, Taq-I Bustan 1,2,3,4. Tokyo: ­Yamakawa ­Publishing Company, 1969.

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Joachim Leuschner states that ‘Otto III made a change to the Byzantine crest to distinguish it from the inherited Holy Roman Empire eagle crest, a condition for peace with the declining Byzantine empire.’ As an example of this, Alain Boureau mentions the shroud kept in Auxerre. (AUX 1) According to Byzantium (1966) by Philip Sherrard, the two-headed eagle pattern, which is still used today, symbolized the dream of overlooking the East and West in the Palaiologos dynasty at the end of the empire. Today, similar patterns are generally referred to simply as eagles, mainly in Europe and America. In Old Testament Hebrew, nesér was a bird that tore meat with its beak, and the Latin aetos are vultures or hawks that flock to a carcass. According to Alain Boureau’s L’Aigle: Chronique Politique d’un Emblème, in the fourth century, Ambrosius limited this to the name of the eagle. It is said that eagles fly high in the heavens and are a symbol of God. Most of the Falconiformes eagle species are very large (often having a wingspan of over 2 metres), and they fly with their wings spread wide. They are dark reddish-brown in colour and have rough, irregular spots on their wings. In comparison, hawk species such as sparrow hawks, goshawks, and bear hawks are small (around a 1-metre wingspan) and do not spread their wings as wide. They have light spots on their wings that spread to the stomach, chest and tail, with the latter having a fan shape. Eagles do not have a spread-out tail. In Persia, the same birds have been used in patterns since before Roman times. In Egypt and Persia, hawks symbolized royalty. In The Traditional Crafts of Persia, Hans E. Wulff describes the festival garments of Darius III as ‘shining, royal festival dress with two hawks with adjoining beaks’. Artefacts excavated in Susa include a brocade with a double hawk pattern from the Sassanian Empire period. Based on these theories, the middle Byzantine period’s standing bird with its ornate spread wings should be considered a hawk distinct from the symbolic eagles that were seen in the Roman period. (AUX 1; BRE 1; ABG 1; OSC 1)

posture. (LOU 2) It can be said that at that time, the king did not need to express strength in the natural realm. In Central Asia as well, stylized pairs of lions facing each other were often depicted. (KSH 1; MAA 3, 7; CH 2; SEN 11, 12, 14; IMA 1; LMA 1; BUR 1)

Elephants In Hinduism, elephants transport kings in heaven. In other words, they are a symbol of power that expresses constancy and stability. Elephant patterns in the Byzantine period were woven for kings. They were particularly beautiful, with the entire body of the elephant decorated. In Christianity, the Bible states that ivory is a symbol of purity and it was used for Solomon’s throne. (CH 1, 3; AAC 1)

Peacocks Until the Middle Ages, when dyes and paints were limited in variety, peacock feathers were seen to have a mysterious beauty. From their place of origin in India, where they were a symbol of the Sun, peacocks were transported to Persia and Greece, where they became the sacred bird of the goddess Hera. In Islam, they were a symbol of the universe, and in Christianity, they were a symbol of regeneration and resurrection. In the Middle Ages, a variety of artefacts were decorated with beautifully patterned feathers. (CLU 5; CAN 1; VAM 8; CH 2; SEN 12)

Pegasi Pegasus, a winged celestial horse in Greek mythology that carried water and transported people to lofty regions, has often appeared in literature, arts and crafts since the Middle Ages. (VAT 7)

Griffins

Lions In ancient times, lions were a representation of royalty, and they are also seen in patterns. Although this tradition was handed down to the Byzantines, the representation gradually transformed, coming to depict a lion that evokes feelings of beauty and even charm in its normal relaxed

This creature had the torso of a lion and the beak and wings of an eagle. It was believed that it controlled the earth and sky, and it influenced the half-human, half-beasts of Assyria. The depiction of this creature spread to ancient Persia and Greece, and in Christianity, the griffin was seen as a symbol of heaven and earth and as a symbol of Jesus

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Figure 11.2  10th–11th-century peacock on ceramic. Musée du Louvre. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

Christ. The griffin was depicted this way in art. At first, these figures depicted strength, but in the Middle Ages, in many cases, they were considered decorative and charming; hence, they were not considered to be very different from simorghs. (SEN 15)

Human Figures In terms of the depiction of human figures, narrative expressions from the Roman period were inherited. Janus, one of the oldest Roman gods, was depicted with two faces: the god of transition from past to future and the god of gates. He is also seen in Byzantine textiles. A fragment of St. Ursula near Cologne has one face, but the expression and shape resemble Janus. (KSU 2) In Christian Egypt (the Copts), people were portrayed in textiles as an icon, especially at the time of Iconoclasm (eighth to ninth centuries). As it was difficult to use tapestry techniques to portray people in detail (LOU 10), the front-profile face was perceived as easy to express, and the eyes and nose were round and simple. Most of the Byzantine figures are of an

icon style with a monotonous expression. (LOU 9; VAT 5, 6; ABG 3; KSU 2; SEN 5, 6, 7, 8, 11)

Arabesque As the name suggests, this is a Saracen pattern, and it was seen in both the East and West, with the Arabesque and Karakusa. This pattern expresses the movement of ivy and vines in a stylized fashion; it arranges flowers and leaves and intermingles them with people, birds and small animals. This was especially popular in the Islamic Middle East, where expressions that filled up space were preferred. Patterns in Greece and Rome had a simple regularity, while Chinese and Saracen patterns had a broader regularity. In Japan, there was a natural style that deviated from this regularity. (CAN 1; SHO 3; MFA 2)

Rosette Rosette patterns are represented by the rose windows seen in the stained glass windows of Gothic churches since the Middle Ages. In ancient Egypt in the fifteenth and sixteenth

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centuries BCE, hair ornaments with seven petals linked in a circle in a metal frame were made. Even in Achaemenid Persia, similar double or triple flower patterns were common. Flower patterns of either daisies or roses arranged in a circle spread widely; as seen in the rosette patterns of eight petals found on most jars made in Corinth in Greece. This indicates that the pattern was used for decorative purposes in a variety of settings. In Japan, crests of sixteen chrysanthemum petals were used only for the imperial family. (AUX 1; BRE 1)

Colour and Dyeing Figured patterns of Byzantine brocade spread widely and rapidly in Eurasia, though the colours selected and used were strictly chosen according to religion, tradition and custom. A reminder that the depth of the emotional connection that people have with colours can be surprising. This trend has been seen since ancient times; the dress of Egyptian pharaohs in colourful murals was conspicuously

white with brightly coloured jewels. In the Middle Ages, it became customary to patch colourful figured fragments onto white clothing. Patchwork-size figured fabrics have also been excavated in Akhmim near the Nile River. In Greece, the giant statue of Athena in the beautifully coloured Parthenon was dressed in white, too. Many ruins show that colour was regularly used to decorate spaces and accessories throughout Egyptian, Greek and Roman times. Woven tapestries and carpets from such places remain today. Chapters 2 and 12 discuss the pattern and colour of clothing in architecture built using natural materials in the eastern areas of China, Korea and Japan since ancient times. Chapter 5 discusses the fact that the Phoenicians were the first people in the West to wear colourful clothing, as was adopted at an early stage in Persia, a land which incorporated many cultures. Here, the author discusses the main colours and dyes used over time and consider what they mean. However, assumptions have to be made based on these found faded fragments, regarding the area and time of origin, or through

Figure 11.3  The shroud of Saint Josse. 10th-century Iran Buˉyid. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. H 52.0 × W 94 cm; H 62.0 × W 24.5 cm. Musée du Louvre. Photograph by © Musée du Louvre, dist. RMN – Grand Palais / Raphaël Chipault.

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Figure 11.4  Silk samite. 7th–8th century. Akhmim. The fading process of a purple-red colour. Inscribed: Zaxapolis in Greek. H 37.0 × W 29.0 cm. Victoria and Albert Museum. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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comparisons as is the case with VAT 5 and VAT 6. The author considers due to the faded condition of the fragment that Figure 11.4. Figure 11.4 seems to be madder. Figure 11.5 seems to be kermes and Figure 11.4 seems to be a shellfish purple. The author looks forward to future scientific analyses for each fragment, as is the case with ‘Annunciation’ and Nativity’ from the Musei Vaticani (VAT 5, 6).

Figure 11.5  Silk samite. 11th–12th century. Byzantine showing the fading process of the colour red. Photograph courtesy of AbeggStiftung.

DYE COLOURS

Purple: Imperial purple or royal purple There are different senses of values for colour around the world, but purple is commonly seen as an esteemed colour due to the fact that since ancient times it has been a symbol of rulers. In Hermione (Peloponnesus) of Greece, cloth was dyed purple using the shellfish Bolinus brandaris. This trend culminated in the Roman and Byzantine periods, with the Tyrian purple created in Tyros in Syria considered the highest quality – it even shined when held over light. Purple dye came from the liquid secreted from the purple glands of live Bolinus brandaris. As only a small amount of this could be taken from one shellfish, there was a decline in their numbers due to overharvesting. The production of this purple colour decreased from the time that the Byzantine Empire retreated from Syria; dyeing production

Figure 11.6  Silk samite. Example showing how the original purple-red colour has remained. Domkapitel, Aachen, Germany. ­Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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shifted to Constantinople, and it mostly disappeared in the fifteenth century. The Ottoman Turks, who defeated the Byzantines, had no interest in the colour purple. The onceforgotten art of shellfish dyeing was seen in various areas in the nineteenth century; however, the record of this dyeing technique remains in Pliny’s Naturalis Historia 9–60–65. Although attempts at dyeing have been made recently using this source, they have not been able to recreate the colouring seen during the Byzantine era. Pliny notes that the shining purple colour was created by overdyeing with two types of shellfish. Royal purple: the shell of the purple sea snail Bolinus brandaris or Tuba false fusus.

Red There are many types of red dye, each with differing hues. There are blue-ish crimsons such as kermes and cochineal, and a deep crimson madder red that was known as scarlet in Persia, along with safflower, which was a yellowish colour.

Armenian or Ararat cochineal This is used as a dye for a deep red colour. This dye, called Armenian red (Armenian cochineal), was made from scale insects that live as parasites in reeds and rice in the Ararat mountain region. This was once considered to be the best colour red in Assyria and Persia; known for its quality and production volume. It was used in ancient dyeing and paintings. Known to be more colourfast than madder and safflower, production increased in the eighth century, and it was widely used in Sassanid Persia and the Byzantine Empire. Cochineal from scale insects that attached themselves to Mexican nopal cactuses came to Spain in the fifteenth century, and offered several times the dyeing power and colour fastness of the existing materials. With Spain monopolizing its import, the product became established in Europe, and the use of Armenian kermes began to decline. In 1467, Pope Paul II probably also harboured competitive feelings towards the Byzantine Empire, which had stipulated that a cardinal’s vestments were to be dyed red with cochineal.

Phoenician kermes Around 1000 BCE, the red dye kermes, from the female scale insects that attached themselves to oak trees, were

added to trade with Persia, a main customer. The female insects, which live as parasites in the kermes oak around the Mediterranean coast and the Zagros Mountains of Iran, lay 800 eggs each on the trees in June. The larvae, which live by themselves on the tree branches and spend the winter growing, are harvested and pickled in vinegar. Using the dye from these insects, with alum added as a mordant, wool and silk were dyed red. This dyeing method was introduced by the Sumerians; the Phoenicians established the technique, and it was prized by the Greeks and Romans. Samples of these fabrics have even been excavated from Palmyra. After the use of Tyrian purple declined in the Ottoman Turk period, kermes red continued to be used and was the main colour for dyed products (see Figure 5.5, p. 56).

Cochineal Cochineal from South and Central America is a red dye made from the bodies of female scale insects that live in nopal cactuses and thorny European pears. Its dye strength is ten times that of similar types and is very stable. The insects are covered in a white substance and a crimson liquid emerges when they are pierced. Though they have legs, the female insects do not move. The insects are harvested before ovulation. Approximately 130,000 kilograms of insects with 5-millimetre eggs are harvested several times a year. Wool is mordanted with alum, and silk with alum and tin, and they are dyed in colours ranging from a bright purple to a bluish bright red. Madder was the most widely used red dye. There are traces of the use of this dye in Mohenjo-Daro in 3000 BCE, and it spread from East and Central Asia to Russia. It entered Europe later, in the Middle Ages. Madder roots are harvested in the fall of their second year, and the bark is separated and stored. At first it is a yellowish-red dye, but by the seventh year of storage it turns a purplish deep red. Alum is used for mordanting but in Persia, yoghurt was used to get a vivid red colour.

Blue When it comes to blue dyes, Indian indigo was rare before the Roman period, and isatis was mainly used. The latter was seen as dark, malodorous and of poor colour. In the Middle Ages, blue lapis lazuli from Afghanistan was used

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for mosaics, and this beautiful, rare blue was used to represent the clothing of the Virgin Mary.

Isatis Isatis, which grew wild from the time of the Celtic and Germanic peoples, is believed to have been in general use from around the sixth century. Blue that was lighter than indigo was called ‘pale blue’.

Indigo Indigo originated in India and was called indikon by the Greeks who traded it. It spread to Eastern Asia before the Common Era and was a prized item. It gradually came to be cultivated in other regions and entered general use in the West during the Middle Ages. Repeated dyeing deepens the blue colour and increases the colour fastness against light. The colour content is about thirteen times as concentrated as that of isatis and has strong dyeing properties. In the sixteenth century, Spain promoted its manufacture and trade in the New World.

Yellow Yellow was a popular colour in Greece, Rome and the Islamic world. In China, saffron was the colour of the emperor, and it was the colour of high Buddhist monks in Japan. In the Byzantine world in particular, the colour amber was prized as a substitute for the colour gold. In the Christian world, on the other hand, yellow was disliked and was considered the colour of betrayal. In the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, the tabernacle was woven with blue, purple and scarlet threads, and yellow is not mentioned. However, from around the Renaissance period, aesthetics came to take precedence over prejudice, and there was extensive use of yellow and beautiful intermediate colours made with mixes that had previously been avoided. Also, during the Middle Ages people considered it devilish behaviour to mix dyes and therefore tended not to engage in this.

Safflower – yellow and orange dyes Safflower was cultivated in Persia and Egypt. It spread to the East and was widely used, but the dye does not take

well, so for a long time in Japan, fabrics were dyed dozens of times to produce a scarlet colour. In the tenth century, safflower spread to Spain.

Black Black dye was almost never used until the Middle Ages, because it was difficult to dye, deep purple had been used for the blank, but when technology improved in the fourteenth century, black became the ultimate in new colours. In particular, it became the colour of men’s formal wear from the fourteenth century onwards. China, on the other hand, had the technology to dye fabric black since before the common era, due to factors such as the preferences of Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty. Red superimposed on Isatis tinctoria or indigo is linked to two different types of dyes – Isatis tinctoria (also called woad) and indigo from the leaves of the plant Indigofera or Persicaria tinctoria.

Gold Eternally unchanging, gold has been prized since ancient times for its brilliant, overwhelming beauty. In Naturalis Historia 33–19-63, Pliny stated that Tarquinius (535 to 509 BCE) wore a gold tunic to view a celebration of triumph, and that Agrippina, the wife of Emperor Claudius, wore a gold cloak to attend a festival. 1: aurum battutum Gold plates from Iran were stretched into a string and then wound around a thread. Although this was durable, it was expensive as it required a lot of gold. A gold and silver spinning guild was formed in Paris in 1250 and worked on producing this material. 2: aurum cyprese Gold leaf was applied to an intestinal membrane, cut into thin pieces, and wrapped around a thread (often yellow). This was used in the Byzantine Empire and Central Asia; it also spread from Italy to Northern Europe. 3: Applying gold leaf to thin bark. This is a technique used in China that later spread to Iran. 4: Applying gold to paper. In China, gold was applied to both sides of paper made from mulberry bark and cut into thin pieces and used as woven threads or twisted for use.

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Publications consulted 1 Tony Allan, The Mythic Bestiary: The Illustrated Guide to the World’s Most Fantastical Creatures (London: Duncan Baird Publishers, 2008). Ancient Wall Paintings of Afrāsiāb in Samarkand (Tokyo: Bunka Shuppan Kyoku, 1980). 2 Jenny Balfour-Paul, Indigo: Egyptian Mummies to Blue Jeans (London: British Museum Press, 2011). 3 Hans Biedermann, Dictionary of Symbolism: Cultural Icons and the Meanings Behind Them (London: Penguin, [1989] 1994). Bulletin of The Agricultural History Society of Japan, no. 41 (2007). 4 François Delamare and Bernard Guineau, Les Matériaux de la Couleur (Paris: Gallimard, 1999). 5 Mihoko Domyo, ‘The Taq-i Bustan IV Report note 3’. Bulletin du CIETA (1997). 6 Al-Dīn Farīd, Attār: Mantiq al-Tayr (Speech of the Birds) (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 2012). Ferdowsī, Šāh nāmah (Tokyo: Iwanamishoten, 1999). 7 Shinji Fukai and Mihoko Domyo, Taq-I Bustan 1,2,3,4 (Tokyo: Yamakawa Publishing Company Ltd., 1969). 8 Toshio Hayashi, Griffin no Hisyo (Flight of the Griffin) (Tokyo: Yuzankaku Publishing, 2006). 9 John R. Hinnells, Persian Mythology (Tokyo: Seodosha, [1973] 2001). 10 Aki Ito, ‘La porpora perduta: La tintura e il simbolo del rosso alla fine del Medioevo in Italia’ (The lost purple: The dye

11 12

13

14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21

and the symbol of red at the end of the Middle Ages in Italy), Italian Studies 48 (1998): 203–26. Kyoritsu Women’s University Extension Course, The History and Culture of Colors (Transcript of a lecture) (Tokyo, 1996). Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia / Natural History of Pliny (3 vols), trans. Sadao Nakano, Satomi Nakano and Miyo Nakano (Tokyo: Yuzankaku Publishing, 1986). Research Center for Silk Roadology, ‘The Exchange of EastWest Motifs: Invocations of Paradise’. Nara: Bulletin of the Research Center for Silk Roadology 18 (2003). Tadahiko Otsu, The Glory of Persia (Tokyo: Asahi Newspaper Company, 2006). The State Hermitage Museum, The Hermitage Encyclopaedia of Textiles: Conservation (St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Museum, 2017). Youji Tatsuda, Arabesque Patterns (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1997). Yoshiko Tokui, Medieval Europe in Colour (Tokyo: Kodansha, 2006). James Trilling, The Language of Ornament (World of Art Series) (London and New York, NY: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2001). Hiroshi Unno, European Ornaments and Motifs (Tokyo: Pai International, 2015). Anne Varichon, Couleurs: pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples (Paris: Seuil, 2000). A. de Vries, ed., Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery (Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishing Company Inc., [1974] 2010).

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12 The Spread of Silk to Japan RYOKO YAMANAKA KONDO

Japan is located at the eastern end of the Silk Roads. There are various theories about the exact time that silk reached Japan, but it is confirmed that there is no reliable historical evidence to date it accurately. In a third-century official Chinese history book the History of the Three Kingdoms, the History of Wei references Japan. The book is considered the oldest record available and includes descriptions about sericulture in Japan. Rough silk woven fabric has been found in the ruins of Kyushu dating to the second half of the Yayoi Period (first to second century); by this time Koguryo was moving southwards in the neighbouring Korean Peninsula, and people from the peninsula had crossed into Japan to escape the resulting warfare. During this time, various technologies were brought over, including silk weaving and looms brought by Prince Yutsugi (the later Hata Clan). Silk fabrics of twill and simple-warp brocade dating back to the Kofun age (third to sixth century) have been unearthed, but the technology is not comparable with that which was being used to make Chinese products of the time. The eighth-century Records of Ancient Matters (Kojiki)1 indicate that weavers were accepted into Japan from Kudara on the Korean Peninsula in the third century. According to  the Chronicles of Japan (Nihon Shoki),2

technologies of twill and brocade weaves as well as sewing were accepted from China in the fifth century as part of an active diplomatic exchange policy. This is in contrast to the process on the Eurasian continent, where craftsmen were captured through conquest to obtain technologies, whereas in Japan, technologists were cordially invited to visit in order to spread their weaving techniques. Between 630 and 838, the Japanese emperors ordered about 120 members of a Japanese envoy to travel to T’ang dynasty (616 to 907) China3. Formally, they visited to convey the Imperial tribute, but their main purpose was trade. Many were diplomats, technologists (physicians and musicians) and students, but craftsmen were not included. One of the envoys, an aristocrat known as Tajihi no Agayamori, brought back a noble form of costume, transforming the dress of the Japanese court to the T’ang style. Until then, Japanese people had worn breechcloths and kantoi (see Chapter 9, Diagrams of Clothing – B), a simple garment that consisted of a piece of cloth with a hole for the head. The first versions of the Japanese kimono cut the front panel for collars; it was then finished by sewing the material but was almost never cut. The Taiho Code, which was completed between 645 and 701, was modelled on the T’ang administration system

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known as the Ritsuryō code and included the terms Hakusen brocade (a Chinese auspicious pattern) and a wheel-shaped brocade (Persian bead pattern) and arranged patterns in order of the lozenge pattern of brocade as an ornament for crowns. However, the techniques of making figured patterns were too difficult for the Japanese at that time, and hence these were probably brought from T’ang China. The generally accepted view that the envoys to the T’ang dynasty first brought back silk is now refuted, and it is assumed that envoys brought silk, mercury and so on to the T’ang court as tributes. The ‘Procedures of Engi’ (in the form or goods or labour) enacted at that time, included a silk tax as specialities, then silk was collected as a rule of tax. However, these were almost all in the form of raw silk materials such as floss, yarn or silk fabric for dyeing, and could not be compared to the luxurious and splendid woven silk of the contemporary T’ang culture. At the same time, Japan sent groups of envoys called ‘Bohai Sea Envoys’ over the northern sea route to states on the opposite side of the Bohai Sea and received delegations in return from these states. Exchanges between the court in Japan and Koguryo, Eastern T’ang China, and later Juchen on the northern side of the Bohai Sea continued from 728 to 922. The commodities traded were mainly thought to be thread and silk fabric from Japan, and fur and T’ang products from countries on the far side of the Bohai Sea. The ‘Procedures of Engi’ record that products sent as gifts from Japan included silk fabric, thread and floss for the King of Bohai, and thread, brocade and so on for the King of Shilla. Compared with tributes sent to the T’ang by Shilla at that time, which included gold/silver handicrafts and silk woven fabric,4 silk from Japan included fabric to be used for dyeing, Indian ink drawings and paintings. It is possible to study silk woven fabric dating from the beginning of the seventh century by examining examples of the fabric itself, instead of having to rely on wall paintings and goods unearthed from burial mounds (see Figure 12.1). The Japanese, who had acquired wealth and valuable objects, were accustomed to building solid storehouses separate from their dwellings in which to keep their treasures, and this tradition continued until modern times. During the time of the Ritsuryō when the Shōsō-in was constructed, regional magistrates, temples, shrines and so forth built their own treasure houses to store rice and valuable objects. As they became larger in scale, they were enclosed by fences; many were constructed

on a single plot and called ‘Shōsō-in’. Stored under such suitable conditions, the oldest woven silk fabric includes the three kinds of Shoko brocade (plain woven such as warp ikat, weft-faced liseré and warp-faced tabby), which remained at the Hōryū-ji Temple as flags.5 Among these, the highest quality broad weft brocade is the T’ang period samite of four mounted lion hunters (see Figure 3.7-1, p. 37 and Figures 14.1-1,-2, p. 283). This brocade, which had been stored in the Hōryū-ji Temple for a long period, was restored in the twentieth century by Japan’s Tatsumura Textile Research Institute, and can now be viewed in its entirety. These details are discussed in Chapter 14. In 756, after the death of Emperor Shōmu, the widowed Empress Kōmyō offered to the Tōdai-ji temple more than 600 of the late Emperor’s articles of legacy blessed at the Vairocana Buddha in Tōdai-ji in Nara, which was constructed as a great national endeavour under the order of Emperor Shōmu in 752. The northern storehouse of the Treasure House, where these were placed and recorded, still stands and is now known as the Shōsō-in. The fact that these fabrics were stored in this sealed storehouse allowed them to be kept safe until the present day. Woven silk production technology had not achieved any progress in Japan at that time, therefore this collection contained many items imported from overseas. In addition, the fact that this collection had been preserved longer and in better condition than anything seen outside of Japan, attracted great international interest. See Chapter 10 (SHO) for details about the reportedly more than 5,000 examples of brocade, twill and silk gauze in the Shōsō-in. Many examples of brocade, including the T’ang period brocade ‘large floral patterns on a light indigo ground’ (see SHO 2), are thought to have been brought back to Japan during the peak of the T’ang epoch, during the seventh to ninth century when visited by Japanese delegations.6 Several years later, with the dispatch of the clan Oribe and others, weaving production was established and began to thrive throughout Japan. The spread of weaving technology during the Nara Period (710 to 794) was achieved by closely imitating the brocade and twill of T’ang China. This is obvious by comparing ‘Beauty Beneath the Trees Formed with Bird Feathers’, a typical example of a work created in Japan, with a similar type of weave from T’angera China.7 After the decline of the T’ang dynasty, the dispatch of official delegations ended in 835; later, however, in the

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Figure 12.1  Wall painting depicting Japanese costumes from the 7th to 8th century. Asuka Board of Education.

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Japan–Song dynasty (960 to 1279) trade resumed. However, Japan was not as greatly impacted by trade with the Song dynasty as it had been by the trade with the T’ang court. From the eighth century onwards, individual powerful characteristics of textiles were replaced by elegant textiles which suited the cultural climate of Japan, marked by benevolent nature and seasonal change. When gazing directly upon the ‘Four Kings Hunting Lions’ brocade – a product of the transmission of the patterns, beaded medallions, hunting designs and other styles passed down to T’ang from the Sassanid dynasty that were perfected by advanced Chinese technology then brought to Hōryū-ji – it is impossible to see anything comparable among Japanese brocades. While there are brocades transformed into soft patterns such as the mid-eighth-century ‘Chinese phoenix on a purple ground’ (SHO 4) with original flower medallion, or the ‘hunting scene on a green ground’, they are transformed into even more remarkable patterns such as flowing arabesques. Japan’s distinctive patterns appear in the ‘grape arabesque on green ground’ or ‘grape arabesque white twill’, with the latter being a refined representation of a three-dimensional feeling achieved by replacing the ‘Z’-direction twill of the ground with the patterned part in the ‘S’-direction twill, a style often woven during the Kamakura Period (1185 to 1333).8 (SHO 3) Clothing also changed, as the T’ang style of suits and undergarments were eliminated by the return to the original linear-cut kimono. The change to the Heian Period (794 to 1185) gave rise to an aristocratic culture based on the principles of noble elegance and harmony. In the tenth century, the codes governing garments were relaxed, which also transformed the textiles. Aristocrats introduced the original Japanese way of dressing, enabling them to enjoy colours that harmonized with nature’s seasonal changes. They wore silks of layered colours inside and outside or compiled dresses of different colours. Such costumes were adapted to the climate of Japan, which changes gradually in temperature. Layered colours were given the names of flowers, fruits, dyes or natural scenery, and it became the custom for people to enjoy them while writing Japanese poems as a cultural accomplishment. A kimono consisted of from five- to twenty-layered uchiki, and later was popularly called juni-hitoe (the twelve-layered kimono). As a person rose in rank, figured patterns were allowed, uki-orimono (figured by

raised thread), futae-orimono (double weave),9 futsuori (resembling figured double weave), kara-ori (swivel weave),10 and others of interspersed systematically figured fabrics were preferred to brocade, as colour, tones and value were placed in refined harmony. Only the karaginu11 was worn as a half coat; it was made of brocade and entirely figured in a deep colour as a relic of the previous era. The twelfth century ushered in the age of rule by the regional warrior class who, motivated by a yearning for the lifestyle of the aristocratic class, initially tended to imitate their dress; as stiffened woven silk was required to display their power, they frequently began to use hemp. About this time, Zen was introduced from Song China to Japan where it permeated the Samurai society. The Sanskrit word for a monk’s robe kāsāya replaced Japanese funzoe.12 These were handed down by generations of priests to their disciples as if they were treasures, and have been transformed into the kesa worn by Buddhist monks. Kinran (golden brocade satin) and brocade of gold used for ornamentation as altar fragments of triangular or rectangular shape were the ceremonial fragment that was spread where offerings were placed. Sometimes the fragments were made from belts or kimonos worn by the deceased, which is said to be based on a custom dating back to displays of the Buddha’s clothing. Figured fabric for the monks began to be designed, originally modelled on the doctrine of Yin and Yang,13 and the protocols of the leading aristocratic houses and warrior clans.14 The robes of the high priests used extravagantly figured fabric imprinted with gold leaf under the influence of the Yuan (1271 to 1368) and Ming (1368 to 1662) dynasties in China. After the fifteenth century, during the age of rival warlords, their leaders ignored the traditional codes as they competed to be the most spectacularly attired. The kosode, covered with multi-coloured figures, was called woven-figured silk, similar to T’ang textiles, and only the Shogun general and a few others were permitted to wear it. The techniques of these textiles, the superior expressiveness of embroidery and dyeing, especially Tsujigahana15 with its advanced tie-dyeing technique, overtook brocade. This began when the warriors allowed Noh actors to wear gorgeous kosode, but later costumes were created to fit each role by bringing together the essence of the craft of textiles, a practice which has continued until the present day.

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Figure 12.2  Nishiki, stand cover (detail) with a pattern of grapevine scrolls. Shōsō-in.

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Figure 12.3  Nishiki, beaded medallion enclosing hunting scene. Shōsō-in.

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Figure 12.4  Panels of thirty-six immortal poets. Konpira shrine.

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Figure 12.5  Hanging scroll of the ‘Sacred Dance by Mediums’. Konpira shrine.

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Figure 12.6  Shifuku, bags for tea ceremony utensils. Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd. Inscription with Rikyu Mossou, Seikadō Bunko Art Museum, Setagaya, Tokyo.

Dress completely different from that of the age of the aristocrats appeared, as clothing was tailored in pursuit of symbolic effects. Sumptuously coloured velvet, wool felt and Persian carpet were imported from Europe via the South Sea into Japan;16 generals wore these over armour17 and cloaks. This class of generals passed their time flamboyantly garbed in living spaces surrounded by wall and papered sliding paintings with an abundant amount of gold in order to display their authority. As the tradition of the tea ceremony brought from China by monks in the fifteenth century spread throughout Japan, they began to value the time spent quietly savouring

ceremonial tea in wabi-sabi, austerely simple tea rooms, which were an original creation of Japan’s. However, they used brocades and golden-brocaded satins from China and India, fragments from aristocratic houses, and then, afterwards, renovated fragments from the Shōsō-in, and other fragments for fukusa to hold the tea implements, shifuku pouches for teacups, and the mountings of the hanging scrolls of the tea rooms. They used these for contrast to the wabi-sabi space to achieve a pleasing balance.

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Notes 1 Hirotoshi Nakamura, Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) (Tokyo: Kadokawa Gakugei Shuppan, [712] 2009), 358. 2 Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), vols 1 and 2, trans. Tsutomu Ujitani (Tokyo: Kōdansha [720] 1988), 306. 3 Envoys sent by the Japanese Court to obtain Chinese culture from the seventh to the ninth century were ambassadors and judges accompanied by students and studying monks. 4 Tono Haruyuki, The Japanese Missions and the Shōsōin (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2002), 43. 5 Cloth banners used at Buddhist festivals, derived from the Sanskrit word patākā; they include hatagashira: head; hatami: body; hatade: hand; and hataashi: foot, the hatagashira-shaped triangle with tongue. 6 Kaneo Matsumoto, ‘Outline: Shōsō-in Scraps’, in Yosokuweaving: Beauty and Techniques of Dyeing, Yosuke Kashiwagi and Shizuo Takada, eds. (Tokyo: Maruzen, 1996), 60. 7 Haruyuki, The Japanese Missions and the Shōsō-in, 44. 8 Shigeki Kawakami and Kenzo Fuji, History of Weaving and Dyeing, Japan (Tokyo: Showado, 2009), 48. 9 Double weave (futae-orimono): figured on a woven base pattern that has another pattern with a different coloured thread. 10 Kara-ori: a T’ang weave, also called nuitori-ori – coloured thread is used only in parts of a figured area and does not pass through the full width of the weave like a tapestry or an embroidery. 11 Shizuo Takata, History of Clothing (Tokyo: Chuokoron-Shinsha, 2005), 140.

12 At first, monks’ robes were made by sewing together scraps of cloth that had been disposed of. Afterwards, as a vestige of this practice, they were woven in the same pattern as the images. 13 There are five elements made by alternations of Yin and Yang, which are the origins of the cosmos (wood, fire, earth, metal and water), and these are seen as being in harmony and unchanging through harmony and conflict. Subsequently, there are five seasons, five directions and five colours: wood (spring, east and blue), fire (summer, south and red), earth (mid-summer, centre and yellow), metal (autumn, west and white), and water (winter, north and black). 14 Regulations concerning official posts, clothing and personal effects in the court, nobility and aristocratic society were handed down until the nineteenth century. 15 Tsujigahana-some; tie-dyeing kimono but keeping the ground colour of white, then drawing with black and indigo on the substrate. The fabric was woven using raw silk for the warp and scoured silk for the weft, resulting in a firm, even silk. It was magnificent with its high technique, being made during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and generating the Japanese dyeing technique. 16 This is the Chinese term of contempt for other nationalities living south of China. However, in Japan, it referred to the rare objects and European trade goods obtained from the Portuguese and Spanish since the fifteenth century. It distinguished these goods from those brought by the English, Americans and Dutch. 17 Sleeveless waistcoats that warriors wore over their armour in battle that served as a symbol to give courage to their allies and to intimidate their enemies.

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13 Warp-faced Brocade in Japan SHIZUO TAKATA

Shōsō-in Office, and was approved. The study and restoration of monochrome figured silk, including colourful brocade amongst the Japanese treasures was undertaken by the author’s father, Takata Yoshio, in 1927 under commission of the Tokyo Imperial Museum (now called the Tokyo National Museum). The author has engaged in the same work using a Jacquard weaving machine since 1975, and has some degree of experience. First a sorahikibata was reconstructed and was used to test weave a warp-faced brocade using two colours of warp yarns. The next year the author attempted to weave an akeji kamon tatenishiki fabric with multiple-coloured warp yarns. The sorahikibata was in use from ancient times up to the early modern period, and is a loom that weaves the ground and the pattern. A person sits high up in the upper portion of the loom, and the process of drawing upward the necessary warp yarns to make a pattern is called sorahiki. In this way, the necessary warp yarns are drawn upwards and an opening is created to pass through the weft yarns. Ancient silk fabrics had a standard fixed width of 56 centimetres; this width meant that the number of warp yarns was greater than in later fabrics.

Warp-faced brocade is a woven fabric with a ground and pattern made with at least two colours of warp yarn and a single colour of weft yarn. With as many as 7,000 warp yarns in a fabric 56 centimetres wide, this is a brocade that requires time and effort to weave. In Japan, warpfaced brocade was woven using an ancient loom called a sorahikibata (drawloom), but in later times up to the present day, weft-faced brocade has been made that could be woven in a shorter time. Warp-faced brocade is more difficult to weave than weft-faced brocade, even if it is a beautiful fabric that was commonly woven and used in the past. It has been said that warp-faced brocade cannot be woven with the sorahikibata, but that is not the case. The Takata Institute of Japanese Imperial Classical Costume has successfully restored the weaving of warpfaced brocades by it, and possesses the actual warp-faced brocade. In late 1990, the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs proposed the restoration of the warp-faced brocades among the treasures of the Shōsō-in using the sorahikibata. This was also reported to the Imperial Household Agency

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Figure 13.1  Reproduction of a drawloom that creates warp-faced brocade. The Takata Institute of Japanese Imperial Classical Costume.

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Figure 13.2  Starting to weave Tate-Nishiki (warp-faced brocade) on a Takata drawloom. The Takata Institute of Japanese Imperial Classical Costume.

The warp yarns used to weave a warp-faced brocade in total are extremely numerous so as to hang all yarns of each colour on the loom (the density of the warp yarns is great). From among these many warp yarns the required coloured yarn is selected and drawn upwards, and then passed through the weft yarns (which is of a single colour in the case of warp-faced brocade). Because the warp yarns in a weft-faced brocade are of a single colour and there are several thousand threads, it is therefore easier to weave compared to a warp-faced brocade. When weaving a warp-faced brocade, the tension on the warp yarns must be greater than with other weaving structures in order to make them more easily manageable. When drawing them upwards, strong tension is required even with a portion of the warp yarns. Because the warp yarns are large in number they can become entangled and so warp yarns other than those required may be drawn upwards, making them hard to manipulate. For that reason, the process is lengthy and difficult.

Compared to weft-faced brocades, warp-faced brocades began to be woven in Japan in the Asuka age (sixth to seventh century), with the warp yarns of plain weave grounds or twill-weave grounds at the surface to create a pattern. Conversely, with weft-faced brocades the weft yarns of the twill-weave ground appear on the surface to form a pattern. Up to the early modern period the technique of twisting long yarns was not yet developed, and so easily manipulated or handled raw silk was used as warp yarn. Raw silk was also used for the weft that the warp was woven into, giving a feeling of stiffness replete with classical beauty and graceful refinement of colloid-rich raw silk. The weft yarns of warp-faced brocade are used in mutually related ways to function, in each of the two roles which may be described as the ground weft for making the basic part and the pattern weft that supports the creation of the pattern.

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Figure 13.3  A completed Tate-Nishiki warp-faced brocade, floral pattern on a red ground made on a reproduction drawloom. The Takata ­Institute of Japanese Imperial Classical Costume.

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Figure 13.4  This illustration shows the method of Tate-Nishiki weaving. The Takata Institute of Japanese Imperial Classical Costume.

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14 Ancient Textiles Preserved in Japan, Reborn KIYOSHI TATSUMURA

First: jōdaigire (‘ancient fabrics’), which have been preserved in large temple complexes like Hōryū-ji and Tōdai-ji in Nara, came to Japan during the seventh and eighth centuries (Asuka-Nara periods). At this time, the Japanese rapidly appropriated the Chinese culture of the Sui (581 to 618) and T’ang (618 to 907) dynasties. Then, due to the confusion of China, in the Heian period (794 to 1285) the Japanese developed their own culture and textile techniques and as a result their designs developed a uniquely Japanese flavour, as seen in the fabrics with court designs (yūsokugire). The influence of the imported textiles of the Nara period was essentially hidden in the shadows, being almost totally digested and absorbed. Second: the meibutsugire (‘famed fabrics’) brought to Japan between the end of the fourteenth through to the sixteenth century (Muromachi to Momoyama periods), were to a large extent imported from China and are representative of the cultural influx resulting from the Japan–Ming trade. Third: the sixteenth century saw the impact of the Nanban culture brought by the waves of Christian explorers from the West.

The Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd was established in 1894 in Kyoto by the founder Heizō Tatsumura. His grandson, Kiyoshi Tatsumura is now President and Chief Executive Officer. Held in high esteem, the company creates quality textiles and has been involved in significant restoration projects of historic importance. The company, Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd., continues to produce these textiles for the modern world. The beauty and complexity of ancient textiles preserved in Japan inspired the weaver director Heizō Tatsumura to resurrect lost techniques and to re-envisage fragments by translating them into whole fabrics through reproductions. Carefully analysing all aspects of the textiles, from thread characteristics to weave structures, dyes and design details he recreated the fragile old textiles and now the company continues to produce them for the modern world.

Background Four periods in Japanese history are marked by extensive imports of foreign textiles:

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Fourth: Western textiles imported into Japan in the latter half of the nineteenth century during the Meiji Period (1869 to 1912) inspired developments involving radical advances in technique and designs. Heizō Tatsumura (1876 to 1962) founded the Tatsumura Bijutsu Orimono in 1894 (Meiji 27). He recognized that even when textiles appear to be flat, two-dimensional objects, careful attention to the way the warps and wefts interlace exposes their three-dimensionality, even for very complicated weave structures. Fascinated by that threedimensionality, he worked on inventing new techniques. By the age of thirty, he had procured six patents and made thirty practical innovations. In order to create these new techniques, however, he understood that it was absolutely essential to study old textiles. His research into ancient textiles led him to appreciate the importance of preserving these textiles for the future in the form of reproductions. To realize this ambition, eminent scholars established the Shokuhōkai (Treasure of Textile) in 1921. Heizō Tatsumura reproduced jōdaigire from Hōryū-ji and the Shōsō-in and meibutsugire. He distributed the fabrics among the members of the Shokuhōkai. At the time, it was extremely difficult to undertake research on the Shōsō-in textiles, so they prioritized reproducing meibutsugire. In June of 1923 he reported on the production process and exhibited sample books for the distribution of his reproduced textiles as well as 350 bolts of fabric at the Kazoku Kaikan in Tokyo. Since the Shokuhōkai had thereby accomplished its purpose, it was dissolved, yet the resultant high esteem for the group led to the next venture. The importance of studying the precious ancient textiles was widely recognized by those in museums and eminent scholars. So, the next year, in 1924, the Imperial Museum, feeling the urgent need to reproduce Shōsō-in textiles, commissioned Heizō Tatsumura to begin to research, study and reproduce these treasures. In addition, Heizō Tatsumura confirmed that the famous ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’ preserved at Hōryū-ji was an exceptionally masterful example of ancient textiles. From 1924 onwards, he worked at recreating accurate reproductions. Then in 1937, after the conservation of the Tōin main worship hall and the Yumedono hall at Hōryū-ji, it was decided to make new altar curtains using the ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’. Heizō Tatsumura was commissioned to create these. Based on educated guesswork, he reconstructed the original colour

scheme and completed the curtains in June of 1939. The second and third generation Tatsumuras took over the job of reproducing old fabrics and the present fourth generation Tatsumura continues this work.

The Origins of the Textiles that were Reproduced The Japanese reception of Buddhism during the latter half of the sixth century and the seventh century, led to developments in the production of fine arts and to the emergence of advanced textile techniques, as evidenced by the jōdaigire dating to the seventh and eighth centuries. The majority and best quality of these ancient textiles are those preserved at the temple of Hōryū-ji and in the Shōsō-in Repository of Tōdai-ji. Among these textiles, the Hōryū-ji ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’ and the Shōsō-in ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’ as well as the ‘Samite with Design of Large Hōsōge-style Floral Scrolls on a Blue Ground’ can be counted among the finest well-known weftfaced twill compound-weave fabrics from the Sui and T’ang dynasties. The temple of Hōryū-ji, initially called Ikaruga-dera, was built around 606 or 607 by the early patron of Buddhism, Prince Shōtoku (574 to 622), adjoining his private home, Ikaruga-miya. The second oldest Buddhist temple complex in Japan, Hōryū-ji has preserved textiles dating as far back as the mid-seventh century (Asuka to Hakuhō periods). In 1884 (Meiji 17) when Ernest Fenollosa1 and Okakura Tenshin2 opened the sealed doors of Hōryū-ji’s Yumedono Hall they found the ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’ wrapped around a reliquary containing a statue of the Guze Kannon. Earlier, sometime after 1842, a note referring to a drawing of this samite appeared in the republication of the Ontakaramono zue tsuihen (Re-edited Drawings of the Treasures [of Hōryū-ji]). The caption to the drawing stated, ‘Banner made of samite with a fourcorner design, Shilla, a treasured flag used when quelling barbarians.’ The drawing, by the Edo ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kunio (1793 to 1854), showed the samite mounted as a hanging scroll; the samite is presently stored in a frame. In contrast to this seventh-century piece, the Shōsō-in textiles date for the large part from the eighth century (Nara period, 710 to 784), a large portion being from the

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celebrations surrounding the 752 Consecration of the Great Buddha or the 757 observance of the first anniversary of the death of Emperor Shōmu (701 to 756). Other textiles were among Emperor Shōmu’s favourite items donated to the Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji by his consort Empress Kōmyō on the forty-ninth day after his death (twenty-first day of the sixth month of 756). The items given to the Tōda-iji were later stored in the temple repository, or the Shōsō-in. These two well-preserved collections of ancient textiles in Japan constitute incomparably precious material of great significance.

Reproduction of the Fabrics 3–1 ‘Samite (Nishiki) with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’. Figure 14.1-1: (1) Overview of the original textile and its reproduction. The original fabric was preserved in the Yumedono Hall of Hōryū-ji temple. It was discovered in 1884 when the sealed door of the Yumedono was opened by Ernest Fenellosa and Okakura Tenshin while doing research on Japanese art objects. The original cloth is a single piece measuring 250.3 centimetres by 134.5 centimetres with a selvedge on one edge. Figure 14.1-2 and Figure 14.1-3 The main motif of circular medallions appears in five rows of three columns. Scrolling honeysuckle vines surround the medallions as a sub-motif. Considering

Figure 14.1-2  ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’ (left). 7th century. Figure 14.1-3  (right) shows a detail. National Treasure. Shiki-shishikari-mon Nishiki. Hōryū-ji. Images provided by Nara National Museum. Photographs by Kinji Morimura. Figure 14.1-1  Reproduction of the ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’. Shitenno-shiryo-monyo Nishiki. (Shiki-shishikari-mon Nishiki.) Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd.

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that Hōryū-ji was founded in the seventh century, it is astounding that 1,400 years ago a samite as excellent as this one could have already been woven. The design inside the medallions is known as the ‘Parthian Shot’ and depicts four mounted Persian-like royalty turning back on their horses and shooting arrows into lions. The medallions are vertically symmetrical left and right in a so-called ‘folding screen’ format. The horses that the Persian-like royalty ride bear Chinese characters for ‘mountain’ and ‘good luck’ woven on their hind thighs. From this one can conclude that the Persian design was produced in T’ang dynasty China. The design, thus, is famously cited as representative of the Silk Roads and serves as an icon of an ancient textile said to have been woven in the first half of the seventh century. The first time Heizō Tatsumura reproduced this fabric was around 1925. He took a photograph of the original, magnified it, analysed the weave structure, sketched out each intersection of the warp and weft one by one, and brought the design back to life. Though most of the ancient textiles remain only as fragments, this fabric retains its complete pattern in a single piece, so the reproduced fabric could be treated similarly to the original. (2) Specifications of the textile. (a) Materials, colours, dyes Material: silk, weft 21d / 4 twist × 33. Colours: Since the colours have faded and the wefts have broken on the original fabric, the old textile does not transmit its initial state entirely. Today the faded colours appear as light brown, but judging from a record in the Shōtoku Taishi denshiki (Chronicle of Prince Shōtoku, ‘Gōfūzō’ part) stating, ‘Samite with four-corner design, about one jo (thirty metres), red background’, the samite was originally red, probably a bright red with clearly delineated horse-riding hunters, a gorgeous samite. Dyes: The wefts of six colours are brown, dark blue, off-white, yellow, green and greyish blue. The dye colours were based on the natural dyes noted in the Engishiki (Codes of the Engi Era).4 (b) Weave structure and technique Weave structure: complementary weft-faced twill compound weave (samite). Number of Jacquard pattern rods: 332 (left/right symmetry).

Set-up: Weave structure: weft-faced 3-harness ‘S’ twill compound weave. Warp count: 27.7 warps per cm. Weft count: 116.0 wefts per cm. Pattern unit height: 54.3 cm. Pattern unit width (woven): 46.7 cm. Main motif diameter: 45.7 cm. Hidden warps: 21d / 4 ply × 45. Structural warps: 21d / 2 ply × 2.

3–2 ‘Samite (Nishiki) with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Figure 14.2-1: (1) Overview of the original textile and its reproduction. As is well known, numerous ancient fabrics from the Nara period are preserved in the Shōsō-in (the official warehouse). The preservation methods are various, but the most complex is that of fabric fragments. Large number of textiles are stored in chests, but those that have been sorted as a result of long years of labour by the Office of the Shōsō-in in the Imperial Household have been pasted one by one into sample books of ancient textiles. Of these, presently over a thousand compound weave (nishiki) fragments thought to belong to a single samite design have been discovered; these are fragments of the famous ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. (Figure 14.2-2, Figure 14.2-3 and Figure 14.2-4). Quite a number of photographs of these fragments have been published. Since about thirty years ago, our company has continued to work on assembling the design. We have reconstructed the pattern by combining sixteen representative fragments and sketching the design (Figure 14.2-6). The resultant completed design clarified that the basic composition of the rhinoceros bead medallion is essentially the same as that of the ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’ at Hoˉryuˉ-ji: a round symmetrical pattern. This made it possible to essentially reconstruct the entire sketch (Figure 14.2-7). Based on the sketch of the fragments, it is clear that a medallion motif is made up of at least two pattern units across the width of the fabric. Learning from the ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’, we decided to reproduce it with three pattern units for the width. The medallion on the assembled fragments is elongated vertically, but, here too, referencing the ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’, we decided to

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Figure 14.2-1  Reproduction of the ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Sai-renju-mon Nishiki. (Sai-enmon Nishiki.) Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd.

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Figure 14.2-2 Fragments of the original ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Sai-enmon Nishiki. Fragments (Kogire-cho). Shōsō-in Treasure House.

Figure 14.2-3  Weave structure of the original ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Detail showing weft-faced, 3-harness, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Sai-enmon Nishiki. Fragment (Kogire-cho). Shoˉsoˉ-in Treasure House.

Figure 14.2-4 (detail) and 14.2-5 (detail).  ‘Samite with Design of a Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. 8th century. Sai-enmon Nishiki. Fragments (Kogire-cho). Shoˉsoˉ-in Treasure House.

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Figure 14.2-6  Composition based on the fragments of the original ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Sai-enmon Nishiki. Fragments (Kogire-cho). Design Composition. Shoˉsoˉ-in Treasure House.

make the medallion round with identical vertical and horizontal diameters based on the horizontal diameter. We set the vertical repeat at three sets. We wove the part of the design that remained unclear even when all the fragments were assembled with a conjectural design in black outline. Weaving the reproduction began in 1990 and was completed in approximately one year. The width of the reproduced fabric is over 170 centimetres, and since a

single weaver cannot handle the shuttle for this width, two weavers co-operated by throwing the shuttle back and forth between them, a weaving technique that co-ordinates the breathing of the weavers. This samite is a precious piece in the bead/medallion category of designs and there are theories about its geographic source and time frame. Among the designs with circular bands with strings of bead-like rounds, those that

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Figure 14.2-7  Design Sketch of the Reproduction of the ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Sai-enmon Nishiki. Illustration by Kiyoshi Tatsumura.

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have main motifs of two facing rhinoceroses under a tree or of lions looking backward have sub-motifs of a lotus in the centre with scrolling vines bearing grape-like fruit and leaves filling the space between. This type of design was popular in Sassanian Persia and spread from there throughout the world. Along with the ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’, this important piece signifies the East–West cultural exchange along the Silk Road. (2) Specifications of the textile. (a) Materials, colours, dyes Material: silk, weft threads 21d / 4 twist × 2 Colours: The fabric has faded so that is does not reflect the original colour scheme. To determine the colours, we were able to reference the ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’ to infer the correspondences between faded and original colours. Dyes: The silk threads are of six colours: light brown, white, blue, yellow, green and reddish tan. We replicated colours based on the natural dyes noted in the Engishiki (Codes of the Engi Era). (b) Weave structure and technique Weave structure: complementary weft-faced twill compound weave (samite). Number of Jacquard pattern rods: 399 (left / right symmetry).

Set-up: Weave structure: weft-faced 3-harness ‘S’ twist twill compound weave. Warp count: 27.4 warps per cm. Weft count: 231.8 wefts per cm. Pattern unit height: 59.7 cm. Pattern unit width (woven): 57.5 cm. Main motif diameter: 51.9 cm. Hidden warps: 21d / 6 twist × 2. Structural warps: 21d / 4 ply × 1. 3-3 ‘Samite (Nishiki) with Design of Large Hoˉ soˉ gestyle Floral Scrolls on a Blue Ground’ Figure 14.3-1: (1) Overview of the original textile and its reproduction. The design on this samite is the largest in the Shōsō-in. The imaginary floral pattern, known as hōsōge, combines a composite floral motif (karahana) with scrolling vines (karakusa). Hōsōge designs have peonies or lotus or four-petal flowers integrated into a gorgeous pattern and were at their peak of popularity during the Sui and T’ang dynasties in China. This one, with its exquisite

grandiose magnificence unparalleled elsewhere, ranks as the largest of hōsōge samites. Originally the fabric was used as a cloth bag for a biwa (lute), but at present it has been separated into individual fragments (Figure 14.3.4). One fragment is stored in the Gallery of Hoˉryuˉ-ji Treasures at Tokyo National Museum in the form of a lined flower-shaped samite. It was reproduced at the beginning of the Shoˉwa period (1925 to 88), but in 1990 we were commissioned to reproduce it once again. Using better equipment for examination and analysis, we researched the entire design. Then, combining this with the results of other research done in recent years, we made a copy of the original bag (Figure 14.3-2). When sewing it together, we made use of existing data to follow the traces of stitches on the original fabric as closely as possible (Figure 14.3-3). Based on the eleven dismantled samite fragments of the biwa bag (front 2, back 1, side 6, flower-shaped 2), we investigated the density of the silk weave. The pattern structure for a quarter of the design, which has left/right symmetry and upper/lower repeats, was gleaned from a magnification photo of the original piece. This was then transferred to a graph sketch one dot by one dot to plot the design sketch and bring it back to life. The original piece has a main motif with a 48-centimetre diameter and in order to sew the fabric into the biwa bag, it was estimated that the woven width would need to have two pattern units, resulting in a weaving width of approximately 113.6 centimetres. (2) Specifications of the textile. (a) Materials, colours, dyes Materials: silk, weft threads 42d / 1 twist × 4 to 5. Colours: Although the piece has faded and there are breaks in the weft threads, the portions inside the seams retained comparatively original colours and these sections were used to devise the overall colour scheme. Colours: weft threads of nine colours: blue, dark green, green, white, tan, yellow, light scarlet, red and purple. Natural dyes listed in the Engishiki (Codes of the Engi Era), such as indigo, phellodendron, miscanthus, madder, acorns, gardenia, sappanwood and gromwell were used. They were overdyed to produce the desired colours. (b) Weave structure and technique Weave structure: complementary weft-faced twill compound weave (samite).

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Figure 14.3-1  Reproduction of the ‘Samite with Design of Large Hōsōge-style Floral Scrolls on a Blue Ground’. Commissioned for a bag for a biwa (lute) musical instrument. Hanada-ji Okarahana-mon Nishiki. Shōsō-in Treasure House. Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd.

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Figure 14.3-2  Reproduction of the bag for a biwa (lute). Shōsō-in Treasure House.

Figure 14.3-3  Bag for biwa. Shōsō-in Treasure House.

Figure 14.3-4  Fragments of the original ‘Samite with Design of Large Hōsōge-style Floral Scrolls on a Blue Ground’. Shōsō-in Treasure House.

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Number of Jacquard pattern rods: 807 (left/right symmetry).

Set-up: Weave structure: weft-faced 3-harness ‘Z’ twill compound weave. Warp count: 41.6 warps per cm. Weft count: 207.2 wefts per cm. Pattern unit height: 58.7 cm. Pattern unit width (woven): 57.5 cm. Main motif diameter: 53.0 cm. Hidden warps: 31d, 42d, 63d / 1 twist × 2. Structural warps: 31d, 42d, 63d / 1 twist × 2.

4. Reconstructed Textiles for Distribution 4-1 Joˉdaigire (silk in sixth to eighth century). (1) Compound Weave Fabric with ‘Design of Circles Enclosing White Tigers and Zhuˉquè Birds’. (Figure 14.4-1). This warp-faced compound weave fabric has rings of small rounds encircling rings of honeysucklestyle scrolling vines enclosing special Chinese good luck motifs of zhūquè (flaming birds) and the white tigers. The birds and tigers appear in alternate rows. Pairs of horses alternating with pairs of deer fill the spaces between the rings. Similar warp-faced compound-weave textiles have been discovered in the Central Asian area of Astana. Original piece: Fabric for a banner field in the Shokkō Nishiki Aya Ban (Banner of Compound Weave and Twill Damask Fabrics) at The Gallery of Hōryū-ji Treasures at the Tokyo National Museum (Figure 14.4-2). (2) ‘Samite (Nishiki) with Design of Mandarin Ducks and Scrolling Vines’. (Figure 14.5-1). This complementary weft-faced compound weave fabric (samite) skilfully makes full use of about ten colours of weft threads to weave fullbodied mandarin ducks and beautifully scrolling vines on a bright red ground in a display of truly marvellous harmony. Even among the many ancient compound-weave fabrics, this famous piece belongs in the top class. Original piece: Large banner leg ornament, eighth century, Shōsō-in. Figure 14.5-2. (3) Chōhankin (striped warp-faced compound weave) with ‘Design of Lion Faces’. Figure 14.6-1. Four vertical stripes of different colours contain motifs of lion faces baring their teeth. The design on this warp-faced

compound weave is rather stylized and is thought to derive from the ancient Chinese zoomorphic mask designs seen on bronze vessels. Original piece: Shitōzu socks, eighth century, Shoˉsoˉ-in. Figure 14.6-2. 4–2 Meibutsugire (named fragment). (1) Kuwayama Kantō. At first glance this striped fabric (kantō or kandō) gives the sense of being a Mogul piece. The design of a flower and rabbits seen commonly on gold brocaded fabrics (kinran), is skilfully woven into bands. Original piece: shifuku (tea caddy pouch), Seikadō Bunko Art Museum, Setagaya, Tokyo (see Figure 12.6, p. 274). (2) Nishiki fabric with brocaded design of floral scrolls, dragons and phoenixes. This splendid textile with supplementary weft patterning has a design of five-claw dragons and phoenixes between scrolling vines with large five-petal flowers. The textured foundation wefts are strongly twisted with nodules. Original piece: shifuku (tea caddy pouch), Ming dynasty, Gotoh Museum, Setagaya, Tokyo.

Notes 1

2

3

4

5

Ernest Fenollosa (1853 to 1908). American art historian and professor of politics, economics and philosophy at the Tokyo Imperial University from 1878 to 1886. He founded the Tokyo Art School. Okakura Tenshin (1863 to 1913). Art administrator, educator and historian. After graduating from Tokyo University in 1880, he joined the Ministry of Culture, initiated art education in Japan and addressed problems related to the conservation of ancient art. He became head of the Tokyo Art School in 1890. A single silk thread had a core of four strands of twenty-one denier twist, and three core elements were plied into one thread, thus the thread consists of twelve strands in all: 21d / 4 twist × 3 ply. Engishiki (927) lists procedures and codes governing the Imperial Court ceremonies and the provincial governments. In the volume on sacred papers and the Ministry of Needlework, it details the costumes worn for festivals and events, recording the garments, types of fabrics, designs and dye plants used in ancient times. The core elements are made of four strands with ‘Z’ or ‘S’ twist plied together with the opposite twist. Four of these are then plied together, e.g. four ‘Z’ twist strands plied into a single element with a ‘S’ twist. Four of these ‘S’ twist elements are then plied together with a ‘Z’ twist. All-in-all one thread is made up of sixteen strands.

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Figure 14.4-1  Reconstructed warp-faced compound weave fabric with ‘Design of Circles Enclosing White Tigers and Zhūquè Birds’. En-mon Byakko-suzaku Nishiki. Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd.

Figure 14.5-1  Reconstructed ‘Samite with Design of Mandarin Ducks and Scrolling Vines’. Oshidori-karakusa-mon Nishiki. Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd.

Figure 14.4-2  Warp-faced compound weave fabric with ‘Design of Circles Enclosing White Tigers and Zhūquè Birds’. 7th–8th century. Shokko-kin Aya-ban Tsubo-gire. The Gallery of Hōryū-ji Treasures. Tokyo National Museum.

Figure 14.5-2  ‘Samite with Design of Mandarin Ducks and Scrolling Vines’ (middle, right). 8th century. Aka-ji Oshidori-­karakusa-mon Nishiki. Large banner leg ornament. Shōsō-in Treasure House.

Figure 14.6-2  Chōhankin (striped, warp-faced compound weave) with ‘Design of Lion Faces’. 8th century. Nishiki Shitozu. Sock. Shōsō-in ­Treasure House. Figure 14.6-1 Reconstructed Chōhankin with ‘Design of Lion Faces’. Shikami-mon Chōhankin. Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd.

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BYZANTINE SAMITE

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab Proto-Elam civilization 2800 BCE Sumer civilization

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

Multi-coloured interior decoration – murals and sculptures

Pottery with pattern; glazing, colour and alternative decoration (costume with pattern) Egypt, card weaving Fabric dyed purple and red in Mohenjodaro

 

 

 

 

3400 to 1400 BCE Minos (Crete) civilization

Immigration and settlement of the Canaanites from Arabia to Lebanon

2686 to ca.2185 BCE Old Kingdom of Egypt Resident of Indo-European languages; Iranian at Iranian Plateau

Brocade with two weft threads in Western Iran Glazed architectural decoration featuring costume patterns  

   

1900 BCE Conquest of Syria by Assyria   1850 BCE Conquest of Palestine by   Egypt

 

1830 to 1530 BCE Babylonian dynasty

 

Sophisticated relief of brocade tunic

Around 1600 BCE Egypt acquires Syria

 

Embroidered textiles introduced to Egypt

Around 1570 to 1070 BCE New Kingdom of Egypt

 

Purple painted textile in the Thebes mural

Tyre + Sidon + Beirut = Phoenician   Flourishing together the Canaan culture   is formed (Amarna letters) Export of Lebanese cedar and handicrafts; import of materials for   crafts

     

1200 to 1000 BCE Zoroastrianism

11 to 700 BCE Greek geometric style

1200 BCE Canaan subverted by Semites around this time

 

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After 12th century CE Phoenician trading (Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 27, 9–25) Flourishing trade of textiles and gold, silver and ivory works

Century

Brocades

Europe/Russia

Middle East/India/China

Japan

35 to 27 BCE

 

 

3000 BCE painted pottery in the East

 

28 BCE

 

 

Sannai-Maruyama site

 

 

Sericulture and silk weaving in China Fabric dyed purple and red in Mohenjo-daro (around 2500 to 1800 BCE)

 

 

 

Indus civilization

 

30 to 20 BCE

 

 

 

 

 

Arrival of Scythian culture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18 BCE

 

 

  Brocade with two-warp weaving in China 1750 BCE Aryans invaded the Upper Ganges

17 BCE

 

　

1600 BCE Yin

 

16 BCE

 

 

15 BCE

 

 

China: Brocade crossing warp in ground and supplementary patterned weft/warp  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1200 to 500 BCE Civilization of Hallstatt

 

 

12 BCE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

27 BCE

 

 

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295

 

 

   

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

 

 

Established Tyrian purple dyeing and trading begins

David (1000 to 961 BCE)

 

 

Capital relocation to Jerusalem, Psalms

Rome Etruscan culture 8th century BCE to 2nd century CE

Mantle with multi-coloured borders

 

Homer, The Iliad

The election of Solomon’s Temple, Solomon (971 to 931 BCE) Phoenicians settled in Carthage and Etruria 9th to 8th century BCE Conquest of Syria and Palestine

“a purple cloak” in book (10th)  

“a purple web of double fold” in book (22nd)

Late 8th century to 550 BCE Media

 

 

Syrian overland trade fluorishes

　

 

700s BCE Greece, Archaic period

  Tyrian purple, kermes, ivory, glass. Black painted pottery featuring patterned costumes Syria trade; Tyrian purple, kermes, ivory, glass, black-painted pottery showing costume with patterns China 8 BCE to 6 CE warp-faced silk brocade Sculpture showing costume with patterns

Ships made of Lebanese cedar play an important role Cylindrical seal/painted pottery

 

Beyond the Pillars of Hercules 500s BCE Greece, Attica period (Gibraltar) 587 BCE Fall of Jerusalem by NeoBabylonian Empire, taking control of Syria 8th to 1st century BCE Rome – Italian Imitation of Canaan culture; The Old Testament, alphabet art, figures with multi-coloured borders and patchwork capes

   

559 to 330 BCE Achaemenid Empire

 

Jewish people return to Jerusalem

 

Reconstruction of Temple in Jerusalem 539 BCE Conquest of Babylonia

   

524 BCE Cambyses II succession to the Egyptian throne

 

6th century BCE textile dyed with Tyrian purple in Southern Russia

 

 

 

5th century BCE Herodotus ‘The Histories’

521 to 485 BCE Darius I Royal Road/Qanat/canal

Sphragistic sealed currency court life (central city: Susa)

6th century BCE Tyrian purple. Rome; Figures of multi-coloured borders and patchwork capes   Dorian peplos with brocade borders

Red costumes dyed with madder in Libya Delphi is given a present of a purpleblue coloured costume as a present Persian princess weaves colourful outerwear for the King

 

  515 BCE Reconstruction of Temple in Jerusalem

 

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

296

Century

Brocades

Europe/Russia

12 to 8 BCE

 

 

11 BCE

 

 

Invasion of the Upper Ganges

Jomon period 1000 to 400 BCE

 

 

 

1027 BCE Zhou dynasty

 

10 BCE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9 BCE

 

 

 

 

8 BCE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8th century BCE to 2nd century CE Etruscan Culture

770 BCE Spring and Autumn and Warring States period

 

 

 

 

760 BCE Qin Shi Hang

 

7 BCE

 

8th to 3rd century BCE Scythian Culture

 

 

 

7th century BCE ‘Ramayana’ description of Chinese silk

 

6 BCE

 

500 to 100 BCE Celtic/La Tène culture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carthaginian invasion of the Iberian

 

 

 

Ch2-1

 

 

 

   

Ch2-2 Ch6-1

   

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

    6th century BCE Textile dyed with Tyrian purple from Southern Russia  

 

 

 

 

Sogdiana trade Iranian Sughd language (etymology of Uyghurs)

 

 

 

Capital: Samarkand

 

 

 

 

Longtime rule of the Silk Roads  

 

 

5th to 2nd century BCE La Tène culture

 

800 to 500 BCE Hallstatt culture  

Middle East/India/China

Japan  

 

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

 

 

297

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

420 BCE Established Early Judaism

480 to 323 BCE Greece – Classical period

5th to 4th century BCE Red silk textile from Southern Siberia

 

Macedonia increases in power

Glazing bricks feature brocade tunic (Susa)

336 to 330 BCE Darius III

379 to 78 BCE Rise of Thebes

Brocade textiles prevail in Babylon Treasures of Persia and Syria go to   Alexander the Great (334 to 323 BCE) Greece 333 BCE Battle of Issus, Conquest ‘Parallel Lives’; Alexander the Great   of Mediterranean Asia Imitation of acquires 190 years stores of red-purple Achaemenid Empire dye   305 to 30 BCE Ptolemaic dynasty Hellenistic period 323 to 30 BCE Trade in valuable wool textiles in 312 BCE Seleucid Empire established   Damascus and Gaza Syria Capital: Antioch

 

Greek・Macedonian + Syrian = Persian culture

 

Trade of Tyrian purple in Sidon and Tyre Tyrian purple, gold crown and costume in the Syrian Palace 4th to 2nd century BCE Description in the Old Testament

  248 to 226 BCE Parthian Empire independence from Syria and gains an important position on the Silk Roads 243 to 241 BCE Pergamon・Parthian Empire independence from Syria

Tent and curtain (blue, purple and red dyed tapestry)    

140 to 37 BCE Hasmonean dynasty

 

 

146 BCE Rome won the battle of Carthage

96 BCE Arabic Nabataeans emerge (Petra)

 

 

 

51 BCE Invasion of Syria by Parthia

63 BCE Seleucid Empire abolished by Rome

37 BCE to 4 CE Herod the Great becomes Jerusalem’s King 30 BCE Demolition of Ptolemaic dynasty

Vestment and belt (blue, purple, red and gold coloured tapestry) 4th to 2nd century BCE Description in the Old Testament – Tent and curtain (blue, purple, red and gold coloured tapestry); Solomon asked experienced weavers for deep red and deep blue textiles to Tyrus’s king for building the temple; red-purple wool textile from Elisha for the shade of the deck; wool was not used for the temple Rome imports raw silk from China also silk textile, Tyrian purple and pearls from Damascus and Gaza

 

1 BCE Senate in Rome

27 BCE to 395 CE Roman Empire

Toga with purple borders (stately tunic)

6 BCE Jesus Christ’s birth

 

Trachycarpus tunic with purple silk embroidery worn on triumphal return

 

34 CE Paul, conversion to Christianity

Caesar wears purple costume

Iranian culture shows a nascent revival

 

Purple textiles prohibited, except for the Emperor

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

298

Century

Brocades

Europe/Russia

Middle East/India/China

Japan

5 BCE

Ch6-2

4 BCE

 

 

 

5th to 4th century BCE Red silk textile from Southern Siberia Flower pattern borders and patterns of people on horseback  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    3rd century BCE to 1st century The early Yayoi CE former Han period Brocade with water caltrop, circle and animals pattern

 

 

 

(Tomb of Jiangling Mashan)

 

 

 

 

317 BCE Maurya Empire in India

 

3 BCE

 

 

221 BCE Qin Shi Huang

 

 

 

 

Beginning of the Silk Roads

 

 

Ch3-1

 

 

2 BCE

Ch3-2

 

 

Ch2-3

 

1 BCE

 

133 BCE Romanization of Andalusia

202 BCE to 8 CE Han dynasty Han dynasty provided silk textiles to Xiongnu Two-coloured brocade with plain and twill weave 139 BCE Zhang Qian sent to Yuezhi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

37 BCE to 668 CE Goguryeo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 CE

 

 

 

 

 

1st century CE King of Khotan married a Chinese princess Import of cocoons (DandanUyliq mural)

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

299

     

   

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

 

Nero (54 to 68 CE)

Figures of Hatra pattern costume in Parthia

 

64 CE Persecution for Christianity

170s CE Parthian embroidery 23 to 79 CE ‘Natural History: A Selection’ by Pliny the Elder Description of dyeing technique of Tyrian purple; silk from forest products Tyrian purple used for interior decoration

  2nd to 3rd century CE Weft-faced brocade from Central Asia to Syria 3rd to 7th century CE Brocade in Egypt, woven by Nuitoriori etc. Famous as valuable textile production area

Hadrian (117 to 138 CE)

121 CE Eastern expedition  

Subject: Greek mythology

Coptic textiles

Roman-Parthian War

Compilation of Avesta

 

Palmyra showing silk upon surrender to Zenobia  

225 CE Demolition of Parthia

Golden Age of Roman Empire

 

226 CE Sassanian Empire

 

 

Zoroastrianism is state religion

 

 

241 CE Invasion of Syria and conquest of Kushan by Shapur I 3rd century CE Kushan/Sassanian Empire 309 to 379 CE Shapur II accession Persia: Taq-i Bustan built      

  Syrian silk craftsman forced migration to Khuzestan 312 CE Archbasilica of St. John Lateran Silk threads bought from Hotan 314 to 1309 CE Residency of Pope in   the Palace of church Persia: Weavers brought back from   Syria Constantine the Great (324 to 337 CE)   330 CE Capital relocation to   Constantinople

 

 

Establishment of Christianity

 

 

 

Silk exchange from Persia confined to Nisibis

 

Theodosius I (379 to 395 CE)

 

Excavation of Antinoë

396 to 476 CE Western Roman Empire 431 CE Council of Ephesus ‘Birth Giver of God’

Byzantine; partial brocade or embroidery featured in costumes

 

Marcianos (450 to 457 CE)

Byzantine pattern; Greek and Iran mythology and Old Testament

 

451 CE Council of Chalcedon

 

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

300

Century

Brocades

Europe/Russia

Middle East/India/China

 

 

 

25 to 220 CE Later Han

 

 

 

Gift of lion from Parthia

 

 

 

China : Golden Age of warpfaced silk weaving

2 CE

Ch2-4

Hadrian’s Wall in Roman Britain

100 CE Iranian Kushan Empire flourished

 

 

 

 

Gandhara style

 

 

 

 

Export of silk to Rome and India

 

3 CE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ch2-6

 

 

Ch6-4

 

 

 

 

  220 to 280 CE Three Kingdoms 3rd century CE Syokkoukin, around Shu Production of quality raw silk along the river in Shu Han

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LYO 4

 

 

 

4 CE

ABG 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  375 CE Germanic migration period

 

 

 

Ch6-2

 

320 to 550 CE Gupta Empire unifying India

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABG 1, 3

 

 

Prince during the period of Chandragupta Maurya wore gold metal woven textile, written about by the Greek Ambassador

 

 

 

 

Mid- 5th century CE Brocade from Baekje-Nishikibe

5 CE

Ch6-3, Ch6-5

 

MFA 1

 

 

4th to 6th century CE Christianization in England 418 CE Established Visigothic Kingdom in Southern Gaul and Hispania

481 CE Merovingian dynasty founded by Clovis I 496 CE Clovis I and his retainers converted to Catholicism

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

301

Japan 2nd to 3rd century CE Yamatai Himiko’s envoys go to Cao Wei Tribute to textiles called ‘Hampu’

   

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

 

Leo I (457 to 474 CE)

Ancient parallelled pattern similar to Cylinder Seal Subjects; Greek mythology

 

Imperial crown from archbishop

 

Invasion of Persia by Hephthalites and loss of the Eastern area

476 CE Western Roman Empire abolished Justinian I (527 to 565 CE) Golden Age of Byzantine

 

  Silk cultivation

527 to 548 CE Basilica of San Vitale

Presenting costumes of Emperor and Queen depicted in mosaic

529 CE The Academy closed in Athens (Academics move to Persia)

 

531 to 578 CE Khosrow I

Antioch sieged by Persia

Tyrian purple workshop (Planitta Byzantina)

Fall of Antioch

537 CE Hagia Sophia

Ruin of the workshop in Propontis

 

Costumes of Saint and Magi depicted in mosaic

Height of Sassanian Empire culture

Capital: Ctesiphon

550 CE Church of the Holy Apostles rebuilt

 

 

552 CE Sicily acquired by Byzantine Empire

 

558 CE Union with Western Turkic Khaganate King’s tent with patterned silk described in travels

554 CE Hispania conquer southern   region 554 CE The whole Italian land annexed   by Byzantine Empire 562 CE Reiterating Pacification and war   with Khosrow

End 6th century CE Zandaniji Silk woven by Sogd

565 CE Ravenna Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo

 

590 to 627 CE Khosrow II

568 CE Göktürks legation Trade with China based in Samarkand

 

611 to 628 CE Occupation of Antioch

 

 

Fall of Jerusalem (letting art historians and technicians move to Iran)

 

Silk weaving workshop in Alexandria

Taq-i Bustan constructed

610 to 641 CE Heraclius

Taq-i Bustan indicates patterns of simorghs, peacocks, heads of wild boars, ducks confronting birds in costumes

632 CE Islamic Empire

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

302

Century

Brocades

Europe/Russia

Middle East/India/China

Japan

 

BRX 5

 

Officials wear embroidered brocade in Goguryeo

 

 

SEN 2, 7, 10

493 CE Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy

Ungen (means gradation) brocade and five-coloured brocade

 

 

MFA 2, 3

Capital: Ravenna

 

 

6 CE

MET 1

5th to 6th century CE Anglo-Saxons

Northern Wei (386 to 534 CE)

 

 

AAC 2, 3

 

 

 

 

VAM 1, 2, MFA 4  

 

 

 

Ch2-7, SRM 7

Woad (Isatis tinctoria, Indigo) widely cultivated

 

SEN 6, 11

 

 

 

554 CE Byzantine occupied west-eastern area of Iberian Peninsula

5th to 6th century CE Circle patterns of wild boar’s head in   archaeological area of Sogd 6 CE Cao Wei made Göktürks a 538 to 645 CE present of brocades each year Asuka period (Book of Sui)

  607 CE Japanese missions to Sui China 6th to 8th century CE Treasure of Hˉoryˉu-ji

 

AAC 6

 

552 CE Founded Göktürks

 

CLU 2, 4

 

Silk woven textile from China (Book of Zhou)

 

Ch6-10

 

Sogdia under the rule of Western Turkic Khaganate

 

 

MAA 5

 

581 to 618 CE Sui dynasty

 

 

MAD 1, MET 3

Circle patterns found in Dunhuang

 

 

LYO 3, MFA 5

 

618 to 907 CE T’ang dynasty

630 CE Japanese missions to T’ang China

 

LOU 3, 4, 5, VAT 1

589 CE RecaredoⅠ(Visigothic) Byzantine disappeared from Iberian Peninsula

7 CE

Ch14-2

 

 

SEN 9

7th century CE Slavs settled

583 to 657 CE Founded Western Turkic Khaganate, silk brocade costumes in the Royal Palace (Book of Wei) 632 CE Khotan had a tributary relationship with T’ang dynasty Sogd maintained their culture and commerce in Samarkand Place of production: Bukhara fortress town – Zandaniji

 

MET 4

7th century CE Canterbury Cathedral

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

 

   

 

303

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

Striking back at Persia

 

626 CE Destruction of the Aqueduct by Pannonian Avars 636 CE Conquest of Syria by Arab 630 CE Conquest of Mecca by   Muhammad military Production area of silk with gold metal 638 CE Conquest of Jerusalem by Arab force thread moves to Greece 641 to 668 CE Constans II 642 CE 641 CE Conquest of Egypt by Arab Brocade supplied to Muslim region by Conquest of Alexandria by Islamic force Syrian craftsmen Army Silk cultivation and brocade technique 651 CE Demolition of Sassanian Empire introduced to Spain 651 CE Sassanian prince, Peroz attendant, craftsman exiled to T’ang)

Weakened Byzantine culture

Emperors were being raised to wear the colour purple

661 to 750 CE Umayyad Caliphate (Arab and Islamic World)

697 CE Carthage Conquest by Islam

8th century CE Weavers return to Byzantine Empire from Baghdad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Establishment of Thema

 

Capital: Damascus

698 to 705 CE Tiberius II Constantine

713 CE Silk factory established, especially for the emperor, based in the suburbs of the empire city

Craftsmen of Zoroastrianism defect Gujarat in the West Indian, Yazd and Kerman Province

Offence and defence between Islamic Army and Sicily

Construction on the site of the Tacinius bath

 

 

 

718 CE Leo III the Isaurian win a battle over Umayyad Caliphate

Pattern: changed patterns influenced by Sassanian brocade

750 to 1258 CE Abbasid Caliphate (supported by Iran)

717 to 741 CE Leo III the Isaurian

 

Capital: Baghdad (culture influenced by that of Sassanian)

726 CE Iconoclasm

 

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

304

Century

Brocades

Europe/Russia

 

VAM 6

 

LOU 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10

 

VAT 2, 3

 

LYO 1, 2

 

Ch14-1

 

KSU 1

 

Ch14-2, Ch14-3, Ch14-4, SEN 1

 

SRM 1, 3, 4

 

LYO 7

(Holy place from 12th century CE) 623 to 640 CE Pepin of Landen governing Belgium 681 Foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire

Middle East/India/China  

6th to 7th century CE Kizil Caves Ganjucho circle pattern in the 60th cave 676 to 935 CE Silla unified 711 CE Islamized Spain the Korean Peninsula 7th century CE Prevalence of Silk cultivation and brocade silk jackets with circle pattern technique introduced to Spain of birds in Turpan 687 to 714 CE Pepin of   Herstal Birth of Carl Martel between Pepin of Herstal and daughter of Noble lineage in   Maastricht (trading post of England) 722 CE Muslims march on Persian silk weaver to Gujarat Asturias 732 CE France defeated the   Islamic Army

Japan 645 to 710 CE Hakuhoˉ period 645 CE Taika Reforms         710 CE Capital relocated to Heijo¯ kyo¯ (Nara)

  718 to 922 CE Northern route of trade between China and Korea  

 

LOU 9

 

 

 

PET 3, 6, 7, 8, 11

 

 

 

LIE 1, 2, 5, MAD 2, VAM 3

Caliphate of Córdoba founded in Spain (756 to 1031 CE) Capital: Toledo

Introduction of Sassanian culture

Production of brocades (supplementary weft pattern)

8 CE

MAA 4, LIE 6

Formation of Christian nation (Kingdom of Auturians in northern Iberial Declines of Leon and Burgos)

Introduction of brocade (supplementary weft pattern), simorgh pattern brocade etc.

752 CE The eyeopening ceremony for Daibutsu of Tōdai-ji

 

 

 

 

Tōdai-ji temple constructed by Emperor Shōmu

751 CE T’ang dynasty, Battle of Abbasid Caliphate→interchange

Gigaku (Brocade with Chinese flower pattern)

 

754 CE Jianzhen coming to Japan

 

LYO 5, VAM 4, VAT 4, 5, 6, 8

 

SEN 8, 15

 

SRM 2, 8, Ch7-1

Territorial expansion in Catalonia primarily in Barcelona. Many cloisters founded in Belgium by Merovingian dynasty 751 to 768 CE Pepin the Short 751 CE Carolingian dynasty (introducing Annointing of the Sick)

7th to 8th century CE Afrasiyab   wall painting

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

305

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

Royal textile craft centre (Byzantine and   Persian)

 

Silk craftsmen escaped and returned to Yazd and Kerman from India

741 to 775 CE Constantine V overwhelmed Bulgaria

758 CE Rebuilding of the Aqueduct 751 CE Battle of Tang is a trigger for the of Valens/Reconstruction of development of East-West exchanges Constantinople Establishment of Thema; Hagia Irene   rebuilt  

     

Arabian Renaissance culture inspired by Sassanian Empire

785 CE Sicily carried on the war against 　 Byzantine Empire

 

 

Islamic tailors (silk and silk/linen blend)

782 CE Prince Harun said to be settled in Byzantium

787 CE Empress Irene settled Iconoclasm

776 CE Charlemagne wears the costume of Byzantine Emperor and attends the Ecumenical Council

Paid much tribute from Proctor Irene

Council of Nicaea obligated to put holy relics in altars

800 CE Imperial Coronation of Charlemagne in Saint Peter’s Basillica with the red costume

 

 

 

786 CE The 5th Emperor Caliph Harun al-Rashid (Persian Education) 9th to 10th century CE Arabian culture’s Golden Age

Irene of Athens (797 to 802 CE) accession 801 to 803 CE Carthaginian synod (rule of destroying altars without holy relics)

 

 

807 CE Demolition of the new church began

 

802 to 811 CE Nikephoros I Financial reconstruction

The patterns against Arabic culture (hunting, dancing figures) vanished

 

 

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

306

Century

Brocades

Europe/Russia

Middle East/India/China

Japan

 

SEN 14, CAN 6

Governing the areas of Rhine valley (Baltic Sea, commerce place in England)

(simorgh, Pegasus, wild boar, ostrich, peacock, sheep, circle patterns)

 

 

756 CE Emperor Shōmu died and the Empress Kōmyō dedicated various treasures including textiles used by Emperor Shōmu to be stored in the Shōsō-in at Tōdai-ji

 

VAM 8

 

Ch14-5, Ch14-6

 

BRX 3

 

SHO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

 

BRX 4

756 Founded Caliphate of Córdoba in Spain (Capital: Toledo)

785 CE Starting to construct mosque (Mezquita) by England Harun al-Rashid 769 to 814 CE Charlemagne unified France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Saxony, Bayern, Bohemia except Italy, England, Iberian Peninsula Capital: Aachen (PrinceBishopric of Liège) 776 CE Charlemagne wears the costume for Byzantine emperor and attends the Ecumenical Council

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

794 CE Capital relocated to Heiankyo¯

 

804 CE Saichˉo and Kˉukai went to T’ang

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

824 CE Unification of England  

 

 

SC 1

 

SRM 5

 

PET 4, 9, CAN 1, 7

 

 

 

Ch9-2

9 CE

MFA 6

 

VAT 7

 

LYO 6, SEN 5, 12  

 

BRX 2, Ch9-2

789 CE Charlemagne made all cloisters construct schools 800 CE Imperial Coronation of Charlemagne in Saint Peter’s Basilica with a red costume 801 CE Alfonso Ⅱ conquers Barcelona 810 CE Death of Pipin (Son of Charlemagne) 814 CE Enthronement of Ludwig the Pious in Aachen by a herald from Byzantine emperor; Terms ignored for returning Byzantine Empire region

Abd ar-Rahman II (822 to 852 CE) established silk weaving workshop in Córdoba

 

 

 

 

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

307

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

836 CE Capital relocation (Baghdad to Samarra)

813 to 820 CE Leo V the Armenian

Abd ar Rahman Ⅱ (822 to 862 CE established silk weaving workshop in Córdoba)

867 to 903 CE Iran, Saffarid dynasty

Iconoclasm returns

Silk weaving group – tiraz

868 CE Egypt, Tulunids

824 to 842 CE Theophilos (emperor)

 

875 CE Samarkand, Samanid Empire

Influence of Arabism from Baghdad

 

 

842 to 867 CE Michael III

 

 

843 CE Revival of Iconoclasm of Empress Theodora

 

 

Basil I (Macedonia) (867 to 886 CE)

932 CE Caliphate of Córdoba’s Golden Age 946 CE Iranian Shi’a Buyid dynasty (932 to 1055 CE)

Macedonian Renaissance (867 to 1185 CE) 907 CE Rus-Byzantine Treaty

 

913 to 959 CE Constantine VII

 

Once becoming the third Emperor, while reinstatement

Book of the Ritual, Zeremonienbuch

 

Foreign countries (Otto I, Grand Prince of Kiev, Umayyad Caliphate)

944 CE Holy Shroud recaptured from Edessa

 

Held glamorous mission, religion and palace event

961 CE Silk cultivation started in Córdoba

 

965 CE Crete and Cyprus annexed by Byzantine Empire

Selection of empress

 

 

 

         

Military clothes worn instead of official Basil II (976 to 1025 CE) rehabilitation royal clothes avoiding splendour and of emperor power events in the Palace Saint-Josse shroud (Inscription Ab Bulgarian wars Mansur Gupta) 10th century CE Economic control Organized union (distinguishing (memorandum by Exarch) between production and distribution) 966 CE Recapture of Antioch, part of Silk: individual union for twisting yarn, Northern Syria weaving and dyeing 989 CE Kievan Rus’ converted to Christianity

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

308

Century

Brocades

Europe/Russia

CLU 1

829 CE Unification of England  

 

 

KSK 1

Silk weaving group – tiraz

 

894 CE Cancelled Japanese missions to T’ang China

 

LMA 1

 

 

 

PET 1, 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAN 4, 5

 

 

 

VAM 7

 

 

 

 

907 CE T’ang dynasty ended

 

 

 

918 to 1392 CE Goryeo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 CE  

MAA 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABG 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pope Leo IV (846 to 855 CE) established the Vatican The areas of Meuse (Maastricht, Liège, Huy) governed by Cologne and called ‘Northern Athens’ expanding region around Meuse Scheldt in Belgium becomes centre for diffusion of commercial activity and artistic culture Ivory work, metalwork, Huy mintage in Liège 882 CE Established Novgorod Kievan Rus’ 910 CE Established Cluny Abbey 925 CE Unification of Northern Netherlands by German Empire 929 CE Academian moved to Caliphate of Córdoba in Spain (Capital: Córdoba) 930 CE Abd al-Rahman III, Caliphate of Córdoba Golden Age Weakening countries and Lords (Liège, Holland, etc.) expanding region around Meuse 944 CE Holy Shroud recaptured from Edessa

Middle East/India/China

961 CE Silk cultivation started 960 to 1127 CE Northern Song in Córdoba 962 CE Otto I crowned as Roman Emperor 10th century CE Romanesque art

972 CE Otto II marries imperial Princess Theophano

Japan

960 CE Trade starts with Song dynasty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

309

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

 

Surrender of Damascus

 

The rise of military bureaucracy

   

Textiles, patterns, costumes Orthodox Catholic Islam managing relationships successfully Samite ordered from European nobles, churches and cloisters

988 CE Anna Porphyrogenita married Vladimir the Great of Kievan Rus’ 992 CE Trade privilege to Venice and Amalfi

 

     

 

995 CE Syrian Expedition, battle with Fatimid Caliphate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1031 CE Abolishment of Umayyad Caliphate in Córdoba

1018 CE Abolishment of Bulgarian Empire

Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (1002 to 1024 CE) promotes silk textile

 

 

 

1038 CE Seljuk dynasty founded

1042 CE Independence of Moravian Serbia

 

 

1054 CE Byzantine archbishop excommunicated Pope

Silk textile trading between Alexandria, Silia and Genoa primarily through Port of Almería

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1071 CE Asia Minor occupied by Seljuq dynasty

Bayeux Tapestry 63.6 metres in length

 

Issac I Komnenos (1057 to 1059 CE)

Silk factory under the direct control of Emperor, remains place name of production near the Zeuxippe¯ thermae

1077 to 1308 CE Conquest of Persia by Seljuk Turks

11th century CE Increase in power of latifundia

 

Capital: Nicaea

No tax revenue to the Empire and depreciation of the currency

 

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

310

Century

Brocades

Europe/Russia

Middle East/India/China

Japan

 

 

Byzantine samite introduced in Holy Roman Empire

 

 

 

 

Ottonian art

 

 

 

AUX 1

 

 

 

SEN 20

 

 

 

KSH 1

 

 

 

SRM 6, CAN 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11 CE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AAC 4, MAA 7

 

 

 

Ch1, MFA 8

 

 

 

Ch4

 

 

 

SEN 13

 

 

 

BRE 1

 

 

 

CAN 2, Ch7-2

 

 

 

MAA 2

 

 

Eastern Orthodox Church Baptism of Vladimir the Great 983 to 1002 CE Otto III’s treaty with Byzantium Monopoly of the Eagle (heraldry) in Chronicle Afterwards Persian-inspired decorative falcon patterns used for falconry 987 to 1328 CE Capetian dynasty in France 1031 CE Fail of Late Umayad Dynasty Edward the Confessor’s (1042 to 1066 CE) pro-Norman policy 1037 CE FerdinandⅠ establishment and later break up of united kingdom of Castile and León. Edward the Confessor’s (1042 to 1066 CE) pro-Norman policy Normans played an important role as Southern Italian soldiers 1054 CE East–West schism 1059 CE Florence Baptistery consecrated to St. John the Baptist 1066 to 1087 CE Duke of Normandy, William I conquest of England Bayeux Tapestry of embroidered textile 63.6 metres in length 11th century CE Trade route Huy with London and Cologne (Centre of Meuse province in Cologne) 1096 to 1099 CE First Crusade 1099 CE Crusades establishing Kingdom of Jerusalem

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

311

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

 

Alexios I Komnenos (1081 to 1118 CE)

All weaving processes of wool and linen gather in Monreale Abbey

1099 CE Jerusalem occupied by Crusades

1097 CE Recapture of Nicaea by Ottoman Empire and Crusaders

 

 

Manuel I Komnenos (1143 to 1180 CE)

Europeanized court decoration

 

 

 

 

Pro-Latin: marries a European princess

 

 

1147 CE Norman siege of Constantinople

Brocade weavers taken away to Sicily. 12th century CE All weaving processes of wool and linen gather in Monreale Abbey

 

1155 CE Trade privilege to Genoa

Hispano - Moresque pattern

1130 CE Conquest of Andalusia by Almohad Caliphate

 

 

Andronikos I Komnenos (1183 to 1185 CE)

 

1185 CE Conquest of Thessaloniki by Norman Wilhelm II

 

 

Married a Hungarian princess

Empire becomes a private possession of Emperor; Collapse of military

 

Depreciation of the currency – reduced to one-third

Preference for luxury and costumes

1187 CE Saladin gained control of Jerusalem

Isaac II Angelos (1185 to 1195 CE)

Time of Misery: Church of the Holy Apostles treasures are used as the Byzantine Empire was suffering from poverty

 

 

 

 

Alexios III Angelos (1195 to 1203 CE)

 

 

Isaac II Angelos jailed

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

Silk list of the Vatican described silk costumes from Alexandria, Byzantine and Spain Late 12th century CE wool production by Cistercian order in England

312

Century

Brocades

12 CE

PET 5

 

KSH 2, MFA 9

 

MET 5

 

CLU 5, SEN 16, 17, 18, 19

 

MAD 3, 4, BUR 1 VIC1

 

IMA 1, 2, 3

 

Ch7-3

 

BRX 1

 

LIE 4

 

CH8-1

 

MAA 8

 

Ch5-3

 

 

 

 

 

MAD 5

 

BRX 6, Ch8-2

Europe/Russia

Middle East/India/China

Japan

1111 CE Pisa has the right to trade with Byzantine Empire Roger II (1130 to 1154 CE) Palermo in Kingdom of Sicily. Weaving workshop in the Royal Palace 1137 to 1143 CE Kingdom of Portugal 1147 CE Second Crusade (Conrad III of Germany, Holy Roman Empire) Henry II of England (1154 to 1189 CE) established Angevin Empire which includes Aquitaine and Gascony in France

Song dynasty (1127 to 1279 CE)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kamakura shogunate 1192 to 1333 CE

 

Samurai society

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silk and gold metal samite called Dibaj in Calatrasi and Corleone Late 12th century CE Wool production by the Cistercian Order in England 12th century CE Cologne is a base for Meuse merchants 12th century CE Silk list of the Vatican (description of Alexandria・Byzantine・Spain) 1185 to 119 CE Third Crusade (1189 to 1199 CE Richard I of England) King of England, France and Germany battled against Saladin Sicily owned by Heinrich VI (Holy Roman Empire) 1198 to 1208 CE Philip of Swabia Marries Byzantine Princess Irene (father was Isaac II Angelos) 1198 CE Innocentius III, only 37 years old and selected by the public consolidated the political power of Roman Curia

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

313

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

 

 

Decline of Islamic power in Spain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1204 CE Conquest of Constantinople by Fourth Crusade

All craftsmen made to remain and work from this period, samite’s centre of production moved to Thebes and Corinth

 

1217 CE Kingdom of Serbia

13th century CE Wool weaving production expanded around Huy

 

 

Clients of church in Serbia, Thessaloniki etc. wore purple

 

 

Patterns influenced by China

1271 CE Travels of Marco Polo

Michael VIII Palaiologos (1259 to 1282 CE) 1261 Recapture of Constantinople by forces in Nicaea

1267 CE Henry II of England – seal bag

 

1279 CE Genoa granted 200 years of tax-exempt privilege by Muhammad Ⅱ Immigration of tiraz weavers to Granada 1295 CE Pope decided Cardinal should wear red costumes

Encouragement of Iranianized craftsmen

1274 Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church at the Second Council of Lyon while unexecuted

13th century CE Textile from Liège exported to Italy

Iranian craftsmen assembled in Capital Tabriz

1299 CE Ottoman Empire

Late 13th century CE Brocade craftsmen from Sicily to Lucca

 

1321 CE Chancellor Theodore Metochites rebuilt Chora Monastery

Woven lampas, brocade, damask and taffeta velvet

    1369 to 1500 CE The height of Miniature

1369 to 1500 CE The height of Miniature  

 

1325 CE Politics between Andronikos II   and Andronikos III Palaiologos Edward II of England (1307 to 1327 CE) –   seal bag 1344 CE Liberation of the Strait of Gibraltar, which becomes a trade route   linking Europe and Andalusia (silk and woollen fabrics)

 

Sultan became a retainer of Murad I

1347 to 1349 CE Plague epidemic around the Mediterranean

 

 

 

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

314

Century

Brocades

 

MFA 7

13 CE

BRX 13

 

Ch6, MAA 9

 

IMA 4

 

ABG 6, MET 6

 

BUR 3, 4, 5, 6, 8,9,10,11,12

 

 

 

MIV 1, 2, VIC 2, 3

 

Ch8-3, SEN 3, 4

 

 

 

14 CE

 

 

 

CAN 8, 10

 

 

BUR 2, 7

 

 

CAN 9, Ch7-4

1279 CE Genoa have diplomatic immunity with Granada

Muhammed II, trade privilege to Genoa

Establishment of Noh theatre

Ch5

 

Trade with India, Western Asia and Europe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABG 5

Confiscation of estates from Knights Templar

 

 

 

 

MIV 5

Europe/Russia

Middle East/India/China

Japan

 

 

 

Beginning of tea ceremony

 

 

Looting of Byzantine treasures. Decline of Islamic power in Spain

1219 CE Mongol invasion of Central Asia by Genghis Khan

 

1212 CE Iberian Christian alliances

Yuan dynasty 1271 to 1368 CE

1274 and 1281 CE Mongol invasions of Japan

1220 CE Samarkand ruined by Mongolia

 

 

 

1204 CE Fourth Crusade establishes Latin Empire Boniface I, the leader, is a close friend of Philip of Swabia Mainly French aristocrats and the public, supported by Venice

1230 CE Ferdinand Ⅲ establishes Castilian dynasty (King of Three Religions) 1258 to 1273 CE Interregnum of Holy Roman Empire Rising Kingdom of Aragon and Kingdom of Castile. 1270 to 15th century CE Reconquista style in Spain

Sogdian craftsmen taken away　 Development of gold brocade; established Zhizaoju in Suzhou  

   

Trade with India, Western Asia and Europe 1279 CE　Abolishment of Southern Song by Yuan dynasty; capturing over 10,000 craftsmen Succession of maritime commerce

1314 CE Craftsmen broke prohibition of guild when   conflict in Tuscany Maastricht of Prince-Bishopric of Liège becomes the largest   city next to Cologne and Aachen Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

 

 

 

 

Muromachi bakufu 1338 to 1573 CE  

315

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

 

Manuel II Palaiologos (1391 to 1425 CE)

14th century CE Dress colour of King and Archbishop changes from purple to scarlet in Europe

 

Aid request to Western nations

 

 

Emperor wears Islamic white cloth (Byzantine mourning cloth)

Golden Age of English embroidery, Opus Anglicanum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japan increase import of Ming dynasty, silk textiles

 

1365 CE Ottoman Empire Murad I, Hadrianopolis as new capital

 

 

John VIII Palaiologos (1425 to 1448 CE)

1423 CE Silk textile weaving in Venice and Florence

 

Synod in Italy has a relationship with Cosimo de’ Medici

Declining Spanish silk textile

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Constantine XI Palaiologos – the last reigning Byzantine Emperor (1449 to 1453 CE)

 

 

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

Migration of Italian silk craftsman to Palais des Papes Silk weaving is a major industry in Emirate of Granada

Iconography of John VIII Palaiologos in Medici Chapel 1439 CE Cochineal made in Byzantine exported to Italy Protection of woad as it is cheap and easy to use for a blue colour. Woad was popular but as it had a tendency to fade this popularity then declined and changed to indigo

316

Louis Ⅺ (1461 to 1483 CE) Silk weaving in Lyon by introducing silk craftsmen from Italy Louis Ⅺ imperial decree of silk weaving

Century

Brocades

Europe/Russia

Middle East/India/China

Japan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1327 to 1377 CE Edward III (seal bag)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ch7-6

 

 

 

 

 

Ch8-5

 

 

 

 

15 CE

MIV 3, 4

Palais des Papes in Avignon

 

Ch7

14th to 16th century CE Renaissance

 

IM 5, 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

1392 CE Establishment of Joseon

Ming dynasty 1368 to 1644 CE

1337 CE France: confiscate of Gascony; control Flanders 1339 to 1453 CE Hundred Years’ War 1340 CE Liberation of Gibraltar, starting trade with Western Europe Richard II (1377 to 1399 CE) Wears red gown, tights and shoes for the Coronation

1368 CE Ashikaga Yoshimitsu Commander Kitayama Culture at Yoshimitsu’s villa (become Rokuon-ji) Increase of imported Ming dynasty textiles  

  1368 to 1644 CE Ming dynasty 1370 to 1507 CE Timurid Empire (Conquest of Isfahan, Shiraz) (Baghdad) Timurid Renaissance Silk craftsmen from Damascus Development of Samarkand and encouragement of trade interacting with Henry III of Castile, Charles VI of France, Henry IV of England

    1402 CE Diplomatic document from Ming dynasty    

Pope relocated the Vatican Palace  

 

 

 

 

 

People compete to wear silk costume dyed with cochineal

Unifying of Western Asia

 

 

Ch8-6

15th century CE Fall of the Emirate of Granada – silk craftsmen relocated to Morocco

 

 

 

Ch5-4

1434 CE Byzantine sibling with knowledge of weaving technique settles in London

 

 

 

1466 CE Louis Ⅺ Imperial decree of silk weaving

 

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

ˉ 1467 CE Onin War

317

Egypt/Syria/Persia/Iraq/Arab

Greece/Rome/Byzantine/Balkans

Textiles, patterns, costumes

 

 

Silk production started in silk trading area of Lyon, but still poor quality

 

Sultan Mehmed II 1451 to 1481 CE

15th century CE Technical changes of gold metal thread from core wire to animal gut covered with a gold metal coating

 

1453 CE Byzantine Empire ended

Purple became old-fashioned

 

1461 CE Ottoman Empire unifies Asia Minor (Anatolia)

Silk lampas were ordered from Italy

Safavid dynasty (1501 to 1736 CE)

 

Brocade made a resurgence in popularity in Yazd, Buid, Kashan. Silk brocades were ordered from Italy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exceptionally luxurious silk brocade Mathurin Charlier workshop near Paris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1605 CE Drawloom introduced in Lyon 18th century CE shows the fascination for French-designed silk Early 19th century CE. Jacquard loom invented in Lyon

Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads

318

Century

Brocades

Europe/Russia

Middle East/India/China

 

Ch6-5

1469 CE Marriage of Castillian Princess Isabel and Ferdinand   Prince of Aragon

Weavers in Kyoto evacuate to Nara and Sakai

 

 

1479 CE The unification of Spain

 

 

 

 

1480 CE Islamic Granada collapsed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16CE

 

 

 

 

 

 

1515 CE Quality red from Spain and Mexico: cochineal dyestuff available exclusively

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17CE

 

16th century CE Prohibition of imported Indigo by Henry IV   of England 1517 CE The Reformation by   Lutter 1516 CE Spanish Habsburg   dynasty  

18CE

 

 

 

19CE

 

 

 

Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles

Japan

1568 to 1603 CE Azuchimomoyama period Instruction of damask and gold brocade technique given in Ming dynasty      

319

Preservation Maps of Figured Silk

Rastede

Mark :

Odense

Osnabrück Dokkum Utrecht

Lüneburg Minden

Brunswick Wolfenbüttel

Gniezno

Halberstadt Hildesheim Herford Quedlinburg Liège Xanten Essen Merseburg Maastricht Canterbury Cologne Ghent Paderborn Aachen Siegburg Cysoing Prüm Villip Brauweiler Huy Prague St. Riquier Selingenstadt Fécamp St. Amand-les-Eaux Maubeuge Bamberg Mainz St. Goar Olomouc Liessies Reims Würzburg Eichstätt Metz Paris (St. Denis) Verdun Lorsch Regensburg Bayeux Provins Nierderaltaich Speyer Passau Troyes Nancy Weienstephan Strasbourg Sens Le Mans FreisingHohenwart Vienna Zwiefalten Fontenelle Auxerre Toul Salzburg Diessen St. Calais Andlau Angers Mondsee Füssen Staffelsee Autun Zürich Muri Seeon-Seebruch Fleury Basel Tegernsee Reichenau Poitiers Ottobeuren Chur St. Paul St. Maurice d’Agaune Sion St. Gallen Brixen Conthey Einsiedeln Clermont Zagreb Trento Milan St. Chaffre Cadouin Le Puy-en-Velay Conques Ravenna Florence Toulouse Fermo Farfa León Burgos Tivoli Rome Barcelona Valladolid Monte Cassino London

Bruges

Madrid Toledo

Murcia Sevilla

Granada

Europe Map 2  Maps of East to West Silk Trade Routes encompassing Japan, China, Iran, Turkey, Europe, UK and USA.

Boston

Cleveland New York City S. Petersburg

Washington D.C.

USA

Urumchi Bukhara Teheran

Loulan

Samarkand (Kashmir)

Niya

New Delhi Ahmedabad

Asia

() : Wool

Juyan

Nara

Tokyo Yamanashi

GLOSSARY

Bombyx mori a domesticated silk moth and the main source of the global silk production. A natural protein filament is extruded by the Bombyx mori silk moth that is made into silk. Braid a woven decorative band that is used for an edging or as a trim on clothing. Breechcloth a form of loincloth – a long rectangular piece of cloth that is worn between the legs and is tucked over a belt. Brocade a richly decorative compound weave with a pattern that uses supplementary weft threads that are non-structural to create the ornamentation. These are in addition to the weft threads that interlace with the warp threads to create the ground fabric. In Byzantine times twill weave was typically used for the ground fabric. Originally these additional threads, often silks and metallics were added by hand using bobbins and woven on a drawloom, now they are woven on a mechanized or digital Jacquard loom. Brocading weft a supplementary weft introduced to the ground weave and used where it is necessary for the image/pattern, not necessarily travelling across the full width of the fabric from selvedge to selvedge. Cabochon a gem that has been polished but not faceted. Caesaropapism where the secular ruler of state (in Byzantine times, the emperor) also has supremacy over the church. Caftan (also referred to as kaftan) a simply-cut, full-length, loose, flowing robe that is worn in various Islamic countries. Its style is derived from several different cultures, but is considered to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia. Caliph the name given to the chief Muslim secular and religious ruler who is regarded as the successor of Muhammad. Cameran a crown in a dome shape, typically made of silk and decorated with pearls including jewels with a cross on top. A development on from this was the mitre. Cape an outerwear garment that fastens at the neck and hangs from the shoulders, similar to a short, above-the-knee cloak.

Akakia a purplish-red sack-style garment worn by emperors on formal occasions. The sack contained soil to represent that all beings come from the earth and will return to the earth. The sack opened with every footstep of the wearer as they walked in ceremonies. Amulet a symbolic object that the wearer believes can ward off evil and protect from ailments; it is thought to aid health and well-being and bring good luck and happiness. Ankh an object or design in the shape of a cross with a looped top. Used in ancient Egypt as a symbol of life. Annunciation (of the Virgin Mary) – when the Archangel Gabriel announces she is to conceive a child, Jesus, the Son of God. Apse a semi-circular recessed area around the altar, typically at the east end of a church or cathedral. Arabesque (of a pattern) – a swirling, elegant ornamental design, originating in ancient Islamic art. Assumption (of the Virgin Mary) – the taking up of her body into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. It is also referred to as the Dormition and takes the form of a feast day on 15 August. Aurum battutum a technique of making gold thread by cutting strips from a sheet of beaten gold and wrapping them around silk thread. Aurum cyprese a technique of making gold thread that produced a lighter thread than aurum battutum by wrapping gold around thinly cut animal gut. Avesta the primary texts of the religion of Zoroastrianism. Batik a resist-dye method on cloth that uses wax to prevent dye from entering the textile, the wax is later removed. Beaded roundel an ancient repeating circular motif that surrounds single or pairs of confronting or addorsed animals, birds or mythical hybrids, often flanking a tree of life, also hunting scenes. This motif was widely used by the Sassanians. Beam (of a loom) – a roller at the two warp ends where the weaving is unwound and wound, as it progresses in its construction. Bestiaries books of the Middle Ages that describe various animals, both real and imagined, often with morals imparted.

322

Caravanserai a series of caravans, as mobile homes, an early type of roadside inn that provided rest, food, water, shelter and safety for travellers, typically in desert regions. Cardinal a leading dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church. Carmine a red-coloured dye – see cochineal. Cartouche a decorative frame that surrounds a design or inscription. Cathay a term used by the Europeans to describe China, presenting a Western view. It was used from the tenth century onwards, before being changed to ‘China’. Censer a container in which to burn incense for a religious ceremony. Charmeuse a warp-faced satin-weave fabric, typically made of silk where the right side (face) has a lustrous appearance and the reverse is dull. Chasuble an ornate sleeveless ecclesiastical vestment worn as a top layer. Chemise a simple, full-length, close-fitting garment worn next to the skin beneath outerwear. Chimera a fire-breathing female hybrid monster. It also means something that is illusory or impossible to achieve. Chiton a long tunic- or tunica-like sewn garment. Chlamys a Roman-style garment, once a military uniform, that is formed from a long, rectangular piece of fabric. The resulting garment is a semi-circular cloak that fell to either hip or ankle length and was fastened to the right shoulder with a fibula and decorated with tablion. Clavi two long vertically-running strips/panels of decorative textiles, such as figured brocade – samite and embroidered fabrics, placed either side of the centre front of an item of clothing at the neck and shoulders, but also sometimes at the knees, also referred to as clavus. Clavus see clavi. Cloak a loose, outerwear garment without sleeves and fastens at the neck, worn instead of a coat, similar to a mantle. Cloisonné a French word that describes a technique where enamel, glass or gemstones are separated by strips of flattened wire that are positioned on their edges to create a mosaic-like look. Colobium see dalmatic. Cochineal a red dye called carmine is achieved by drying and crushing cochineal scale insects. Colloid a solid state of matter without a genetically regular internal structure. Compound (of a weave) – a complex structure that relies on more than one set of warps and/or wefts, supplementary or complementary, that are interlinked and capable of creating intricate images/patterns, some form the ground fabric while others form the figured elements, a double weave is a compound structure. Examples include brocade and damask. Here, compound-twill weave is frequently referred to in relation to samite. Contrapposto a term that links to ‘counterpoise’ and describes an asymmetric stance of the human figure where most of the body weight is on one foot to make the line of the shoulders and the arms contrast with the line of the hips and legs, in a balanced way.

Glossary

Cope a long, semi-circular cloak worn by dignitaries and usually fastened with a clasp at chest level. Coptic (of the church) – the language and aesthetic style used in the Coptic church that originated in ancient Egypt. Crêpe a type of woven textile that has a particular texture, an elastic quality and a crisp and crinkled appearance. This can be achieved in various ways – the interlacing structure of the warp and weft, use of different tensions, exploiting yarn twist (especially hightwist yarn) and chemical treatment. Dalmatic (or colobium) a flowing, full-length, wide-sleeved, tunicstyle over-garment. It was first worn by men who wore it over a tunic and trousers and then also by women. The dalmatic was also worn by the clergy. Damas see lampas. Damask a heavy woven fabric, typically silk, that has images/ patterns woven in to it in the same colour as the substrate. The figured designs are formed by using different weave structures. Its name references Damascus in Syria, an important city on the East to West Silk Roads, but it was typically made in other places such as Antioch in Turkey. Damask fabrics were very popular and existed before brocades. Diadem a crown tied at the back of the head and decorated with a jewelled cloth pendant. Divetesion a full-length, ceremonial silk robe. Dobby loom a type of floor loom that uses a chain of bars with pegs that select the shafts of the warp threads. to be raised or lowered to create the pattern. Dormition (of the Virgin Mary) – her ‘falling asleep’ or dying and being resurrected and taken up to Heaven. Also referred to as the Assumption. Double-faced (of a fabric) – a form of double cloth made of one warp and two sets of weft, or two warps and one weft. Typically, a dense fabric is created that is truly reversible and where there is no ‘wrong’ side. Double weave (or double cloth) is a type of weave that has two sets of warp threads that interlace with one or more sets of weft threads to create a two-layered textile. Such interlacing allows for complex patterning. Drawloom a two-person operated loom to weave textiles, where the person above lifted the shafts using a system of cords in an established order to create the image/patterning system, while the person below operated the insertion of the weft threads into the shafts to interlace with the warp threads. It is ideal for brocade structures, such as samite. The Chinese term for drawloom translates as ‘pulling the flowers’. Embroidery decorating a fabric using a needle to apply thread or yarn as well as other embellishment materials such as pearls and beads. Epigraphy the study and interpretation of ancient inscriptions. Escutcheon an emblem or a shield that has a coat of arms. Eucharist the part of the Christian service that commemorates the Last Supper where bread and wine that represent the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are consecrated and consumed.

323

Eunuch generally refers to a man, and typically from antiquity, who has been castrated in order to serve a specific social function. Eurasia a continental landmass comprising Europe and Asia. Fibula a type of brooch or a large clasp, usually with jewels attached, that was used to hold garments in place, typically fixed to the cloth at the right shoulder when wearing a divetesion and paludamentum. Figured woven with a decorative design – images or patterns, as distinct from embroidery. In this text a figured brocade is often referred to. Float (of a woven fabric) – a thread that passes over two or more threads of the opposite set, for example weft threads that pass over two or more warp threads (and vice versa). Floss (of silk) – soft, shorter length fibres of silk that are obtained from outside the cocoon (that contains the filament). Foundation (of a weave) – see ground. Fukusa a typically square Japanese textile used to purify equipment and to hold the tea implements in the Japanese tea ceremony, also used for wrapping gifts. Funzoe a simple Japanese garment that translates as ‘lavatory clothes’ – garments that were thrown away after use, the Japanese clergy changed its meaning to signify neat and tidy clothing. Futae-orimono a Japanese type of double weave brocade worn to denote status. It is a figured textile that has a woven base pattern with another pattern using a different coloured thread. Futsu-ori a Japanese textile that resembles a figured double weave. Gauze a thin, transparent fabric – can be a simple gauze of plain weave or a complex gauze where advanced weaving techniques are used. Gold thread finely beaten gold made a foil that was wrapped around silk thread – in the Middle Ages pure gold was used. Ground (of a weave) – the foundation of the substrate that can then support imagery or patterns as the background. Guilloche a type of ornamentation that resembles braided or interlaced ribbons. Harness a frame that holds the heddles of the loom, also called a shaft. Harness loom a type of loom that has harnesses or shafts (two, four, eight, sixteen, etc.) that support the warp threads and determine the interlacing of the woven structure as they are raised and lowered to insert the weft threads. Heddles warp threads pass through eyelets made of string (early versions) or metal (later versions) that are manipulated to create the images/patterns. Hemp one of the oldest cultivated fibres, it is extracted from the stem of the cannabis plant and produces a strong material. Hexamitos a Greek term meaning ‘of six threads’. It is thought to be the origin of the term samite where it refers to six warp threads. Honeycomb (of a weave) – a particular interlacing of the warp and weft threads to achieve raised and hollow areas that give a cellular appearance.

Glossary

Howdahs large tent-like structures secured on the back of an animal, typically camels, that hold seats, cushions, pillows, carpets, textiles and so on. Iconoclasm the belief that icons, images and monuments had to be destroyed, usually for religious, but also for political reasons. Ikat an Indonesian technique that creates a decorative woven structure where the warp and/or the weft are tie-dyed before weaving to create striking patterns. If both the warp and the weft are tie-dyed it is referred to as ‘double ikat’. Incisé a French term meaning ‘incised’ or cut – usually where the surface is cut into to create a relief decorative effect. Indigo a deep blue colour that combines blue and violet for an intense shade. It is obtained using a natural dye extracted from the leaves of the Indigofera genus plants, in particular Indigofera tinctoria, but can also be made synthetically. Interstice an intervening, typically small, space. Jacquard refers to a loom or a fabric where each individual thread can be controlled to create complex imagery, named in 1804 after the inventor of the loom, Joseph-Marie Jacquard. He devised a perforated pattern card system that replaced the two-person operated drawloom. Jūnihitoe a complex set of formal kimonos that consist of twelve layers of kimonos, worn originally by ladies of the Japanese court and reserved today for special ceremonies. They were displayed so the twelve layers overlapped to show the edges of each. The jūnihitoe first appeared in the Heian period (794 to 1185). Kaftan see caftan. Kantoi a simple sleeveless type of clothing, typically a large piece of fabric with a hole for the head to pass through. Karaginu a garment that originated in China and was adapted in Japan – it takes the form of a long cloak/half coat with wide sleeves. It was typically worn when hunting as it allowed the wearer to move freely and often used a thick brocade. Kara-ori a Japanese ‘swivel weave’, also called nuitori-ori, in this textile coloured thread is only used in certain parts of a figured area and does not pass through the full width of the weave, like a tapestry or an embroidery. Kasāya robes worn by fully-ordained Buddhist monks, named after the saffron dye that creates their distinctive orange/yellow colour. Also see kesa – the Japanese translation for the Sanskrit. Kermes a red dye obtained from dried and crushed insects of the genus Kermes. This dye was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Kesa robes worn by Buddhist monks. Originally this garment covered the entire body but it developed to be typically worn exposing the right shoulder. Kimono a traditional Japanese garment that is long and loose; it is wrapped around the body and tied with a sash known in Japanese as an obi. The name ‘ki’ translates as ‘wearing’ and ‘mono’ as ‘thing’. Kinkhab a technique of weaving gold into a textile, typically a decorative brocade. Kinran a type of Japanese golden brocade.

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Kosode a basic type of Japanese robe for both men and women; its name literally means ‘short sleeves’, it is ‘T’-shaped, has a loose fit, can be long or short in length and is tied with an obi (sash). Kufic an ancient Arabic calligraphic script, a typically decorative form of the Arabic alphabet. Lampas (also damas) – a figured woven textile where images/patterns are created using supplementary warp and/or weft threads to the foundation or ground weave. Such additional threads are used in the figured area(s) and are woven into the reverse of the textile. Liseré a border on a piece of clothing. Liturgy a form of public religious worship, especially Christian. A Liturgy refers to the sacrament of the Eucharist. Loincloth a piece of cloth worn around the waist that passes through the legs and covers the crotch. Loros a long, narrow fabric sash or scarf distinctive of the Byzantine Empire and worn draped from the shoulders. It was made of a dense fabric, typically hemp or wool, and was often decorated with jewels. Lute an early type of plucked string musical instrument with a long neck (fretted or unfretted) and a deep rounded back and a flat top. It is played with the fingers. Mace a blunt object that resembles a pole, tall and often highly decorative in form. In medieval times it was used as a weapon, but also in ceremonies. Madder a red-coloured dye obtained from plant roots, typically of Rubia tinctorum. Maniakion a Byzantine collar or neckwear for royalty, typically embroidered with gold thread, pearls, jewels and beads and worn at ceremonies. Maniple a vestment in the Christian church that consists of a length of fabric hanging from the left arm that was formerly worn by the priest when celebrating the Eucharist. Mantle a type of cloak, an outerwear garment, without sleeves that fastens at the neck. Medallion an oval or circular form that was used to surround motifs. Melismos (Holy Liturgy), the representation of Jesus Christ as a naked baby on the altar that symbolizes the trans-substantiation of bread into Body and wine into Blood. Missorium a large dish used in Byzantine ceremonies, typically made of silver. Mitre a tall, pointed headpiece that developed on from a cameran and was worn by Orthodox bishops at ceremonies from the fifteenth century onwards. Naos the central and largest part of a Byzantine church or cathedral in which the Liturgy was performed. Necropolis in ancient times, a cemetery, usually a large one. Opus Anglicanum English needlework, typically embroidery, from the medieval times, generally considered to have been created between 900 and 1500, made for ecclesiastical or secular applications, often using rich brocades and silks and metallic threads. Organza a plain-woven, sheer fabric that has a stiff, crisp quality, typically made of silk. The stiffness is due to the use of a yarn  dyed before the natural gum of silk (known as sericin) is

Glossary

removed. Here, referring to silk organza but organza can also be made of synthetics such as polyester. Orimono the Japanese word that translates to ‘woven fabric’ in English. Orphrey a decorative band or border, often richly embroidered, that is used on an ecclesiastical vestment such as a chasuble or cope. Orthodox (religious meaning) people following more traditional and accepted religious beliefs and practice than others of the same religion, for example – orthodox Christians. Orthodox Church a part of the Christian church with members from different countries, for example – Greek Orthodox Church. Pachyderm a classification of large mammals with thick skin and hooves, especially the elephant, rhinoceros or hippopotamus. Paenula a simple, everyday garment, resembling a cloak. It had a hole for the head and was worn by both men and women with clavi or clavus for decoration. A short, hooded version was worn for work. Paillette a French word for a small, glittering element that can be applied to clothing such as a sequin. Paisley of ancient Persian and Indian origin, a distinctive pattern that has a curved, feather-like, droplet-like or seed-like shape thought to represent fertility. Its origin is disputed and may refer to botanicals such as the cashew nut, pine cone, mango (the fruit and the seed) and a floral spray combined with a cypress tree – a Zoroastrian symbol of life and eternity; it may also refer to the Yin/ Yang symbol. It is also linked to the Scottish town of Paisley that has a printed textile history. Palaeography the study of ancient writing systems that involves their dating and deciphering. Palimpsest something that has been altered but still bears traces of its earlier form; in art and design it refers to various styles and different meanings. Palla a rectangular shawl worn by women and fastened with brooches. Similar to the pallium, worn by men. Pallium a shawl similar to a palla, but worn by men. Palmette meaning ‘small palm’ – a decorative design that uses radiating petals resembling a palm leaf. Paludamentum an over-garment, a type of long semi-circular cloak worn by both men and women and typically fastened with a large clasp or brooch – a fibula. Pendulia a crown with flower-shaped ornaments and pearls hanging on both sides of the face. Plumage the layer of feathers covering a bird and also the pattern, colour and arrangement of those feathers. Poncho a basic outerwear garment that has a slit for the head to pass through and no sleeves. Porphyrogene ‘born into the purple’ – royal or ruling classes. In Byzantine times this referred to a special purple chamber. Protome a type of ornamentation that is in the form of the head and upper torso of a human or an animal. It was common in ancient Greece to decorate architecture, sculpture and pottery. Rampant (of an animal) depicted standing on hind legs, often on the left hind foot with right hind foot raised and forefeet both in the air, as is the tail – typically shown in profile.

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Reconditorium the Latin name for a repository, a storage place or container. Relic (of religious meaning) – remains of a dead holy person’s (typically a saint) body or their bones or their belongings/objects that are held in reverence. Reliquary (plural reliquaries) – an ecclesiastical container for relics that could house the bones of saints, clothing and/or religious objects. Resist-dyeing see tie-dyeing and ikat and shibori. Reticulate divide or mark into a network. Rhyton a conical-shaped container, used in ancient Eurasia, from which drinks were poured on special occasions, typically made of precious materials such as silver and gold and often taking the form of an animal’s head. Ribbon weaving also known as ‘narrow cloth’ – where narrow widths of warp threads are set up on looms to be interlaced with weft threads. They can be made singly or with several across the width. The result is ribbon or trims to be used as borders on garments, for example. Romanesque an aesthetic style that prevailed in medieval Europe, but can also date back to the fifth century and the end of the Roman Empire. Roundel a circular form that typically enclosed motifs. ‘S’ direction a twisting of a thread when making a yarn that travels in an ‘S’ direction, i.e. left to right. Sakkos an ecclesiastical vestment for a priest – a tunic with wide sleeves and a distinctive patterned decoration. Samite a woven structure that is a weft-faced compound-twill in a form that allows complex patterns and images to be made. It typically uses silk and creates a dense, heavy, lustrous fabric that is resistant to decay. Sassanian the Sassanian (also Sasanian) dynasty of Empire was the last kingdom of the Persian (now Iranian) Empire before the rise of Islam. It ruled from 224 to 651. Sash a long, narrow piece of fabric that ties or fastens as a belt around the body, typically at the waist to keep a garment in place. Satin a woven structure where the interlacing of the warp and weft allows certain threads, typically the warp, to dominate and create a warp-faced fabric with a definite sheen. Seal bag a fabric bag to contain sealing wax for security/privacy measures, preventing valuable documents from being viewed by a non-recipient. Selvedge the lengthwise edges (in the direction of the warp threads) of a woven fabric that prevents the cloth from fraying, being self-finished, usually in a tighter weave than the main textile (also referred to as selvage – US English). Seres the name given by the Romans to China; Latin for ‘country of silk’, stemming from the Greek word for silk – ‘Sēres’. Sericulture the production of silk and the raising of silkworms, typically on mulberry trees, that make the silk cocoons that are unreeled to create silk.

Glossary

Serindia a term derived from the word ‘Seres’ that refers to the region of Chinese Central Asia crossed by the Silk Road and influenced by both the cultures of China and India. Shaft see harness loom. Shawl a large piece of fabric worn over the shoulders (typically female) to keep warm; it can also be worn over the head. Shibori a Japanese type of resist-dyeing. See tie-dyeing. Shifuku decorative bags – typically drawstring pouches used in the Japanese tea ceremony to hold the teacups. Shōgun a military dictator in Japan during the period 1185 to 1868. Shuttle weft threads are wound onto holders, known as shuttles that pass through the weave shafts to interlace with the warp threads. Siglaton silk made in the Cyclades, an island group in the Aegean Sea lying to the south-east of mainland Greece. Soffit an architectural feature that can be either exterior or interior – a horizontal underside of a construction element. Solidus a gold coin of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Sorahikibata a Japanese term for a type of loom that creates the ground and pattern structures, such as a drawloom, that enables complex weaves. Stemma a crown made of gold in a circular shape, typically with a cross attached to the centre panel. Stola a long dress for women, generally worn unbelted and often rich with brocade. A long undergarment was worn beneath it. Stole a long scarf or shawl worn by a female, loosely over the shoulders. It can also refer to a silk vestment worn by a priest that is worn over the shoulders and hangs down to the knees or below. Swivel weave a figured weaving with thread specially woven using a separate shuttle for a part of fabric so that the pattern appears to have been picked out. As thread is not added to the entire woven fabric, it is thick in only a part of the pattern, and so appears three-dimensional. Tabby a basic plain-woven textile. Tablion a pair of rectangular, embroidered or figured woven fragments sewn on the right side of the edges of chlamys, and a mark of status. Tapestry (technique) a woven textile with depicted images/ patterns. Weft threads are inserted through the warp threads where needed, often building up in blocks. The weft threads do not necessarily span across the full width of the weave, but run back and forth, over and under the warp threads to build up the figures. Taqueté façonné a French term meaning a weft-faced compound weave that is figured. Tessera (plural tesserae) – a small block (usually square) of stone, tile glass etc. used to make a mosaic. Thurible a metal incense burner that is suspended from chains and emits smoke during worship services. Tie-dyeing a technique of resist-dyeing that prevents certain areas of yarn or fabric from being penetrated with dye. This is achieved using wrapping, stitching or resist materials such as wax.

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Tiraz a woven band of cloth with calligraphic inscriptions made in Muslim textile workshops. The term is derived from the Persian word for ‘embroidery’. Toga an item of Roman clothing that was typically made with a semi-circular piece of fabric draped over the shoulders and around the body; it was worn over a tunic. Early togas were made of dense fabric making them heavy, they evolved into lighter weight garments – see trabea and triumphalis. Trabea a name for various items of Roman clothing, a lighter weight development of the toga – similar to the triumphalis. Triumphalis a ceremonial garment, similar to a toga but lighter in weight – folded and wrapped around the body, fastened by a sash and the cloth draped over the right hand, similar to the trabea. Tsujigahana a Japanese tie-dyeing technique. Tulle a fabric that resembles a fine net. It is typically made of silk or silk blends but can also be in cotton or synthetic variations such as polyester or polyamide. Tunic a tight-sleeved garment for men that began as underwear and developed into outerwear. Tunica also known as a chiton, was a long ‘T’-shaped undergarment that was worn by both women and men. A cut and sewn garment, it was longer than the height of the wearer and excess fabric was pulled upwards to shorten; the female version usually being worn at a longer length. This garment developed to have a wider body and sleeves and became known as dalmatic or colobium. Twill a woven structure where the interlacing of warp and weft threads creates a regular diagonal surface with ribs and grooves in parallel lines. Tzangia a type of slipper – lightweight shoes, typically made of silk that were decorated with embroidery and jewels.

Glossary

Uchiki an ancient, everyday kimono. Uki-orimono a Japanese figured textile that uses raised threads to create the pattern or imagery. Velvet a woven fabric that has a short, thick raised surface called a ‘pile’ on one side for a soft feel and a lustrous appearance. It is typically made of silk, cotton, viscose, nylon or blends. Vestment a robe worn by the clergy during religious services. Wabi-sabi a Japanese aesthetic concept that celebrates nature, favouring change, where time enhances an object and delivers a poignant meaning. Warp vertical threads on a loom that make up a woven structure as the weft threads move over and under the lengthwise warp threads. Warp-faced when the warp threads are more numerous than the weft threads and lie uppermost. The warp threads are more visible in the cloth, covering the weft threads. Weft horizontal threads that make up a woven structure and move over and under the warp threads, interlacing to create the weave. The weft is also known as ‘woof’ and ‘picks’. Weft-faced when the weft threads are more numerous than the warp threads and lie uppermost. The weft threads are more visible in the cloth, covering the warp threads. Weld (of a plant-based dye) – a natural yellow dye obtained from the Reseda luteola plant that is native to Europe. An intense, vibrant colour is achieved. ‘Z’ direction a twisting of a thread when making a yarn that travels in a ‘Z’ direction, i.e. right to left. Zoomorphic having or representing animal attributes to non-animals, especially humans.

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ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS AND TABLES

Illustrations

Photograph by Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images. 1.9 Etro. Autumn/Winter 2009/2010, prêt-à-porter. Photograph by Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images.

CHAPTER 1 – SILK ALONG THE SILK ROADS: DIVERSITY AND ECLECTICISM

Sarah E. Braddock Clarke 1.1 Dolce & Gabbana. Autumn/Winter 2013/2014, womenswear, prêt-à-porter. Photograph by Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images. 1.2 Karl Lagerfeld for the House of Chanel. Pre-fall 2011. Photograph by François Guillot/AFP/Getty Images. 1.3 Gianni Versace. Autumn/Winter 1997/1998, womenswear, haute couture. Photograph by Niall McInerney. © Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. 1.4 Alexander McQueen. Autumn/Winter 2010/2011, prêt-à-porter. Photograph by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images. 1.5 Valentino. Designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli. Spring 2016, haute couture. Photograph by Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images. 1.6 Thierry Mugler. Autumn/Winter 1997/1998, haute couture. Photograph by Niall McInerney. © Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. 1.7 Dolce & Gabbana. Autumn/Winter 2013/2014, womenswear, prêt-à-porter. Photograph by Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images. 1.8 Valentino. Designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli. Spring 2014, prêt-à-porter.

CHAPTER 2 – ANCIENT CHINESE SILK TEXTILES: FOCUSING ON WARP-FACED SILKS

Sae Ogasawara 2.1 Warp-faced silk. Drawloom warp-faced silk with ­geometric pattern. Excavation of Tomb no. 1 at Mashan in Jiangling, Hubei ­Province in 1982. MidWarring States period. (Jingzhou ­Museum, Hubei Province, China). 2.2 Embroidery. Unlined fragment with dragon, phoenix and tiger embroidered on complex gauze. (Reference – Malcolm James ­Description/name 未 確認。以下同様。09.08.2019). Excavation of Tomb no. 1 at Mashan in Jiangling, Hubei Province in 1982. Mid-­Warring States period. (Jingzhou Museum, Hubei Province, China). 2.3 Embroidery. Riding on cloud imagery. Excavation of Tomb no. 1 at Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan Province in 1972. Former Han. (Hunan Museum, Hunan Province, China). 2.4 Warp-faced silk. Inscription (‘韓仁繍文衣右 子孫無極’), mountains, clouds and animals pattern. ­Discovered at Loulan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Later Han. (National Museum, New Delhi, India).

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2.5 Warp-faced silk. Inscription (‘延年益寿大宜子孫’), mountains, clouds and animals pattern. Excavation of Tomb no. 1 at the Taklamakan Desert, Niya, (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum, China) in 1959. Later Han. 2.6 Warp-faced silk. Inscription (‘五星出東方利 中国’), mountains, birds, and animals pattern. Excavation of Tomb no. 8 at Taklamakan Desert, Niya, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 1995. Later Han–Jin. (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Archaeological Research Institute). (Jingzhou Museum, Hubei Province, China). (Reference – Malcolm James, Xinjiang Archaeological Research Institute. Available at: http://www.chikyu.ac.jp/rihn-china/pdf/news6.pdfn (accessed 09.08.2019)). 2.7 Warp-faced silk. Misty mountains and animals pattern. Excavation of Tomb no. 88 at Astana North, Turpan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 1967. Tomb inscription dated 567. (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum). 2.8 Warp-faced silk. Trees, confronted goats, confronted birds pattern. Excavated from Astana, Turpan, Xinjiang Uyghur ­Autonomous Region in 1972. Northern dynasties. (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum). 2.9 Weft-faced silk. Strings of pearls and floral/­ geometric patterns. Excavation of Tomb no. 331 at Astana, Turpan, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Associated with document dated 619. CHAPTER 3 – A STUDY OF SASSANIAN BROCADE Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo 3.1 The oldest remaining knotted pile carpet. 3 BCE.­ Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 3.2 Depiction of a Persian soldier’s costume on a tile relief in the ancient city of Susa. 6 BCE. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 3.3 Detail of a Near Eastern fabric using a tapestry ­technique. 3 BCE. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 3.4 Drawloom in Kashan, Iran (left). Warp-weighted loom in Damascus, Syria (right). Illustration: Silk Roadology 2006: 26. The Nara International Foundation.

3.5-1,-2 The larger grotto, Taq-i-Bustan (left). Wall relief of Emperor Khosrow II, Taq-i-Bustan (right). The Tokyo University Iraq-Iran ­Archaeological Expedition Report 13, Taq-i Bustan. 3.5-3 Textile design motifs used in royal dress at Taq-i Bustan. Illustration by Mihoko Domyo. Bulletin Orient 24, no. 1, 1981, The Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan. 3.6 Wall painting Afraˉsiaˉb, the kingdom of Sogdian, ­Samarkand (Central Asia), 7th century. Aribaum, Mural of Ancient Samarkand, trans. Kyusaku Katou. Tokyo: Bunka Shuppan Kyoku, 1980. 3.7-1 Album of Ancient Textiles with the original ‘Samite with Design of Mounted Lion Hunters in Beaded Medallion’. Enclosed four mounted lion hunters. This is a typical Chinese samite of the T’ang dynasty (630 to 640) with mixed Sassanian and Chinese styles of figures and techniques. Ho¯ryu¯-ji temple. Photograph by Ho¯ryu¯-ji temple. 3.7-2 From the Album of Ancient Textiles – the original ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Enclosed two rhinoceroses. This is allegedly the most influential silk of Sassanian samite and the original was probably made in the early Sui dynasty (581 to 618). Illustration by Kiyoshi Tatsumura. Sho¯so¯ -in (original). Photograph by Sho¯so¯ -in. CHAPTER 4 – BYZANTINE BROCADES: A CONTRIBUTION FROM ART HISTORY

Dr Tomoyuki Masuda 4.1 (from left to right) first row: 1. Chora Monastery (Istanbul, 1316 to 1321); 2. Berat, Panagia Blachernai (Albania, 16th century); 3. Maligrad, Panagia (Albania, 14th century); second row: 4. Kurbinovo, St. George (Macedonia, 1191); 5. Prilep, St. Nicholas (Macedonia, late 13th century); 6. Lesnovo Monastery (Macedonia, 14th century); third row: 7. Perachorio, Sts. Apostles (Cyprus, 12th century); 8. Asinou, Panagia Phorbiotissa (Cyprus, 1105); 9. Geraki, St. John Chrysostom (Greece, 14th century); fourth row: 10. Kastoria, Sts. Anargyroi (Greece, 12th century);

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4.2

4.3 4.4 4.5

11. Kastoria, Panagia Mavriotissa (Greece, 11th century); 12. Lagoudera, Panagia tou Arakos (Cyprus, 1192). Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda. (from left to right) first row: 1. Banjani, St. Nikitas (Macedonia, 14th century); 2. Bela Crkva (Serbia, 14th century); 3. Brajčino, Sv. Petka (Macedonia, 14th century); second row: 4. King’s Church, Studenica Monastery (Serbia, 14th century); 5. Kurbinovo, St. George (Macedonia, 1191); 6. Manastir (Macedonia, 13th century); third row: 7. Matka, St. Andrew (Macedonia, 14th century); 8. Nerezi, St. Panteleimon (Macedonia, 1164); 9. Lešani, Si Sveti (Macedonia, 14th century). Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda. Markov Manastir (Macedonia, 14th century). Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda. Manastir (Macedonia, 13th century). Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda. (from left to right) 1. Nerezi, St. Panteleimon (Macedonia, 1164); 2. Veljusa, Eleousa Monastery (Macedonia, 12th century); 3. Naxos, St. George Diasotitis (Greece, 11th century); 4. Staro Nagoričane, St. George (Macedonia, 14th century). Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda.

CHAPTER 5 – THE SPREAD OF BYZANTINE SILK SAMITE TOWARDS THE JACQUARD LOOM

Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo 5.1 Cylinder seal and impressions: heroes fighting against animals, Archaic dynasties. From the Temple of Ishtar in Mari, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 5.2 4th century. Mosaic of the ceiling at the Mausoleums of Santa Costanza, Rome, Italy. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 5.3 Left: pattern of silk samite ‘Emperor Heraclius’. Before being influenced by Sassanian design, plenty of lozenge compositions were woven in the Byzantine era. Right: reverse of a fragment. Pattern: Musée d’Art Religieux et d’Art Mosan, Liège. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 5.4 Embroidery – mantle of Henry II. 12th century. Photograph by the Diözesanmuseum, Bamberg, Germany. 5.5 Left: 16th century. The wife of the Grand Duke of Tuscany (from Toledo, Spain). Uffizi Gallery,

Florence, Italy. Right: ­17th century. Osman (reigned 1618 to 1622 ) caftan. Palmetto style arabesque. It is similar to Italian silk of the 16th ­century pictured left. This was named the Chatoma weave in Turkey (similar to a velvet textile). Photograph by Banri Namikawa, Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi, dress of a sultan. Mori Masao. Sultan’s Clothing, Topkapi Palace Museum. Kyoto: Seiseisha, 1980. 5.6 15th to 16th century. Beyazıt (reigned 1481 to 1512) caftan with long sleeves in a Khemher weave. A floral pattern of pure white, deep red using cochineal and gold threads are woven on a black ground, these colours being difficult to dye. Also, a number of warp threads are one and a half times more than the typical Khemher weave, therefore the figured pattern is depicted in great detail. Photograph by Banri Namikawa, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi, dress of a sultan. Mori Masao. Sultan’s Clothing, Topkapi Palace Museum. Kyoto: Seiseisha, 1980. 5.7-1,-2,-3,-4,-5 1. Seals for charter. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 2. Fragment of a seal bag: No. 11. Charter date 1264, Henry II. Peacock and horse. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. 8th to 9th century. Damascus (Umayya dynasty). Reproduced by Otto von Falke who described them to be woven in west Islam during the 11th century, though this was contradicted afterwards. The depiction of animal and arabesque leaf patterns shows strong early Islamic work, being influenced by Byzantine and Chinese styles. H 8.2 × W 7.5 cm. Photograph by Canterbury Cathedral Archives. 3. A fragment of a seal bag; No. 23E. Charter date 1321, Edward II. Birds under a tree. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. 13th to 14th century. Al-Andalus, Spain. Six kinds of seal bag were made from the same fabric - No.23. The expression of the leaves, birds, and red animals are found in Spanish silk during the Middle Ages. The unfaded red was probably dyed using kermes from Spain. It is thought that the fabric was bought by silk piece goods or a custom-

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made article from Genova. There were privileges of trade with Genova to Muhammad II (Granada) in the 13th century. Photograph by Canterbury Cathedral Archives. 4. Fragments of a seal bag; No.1. Charter date 1366, Edward III. Peacock pattern with gold thread. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. 9th to 10th century. Byzantine. Photograph by Canterbury Cathedral Archives. 5. Fragments of a seal bag; No. 15. Two-headed bird of prey. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. 11th to 12th century. Byzantine. The two-headed bird of prey and the elaborate design reveal that the design is from Komnenos, Byzantine. They were clearly dyed at a high quality as the deep blue and red-purple have not faded. Otto Ⅲ (reigned 983 to 1002) demanded that Byzantines only used the decorative bird of prey instead of the eagle. Photograph by Canterbury Cathedral Archives. 5.8-1,-2,-3 Top: Drawloom from the ­17th century (also known as the Flower loom) in China. From the book, T’ien-kung K’ai-wu (Chinese Technology in the Seventeenth Century) by Ying-Hsing Sung and translated by E-tu Zen Sun and Shiou-chuan Sun. University Park, PA and London: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1966. Middle: Damask loom in Damascus, Syria. Bottom: Drawloom in Kyoto, Japan. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 5.9-1,-2,-3 Top, left: the early stage of the Jacquard loom. Maison des Canuts. Photograph by Yoshikazu Uni. Top, right: Lampas loom in Spain. From Antoni Segura I Mas, La Seda a Espanya: LIegenda, Poder I Realitat. 1991. Spain. Bottom: Drawloom in Lyon, France. Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 5.10 Traces of figured weaving. Samite ‘S’; Samite ‘Z’; Taqueté, Lampas. Illustration by Hiromi Yoshihara. 5.10-1 4th century. A ceiling mosaic at the Mausoleums of Santa Costanza, Rome, Italy (see pages 49 and 50). The end of Roman design is known for its

glorious mosaics that are seen as one of the origins of Byzantine design. Here, a depiction of a peacock and a bird amongst foliage, flowers and fruit trees suggests a liminal state between Earth and Heaven. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. CHAPTER 6 – FOUR CATEGORIES OF ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL CLASSICAL FIGURED TEXTILES: CONSIDERING TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS IN THE PROLOGUE TO THE WORLD HISTORY OF ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL FIGURED WEAVES

Dr Kazuko Yokohari 6.1 Chinese jin with mountain, tree and bird (no inscription). The State Hermitage Museum. (MR1330). 6.2 Chinese shell jin, excavated at Pazyryk kurgan, South Siberia. 3 BCE. The State Hermitage Museum. 6.3 Chinese jin, excavated at Niya Minfeng, Xinjiang Institute of Culture and Archaeology. Dieter Kuhn, ed., Chinese Silks (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2012), Plate 3.34a. 6.4 Thick silk fabric, woven in China. Rudolf Pfister, Nouveaux textiles de Palmyre (Paris: Les Éditions d’Art et d’Histoire, 1937), Plate IXe. Yale University Library . 6.5 Turfan. Sir Marc Aurel Stein, Innermost Asia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia, Kan-su and Eastern Iran (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928), Plate LXXIX. 6.6 Turfan, Urmqi (558 to 576). Dieter Kuhn, ed., Chinese Silks (New Haven, CT and London: Yale U ­ niversity Press, 2012), Fig.4.4. 6.7 1. Turfan (653) 2. Turfan (558 to 576) 3. (541 to 596) Uygur Autonomous Region Museum, Urumqi, Xinjiang. Photograph by Dr Kazuko Yokohari. 6.8 Huy silk; Shroud of St. Mengold reconstruction by P. de Groot and D. De Jonghe. Top, left: Surface of the Huy silk Bottom: Huy silk. Centre, right: Inscription on the reverse of the textile.

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Top, right: Walter B. Henning’s drawing of the inscription. Nicholas Sims-Williams and Geoffrey Khan, ‘Zandaniji Misidentified’. Bulletin of the Asia Institute 22, (2012): 207–213. 6.9 St. Remigius’s cushion (incised samite) ­surrounded with an embroidered inscription containing the name of the ­Archbishop Hincmar of Reims (died 882), Saint Remi, Reims. 6.10 Otani mission. Ryukoku University Library Collection, Kyoto. 6.11 Weave plan for a warp-faced textile – technical reconstruction of ­junctions with the planning. Original concept by Gabriel Vial. CHAPTER 7 – ISLAMIC TEXTILES Louise W. Mackie 7.1 Prince’s coat. Eastern Iran or Sogdia, 8th century. Samite: silk. Lining: China, T’ang dynasty, 8th century. Twill damask: silk. H 48.0 × W 82.5 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, purchased from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1996.2.1. 7.2 Tiraz. Egypt, Fatimid period, reign of al-Musta‘lī, dated AH 487/1094. Plain weave with in woven tapestry weave: linen, silk and gold thread. H 62.3 × W 54.6 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Textile Arts Club to commemorate its 30th Anniversary, 1965.313. 7.3 Striped silk. Iran or Iraq, Seljuq period, 12th century. Lampas: silk. H 33.7 × W 22.9 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1937.23. 7.4 Cloth of gold. Central Asia, Ilkhanid period, mid13th century. Lampas: silk and gold thread. H 124.0 × W 48.8 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1989.50. 7.5 Mantle for a statue of the Virgin. Silk: Egypt, Mamluk period, c. 1430. Lampas: silk and gilt-metal thread. Mantle: Spain, Nasrid period. H 70.5 × W 111.15 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1939.40. 7.6 Alhambra curtain. Granada, Spain, Nasrid period, 14th century. Lampas and taqueté: silk. H 438.2 × W 271.8 cm.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1982.16. CHAPTER 8 – ON MEDIEVAL LAMPAS: TEXTILES IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA FROM THE AL-ANDALUS PERIOD

Sílvia Saladrigas Cheng 8.1 ‘Tejido de los Grifos’ (Woven textile with Griffins), from the shrine of Santa Librada. 12th century. Lampas. Silk and gold thread. H 78.0 × W 62.5 cm. CDMT 6469. © Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil / Photograph by Quico Ortega. 8.2 Fabric from the reliquary at Santa María de Cap d’Aran. Lampas. Silk and gold thread. H 9.2 × W 13.4 cm. Musèu dera Val d’Aran. NR.2592. © CRBMC Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya / Photograph by Ramon Maroto. 8.3 ‘Tejido de las Estrellas’ (woven textile with stars), fragment from the vestments of St. Valerius. 13th century. Pseudo-­lampas. Silk and gold thread. H 11.5 × W 16.0 cm. CDMT 2374. © Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil / Photograph by Quico Ortega. 8.4 Lampas with multi-patterned decoration. Granada, Nasrid period. 14th century. Silk. H 36.0 × W 22.5 cm. CDMT 188. © Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil / Photograph by Quico Ortega. 8.5 Lampas with epigraphic decoration. Granada, Nasrid period. 14th century. Silk. H 46.5 × W 77.5 cm. CDMT 289. © Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil / Photograph by Quico Ortega. 8.6 Lampas with crowned lions and inverted escutcheons. 15th century. Silk. H 35.5 × W 17.0 cm. CDMT 50. © Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil / Photograph by Quico Ortega. CHAPTER 9 – BYZANTINE COURT DRESS

Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo 9.1 Draperies at the nave in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy. 6th century. Photograph by Dr Tomoyuki Masuda. 9.2-1 Jewelled upper cover of the Lindau Gospels, in Latin. Circa 880.

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Photograph courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, NY, USA. 9.2-2 Inside front cover of the Lindau Gospels. Byzantine silk brocade features imagery of confronting pigeons with rings, ribbons and pearl necklaces designed on a monochrome red ground studded with two types of flower. 9th century. Photograph courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, NY, USA. 9.2-3 Inside back cover of the Lindau Gospels. Samite woven in Syria with imagery of griffins and birds (most likely peacocks) surrounded by flowers in a lozenge ­composition. 8th to 9th century. Photograph courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, NY, USA. 9.3 Reliquary box with silk samite that features confronting bird imagery. Cathédrale Saint-Paul de Liège, Belgium. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. CHAPTER 10 – COLLECTIONS CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES

OF

MUSEUMS,

AAC 1 Elephant Silk. 10th to 11th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Made in Constantinople by inscription. Taken from the tomb of Charlemagne in 1843. This fabric is woven using the highest technique in Byzantine. The complicated pattern is representative of the Byzantine design. Theophanu, Queen of Otto II (came from the Byzantine era) had much silk as a wedding dowry and donated some of the pieces to churches in Aachen and Cologne. Photographs by Alamy and Domkapital, Aachen. AAC 2 Ducks. 6th to 7th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Blue was dyed using indigo. Light green was dyed twice using Isatis tinctoria and yellow. It is thought to be Sassanian silk by pattern, weaving technique, colour and the shape of the small circles and hearts were clearly depicted. H 25.0 × W 19.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

AAC 3 Ducks. 6th to 7th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. The red colour seems to be from kermes dye. The light green was dyed twice using Isatis tinctoria and yellow. It is thought to be Sassanian silk due to the pattern, weaving technique and colour. H 25.0 × W 19.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. AAC 4 Line drawing pattern. 11th to 12th century. Byzantine Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Dark green line on purple ground. The purple colour has remained, probably derived from shellfish. H 13.8 × W 33.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. AAC 5 Mask for a skull. The angel pattern is a restoration of Italian (Lucca) lampas/tabby pattern on a ground of five-shaft satin from the 14th century. The original fabric ­remains in the Musée de Cluny. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. AAC 6 Otto von Falke noted that this probably dates to Alexandria 6th to 7th century, but recently it is an accepted theory that Alexandria is not a place that produced figured silk. The central pattern resembles the Sassanian style and pure white circles most likely to indicate pearls. Threads are densely packed (weft: 42 to 50) so the curves are depicted beautifully. It must be woven in Iran during the post-Sassanid era. H 67.0 × W 43.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. AAC 7 Part of a duck. Central Asia. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. There are many similar patterns remaining from Central Asia. The red colour used kermes dye.

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H 35.0 × W 19.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reverse. ABG 1 Nile Silk. 4th to 5th century. Woven in Egypt or the eastern Mediterranean, probably Syria. Silk samite. This silk shows the song in praise of the Nile, as its annual flooding was greatly celebrated in Egypt. It depicts a portly, bearded god with animals, birds and Erotes, the Greek gods of love. It was woven to run in the direction of the width. As a consequence, it was possible to weave many patterns in a long repeat along the width of the material. H 82.0 × W 111.0 cm. Repeat: H 40.0 × W 4.0 cm. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung. ABG 2 Tunic with Erotes. 1st half of the 4th century. Woven in Egypt or the eastern Mediterranean, probably Syria. Silk samite. Silk was a luxury good that had to be imported from China right up to the 6th century. These tunic fragments are among the few silk robes from Late Antiquity to have survived. The silk is patterned with medallions containing little Erotes holding baskets of fruit, animals or musical instruments. H 154.5 cm × W 100.0 cm. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung. ABG 3 4th to 5th century. Woven in Egypt or Sassanian Iran. Silk samite. The Roman god Janus is depicted with two faces - looking to the future and to the past. This fabric of the garment was restored from many surviving fragments by the Abegg-Stiftung. Its weaving chart is similar to silks of Antinoë, with a weft density of about 20 to 29 picks per

cm. This textile shows the detailed lines of the god’s face and flowers. H 25.0 × W 24.5 cm. Repeat: H 21.0 × W 9.0 cm. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung.

ABG 4 Double-headed bird of prey, probably a hawk, sitting on lions. 10th to 11th century. Bu¯yid dynasty. Silk samite. The double-headed hawk was a symbol of the Palaiologan dynasty in Byzantium. Previously the hawk was singleheaded like those of Auxerre and Bressanone. (AUX 1, BRE 1) The patterned design is dense and seems to be influenced by Islamic design. Warp: unbleached white. Weft: orange and dark blue. Eyes, ring and talon: gold thread. H 68.5 × W 57.0 cm. Repeat: H 63.0 × W 28.5 cm. Side pattern: 8.0 cm in diameter. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung. ABG 5 Mythical wolves in patterned landscape. 14th century. Italy. Silk lampas – partially twill weave. Clusters of trees with heart-shaped leaves and bands of oriental wave pattern in light yellow green. Mythical wolves appear to be the ‘Wolf of Rome’ as they have breasts. They are emphasized by a dark colour and a twill woven using a differently spun silk. H 42.0 × W 32.0 cm. Repeat: half step in a horizontal direction. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung. ABG 6 Dalmatic with a pattern of facing pelicans and animals. 13th to 14th century. Fabrics from Italy, China or Persia, Spain and Germany. Silk lampas. The main fabric is an Italian lampas silk. The pelican is a significant pattern for Christianity, symbolizing Jesus

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Christ. The sleeves are made of Spanish silk patterned with a courtly device, while a Chinese or possibly Persian silk was used for the side pieces. The matching vestment worn by the sub-deacon is to be found in the Hanseatic city of Stralsund in Germany. H 120.0 × W 142.0 cm. Repeat: H 58.5 × W 24.0 cm. Photograph by Abegg-Stiftung. Colour: the ground colour is a greyish-blue and partially uses gold threads. Reference: Karel Otavsky and Muhammad, Mittelalterliche Textilien, I,2. Abegg-Stiftung, Riggisberg, Switzerland,1995. AUX 1 Single-headed falcon. The shroud of St. Germanus. 10th century. Constantinople. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This is in two pieces, so it must have been used for drapery. It is the biggest size in the existing figured silks. This decorative pattern of raptors is different from the symbolic eagle of the Byzantine era. H170 × W 120.0 cm. (noted 236.0 cm). 1 repeat: W 58.0 × H 84.0 cm. Warp: 30 / cm. See also Chapter 11. Photograph: https://www.pinterest.jp/ pin/197173289909721557/ Bronze door of Basilica di San Paolo, Rome, 1070. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BRE 1 The chasuble of Albuin was presented by Heinrich II. (P. Mair, Cassianus Vigilius Ingenuinus). Back (top image). Front (bottom image). Raptors pattern. 11th century. Constantinople. Chasuble of Albuin. Gold thread. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This pattern of raptors must be falcon the same as the Auxerre shroud. Purple, red and dark blue are not faded therefore the red is dyed using cochineal. The composition of the pattern is clear and was effective on a garment. The expression of each woven detail is more

delicate and complex by having a denser warp than the Auxerre shroud. Weave width: 266.0 cm. 1 repeat: W 65.0 × H 72.0 cm. Warp: 42 / cm. Photographs by Museo Dicesano Hofburg di Bressanone and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BRX 1 Reliquary of St. Denis. 12th century. Silk samite, last 3, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. H 15.0 cm × W 10.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BRX 2 Simorgh. 9th to 10th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. Same fabric as MAD 2. H 31.5 × W 40.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BRX 3 Quadriga. 7th to 9th century Byzantine. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. Reliquary of St. Landrade (7th century) and St. Amour (9th century). The design of the dress and medallion show 7th to 9th century. Byzantine style. H 25.7 × W 78.0 cm. H 25.5 × W 14.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reverse. BRX 4 Lion. 8th to 10th century CE. Central Asia. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. H 12.0 × W 17.0 cm; H 30.0 × W 18.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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BRX 5 Stars in the lozenges. 5th to 6th century. Byzantine. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This is a simple pattern but the texture of this fragment is woven regularly and the small rings in the centre are figured correctly. This means it must have been woven in the early Byzantine era. H 23.5 × W 11.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BRX 6 Asymmetrical birds. 12th to 13th century. Lucca, Italy. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. This was woven at an earlier time than SEN 3. H 17.5 × W 18.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reference: Musées Royaux du Cinquantenaire, Madame Isabelle Errera, Catalogue d’ Étoffes, Anciennes et ­Modernes,1927. BUR 1 Coffin cover: Lady of Palazuelos or Maria de Almenar. Silk samite. 12th century. Spain. The red colour is dyed using kermes. Confronting lions are in circle bands of kufic script, figured with gold thread. H 225.0 × W 175.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BUR 2 Pillow case of Leonor of Castile. 13th to 14th century. Spain, probably Granada. Silk with gold thread taqueté. This pattern is the Almohad type. H 49.0 × W 71.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BUR 3 Pillow case of Fernando of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Silk brocade. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

BUR 4 Coffin cover of Fernando of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Silk brocade. Lions and peacocks are in the centre of large, middle and small pearl rings. H 49.0 × W 71.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BUR 5 Pillow case of Leonor of Castile in his coffin. 13th century. Spain. Taqueté. H 84.0 × W 395.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BUR 6 Coffin cover of Henry I of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Lampas. Silk with gold thread. H 165.0 × W 43.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BUR 7 Coffin cover of Alfonso de la Cerda. 13th to 14th century. Spain. Lampas. Silk with gold thread. The Kufic design is similar to MIV 3. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BUR 8 Saddle blanket of Fernando of Castile. 13th century. Spain. H 130.0 × W 100.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BUR 9 Jubba of Fernando of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Embroidery on taffeta of silk and rabbit hair. H 130.0 × W 100.0 cm.

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Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. The detail of BUR 8, BUR 9 and BUR 10; show the same patterns as Lion and Castle in a lattice pattern - a noble design motif of the shield of Castile and León. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BUR 10 Mantle of Fernando of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Brocade. H 122.0 × W 390.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BUR 11 Saddle blanket of ­Henry I of Castile. 13th century. Spain. Silk taffeta with gold tape. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BUR 12 Saddle blanket of Leonor of Castile. Silk brocade. 14th century. Spain. The patterning demonstrates cultural exchange and trade in tiraz between the Christian church and Al-Andalus. The inheritance of skills from Persia can be sensed in the profuse use of light green colours hardly ever seen in Byzantine textiles. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. BUR 13 Cap of Fernando of Castile. 12th to 13th century. Spain. Taffeta and tapestry. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reference: F. L. May, Silk Textile of Spain, New York, NY: The Hispanic Society of America, 1958. CH 1 Fantastic animals. 11th century. Byzantine. Silk samite. This textile was donated by J. P. Morgan in 1902 and is said to have come from the Monastery of Santa María de l’Estany, Catalonia. Ex-coll. Francisco Miquel y Badía. Provenance: a church in Aragon. 51.0 × 31.0 cm. Diameter of roundels: 16.0 cm.

Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reverse. CH2 Peacock with four stylized feathers and Sassanian palmette tree. 8th to 9th century. Byzantine. Samite. H 25.0 × W 18.5 cm. 1 repeat: 17.0 × 14.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. CH 3-1 and 3-2 Elephant. 8th to 9th century. Byzantine. Silk samite. Found in a Pyrenean church in Aragon. Ex-coll. Francisco Miquel y Badía. The ornament of the elephant’s body is similar to VAT 7. The pattern of rosettes is characteristic of the 8th to 9th century. (a): H 38.5 × W 47.0 cm. (b): H 24.0 × W 47.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Adèle Coulin Weibel, Two Thousand Years of Textiles: The Figured Textiles of Europe and the Near East. (New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1952). Reverse. CH 4 Lion strangler. Late 11th to 12th century. Lampas possibly woven in Almeria in the Almoravid dynasty (1090 to 1150). Ex-coll. Francisco Miquel y Badía. Provenance: the tomb of St. Bernard Calvo, Bishop of Vic, Spain (1233 to 1243). This textile appears to be a tunic. Warp: light-brown silk. Wefts, white, yellow, red, dark green silks and gold and silver thread.  H 50.0 × W 48.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. CH 5 Sphinxes. 13th to 15th century. Hispano-Moresque (or Baghdad).

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Silk taqueté. Ex-coll. Francisco Miquel y Badía. Provenance: the tomb of St. Bernard Calvo, Bishop of Vic, Catalonia (1233 to 1243). Warp: light-brown, Wefts: white, golden-yellow, red, dark green and gold gilded parchment on silk thread. The same colour scheme and technique as CH 4. Two winged sphinxes sit confronted, with one forefoot raised and touching the slender tree between them. Their haunches are adorned with a palmette; the tails end in an elaborate split palmette. The wings are richly elaborated. The features are strongly marked, with eyes outlined by heavy brows. The head is covered by a bonnet. Beaded bands adorn neck, chest and wing. The small animals at the sphinxes’ feet are practically destroyed. The roundel is framed by a border with a palmette tendril between pearl bands. H 33.0 x W 31.5 cm. Quoted from: Adèle Coulin Weibel, Two Thousand Years of Textiles: The Figured Textiles of Europe and the Near East (New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1952). CH 6 Fragment of the mantle of Don A. Leonor. 13th century. Hispano-Moresque, Granada (most likely). Almeria, Spain. Silk taqueté. Warp: yellow / beige. Weft: dark blue, natural white, red, mustard-yellow and gold. Ex-coll. Francisco Miquel y Badía. Provenance: the tomb of infante Don Felipe of Castile (1231 to 1274 CE). The stylized Kufic inscription baraka, ‘blessing’, in white silk with red outline on gold ground, is a variant of the inscription on Don Felipe’s tunic. In the complete fabric there were probably two inscription bands, with a central band showing the two rows of eight-lobed blue and gold medallions and the crossstars, laid across the field. The registers of decoration are reminiscent of the walls and mosaics of Islamic architecture.  H 37.0 × W 19.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

CH 7 Cheetahs. 15th century. Probably woven in Almeria, a centre of silk production in Andalucia, Spain. Indigo-dyed silk and gold metallic thread gilded parchment on linen. This figured pattern expresses the best quality of lampas, as realistic animal and stylish beautiful plant are surrounded by sharp geometrical patterns. H 37.0 × W 19.0 cm. Repeat: H 29.0 × W 19.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. CLU 1 Quadriga. 8th to 9th century. Byzantine. Silk samite. Originally from the Aachen Cathedral Treasury. Between the medallions are ibexes facing each other, their jaws tightened around floral stems. H 75.0 × W 72.5 cm. Medallion diameter: 66.0 cm. Photographs by Musée de Cluny - Musée National du Moyen Âge and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. CLU 2 Mounted Amazons hunting leopards. 6th to 8th century. Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite. This fragment is similar to MET 1 but is not the same for the leopard’s head. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. The brown colour should be a dark red that used madder dye. H 20.5 × W 20.4 cm. CLU3 Musician. Fragments from Vic Cathedral. These are preserved at the Museo e Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. CLU4 Geometric pattern.

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Iberian Peninsula, Spain. The simple design of a falcon is influenced by the Byzantine style but the face and legs are influenced by the Spanish original. H 15.5 × W 14.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

6th century. Byzantium or Syria. Samite. H 7.1 × W 17.8 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. CLU 5 A fragment of St. Exuperius’s shroud. 12th century. Andalucia, Spain. Silk samite, 4 last ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. This is conserved at the Basilica of St. Sernin at Toulouse. The colours of the peacock alternated between red and pale yellow/orange. The peacock is a symbol of power in the Islamic world, the same as the lion. H 45.0 × W 21.6 cm. Photographs by Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen Âge. IMA 1 Confronting lions. Silk lampas. 12th century. Iberian Peninsula, Spain. H 12.0 × W 8.5 cm. There are many kinds of confronting lion designs in Spain and the types of surrounding rings are different. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. IMA 2 Single-headed falcon. Silk lampas. 12th century. Al-Andalus, Spain. From Siguenza Cathedral. Single-headed Spanish falcon is depicted alternately facing left and right. Gazelles are set in rings of wings also gazelle and humanlike harpy in rosettes. The kufic script means ‘blessing’. H 92.0 × W 44.0 cm. Photographs by Centre de Documentació i ­Museu Tèxtil and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. IMA3 Single-headed falcon. Silk lampas. 13th century.

IMA 4 15th century. Magreb, Spain. Silk taqueté. H 123.0 × W 44.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. IMA5 14th to 15th century. Granada, Spain. Silk lampas. The design of the crowned lion emphasizes the botanical pattern rather than the lion. The crown is not particularly clear. H 68.5 × W 40.5 cm. Photographs by Centre de Documentació i Museu Tèxtil. KSH 1 Lion. 10th to 11th century. Byzantine. 976 to 1025. Constantinople. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. Found in a holy relic for St. Heribert (970–1002). Inscription: Emperor Basil II and his brother, Constantine II. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. The fabric looks brilliant – a golden body of a lion and a bright orange ground. The face, hair, tail and tree on the lion’s back are depicted using a slim, stylized line. H 160.0 × W 121.0 cm. KSH 2 Trees and birds in red rings. 12th century. Brocade (from the time when the relic was stored for St. Heribert). It is different from a number of Byzantine silks as the colour and pattern show Spanish rather than Byzantine styles.

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H 108.0 × W 132.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. KSK 1 Dress with a pattern depicting hunters. 9th century. Byzantine, Syria. Silk samite. The pattern comes from the Sassanian emperor, Bahram V, an expert of hunting. A similar pattern is SC 1 but this is more about detail and use of colour. The face of the horse and the human eyes look similar to LYO 5. H 75.0 × W 114.5 cm. Reference: Legner, Anton, Schnütgen-Musuem and JosefHaubrich-Kunsthalle Köln. Ornamenta ecclesiae 2: Kunst und Künstler der Romanik: Katalog zur Austellung des Schnütgen-Museums in der Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle Köln. Köln: Schnütgen-Museum der Stadt, 1985: page 259. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. KSU 1 Lion hunting. 9th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. The red circle with a hunting pattern on a white ground is not typical of Byzantine silk. H 76.0 × W 52.0 cm. Repeat: H 23.4 × W 25.0 cm. Photographs by Alamy and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

These were used as an alternative to currency. The red colour has remained beautifully without fading, that means it was probably dyed using Ararat kermes or Armenian cochineal. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LIE 2 7th to 8th century. Iran. Silk samite. Geometric and foliate, the side pattern resembles that of VAT 8. From the reliquary box of St. Madelberte. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LIE 3 10th to 11th century. Islam. Silk samite. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LIE 4 12th to 13th century. Spain. Silk samite. From the reliquary box of Saint Simètre of Lierneux. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LIE 5 Second shroud of St. Lambert. 11th to 12th century. Central Asia. Silk samite. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. From the shroud of St. Lambert (died 705). St. Lambert is the Bishop of Maastricht- Liège. H 290.0 × W 118.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

KSU 2 Lion hunting. 7th to 8th century. Early Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Relic of St. Hippolytus (Rome) then the textile moved to St. Ursula in 922. The face of a hunter is the same type as the Roman god Janus, ABG 3. Pegasus or griffin, lion and ibex are all decorated. The deep blue colour would be dyed repeatedly and the threads are worn out. H 51.0 × W 61.0 cm. Repeat: H 242.5 × W 30.5 cm. Photographs by Alamy and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LIE 6 First shroud of St. Lambert. 8th century. Central Asia. Silk samite. Allegedly the best one of the so-called ‘­Zandaniji’ silks. H 190.0 × W 110.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LIE 1 7th to 8th century. Byzantium. Silk samite.

LMA 1 Two lions beside the altar of Zoroastrianism. 9th to 10th century.

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Constantinople Silk taqueté. The origin of the pattern is Sassanid. It is considered that this fabric is a shroud of St. Bertrand. Red: kermes. Blue: indigo. H 76.0 x W 108.0 cm. Photographs by Musée d'Archéologie et d'Histoire du Maine and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LOU 1 Ornament of a coat. 7th century. Antinoë. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. H 66.0 × W 52.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. The set pattern appearing along the width of each ­fragment is repeated from the top to the bottom. Pigments of white and red are painted in some places, as though to highlight ­certain motifs by using livelier colours. LOU 2 Ornament of a coat. 7th century. Antinoë. Silk taqueté. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. This very simple pattern consists of striding lions separated from each other by a serrated motif and a fourpointed rosette. The theme of striding animals ­appears frequently in ancient Near Eastern architecture. H 6.0 × W 14.0; H 3.5 × W 7.0; H 4.0 × W 12.0; H 5.0 × W 7.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LOU 3 Ornament of leggings. 6th to 7th century. Antinoë. Silk taqueté. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. This large piece of silk which decorated leggings attests that it is luxury goods. The pattern, organized horizontally, is composed of winged palmettes, kantharoses and ovalshaped buds that could be frequently found in borders of Sassanid silks. H 21.3 × W 20.5; H 21.0 × W 15.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LOU 4 Palmettes. 6th to 7th century. Antinoë. Woollen taqueté. Warp: ‘S’ twist. Pattern with drop-repeated palmettes. H 18.0 × W 15.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LOU 5 6th to 7th century. Antinoë. Woollen taqueté. Warp: ‘S’ twist. The warp and weft threads are the same yellowish green and other weft threads are green. These would be dyed twice in indigo and then in yellow to ensure the colour would not fade. H 53.0 × W 20.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LOU 6 7th century. Antinoë. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. The pattern of small winged palmettes repeats within the width of the fabric. Garlands, highly stylized winged palmettes are shown. H 5.5 × W 3.0 cm; H 7.0 × W 3.5 cm. H 5.0 × W 3.0 cm; H 5.5 × W 3.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LOU 7 7th century. Antinoë. Woollen taqueté. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. The pattern is organized horizontally: between two large borders decorated with garlands. The main patterns are quite similar to LOU 6. H 43.0 × W 34.0 cm; H 9.5 × W 24.0 cm. Photograph by © Musée du Louvre, dist.RMN - Grand Palais / Raphaël Chipault. LOU 8 7th century. Antinoë. Woollen taqueté.

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The pattern consists of squares bordered with small squares and lozenges. The horizontal squares contain four spotted animals followed by other small animals (perhaps dogs). Figured taqueté. Warp: ‘S’ twist. H 87.5 × W 29.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

and form of ribbon proves this to be a fragment from Sassanian Persia. H 32.0 × W 18.0 cm. Repeat: H 13.0 × W 13.0 cm. Photographs by Musée des Tissus and Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon.

LOU 9 7th to 8th century. Antinoë (most likely). Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. Thought to be woven in Syria due to the technical skill employed. The pattern consists of a mask, a square with a quatrefoil and an incomplete meander. The neck accessory, hairstyle, hair wreath and the depiction of eyes are imitation tapestry. H 9.5 × W 4.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LYO 2 Persian ibex in a line. 7th century from Albert Gayet’s excavations in Antinoë. Silk samite. Gift from Émile Guimet. An ibex is a motif used in Achaemenid Persia. From the woven details of face and small well-shaped pears, this fabric was undoubtedly made in Sassanian Persia. H 17.0 × W 29.0 cm. Repeat: H14.0 × W 11.0 cm. Photographs by Musée des Tissus and Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon.

LOU 10 Tapestry, animal protomes and human heads. 7th century. Antinoë. Warp: ‘S’ twist. H 100.0 × W 200.0 cm. The pattern is organized horizontally and separated by spaces ornamented with semi-circular motifs on white ridges on a red base. The four sides of the have borders of winged palmettes with floral patterns composing of three circular petals. A stem with flowers and leaves grows out of each petal. The background of the border is blue. On a red background, the central part shows animal protomes on a base decorated with rosettes and human heads on a trefoil. Each head is covered with two birds. The variation and liveliness in colour and, above all its remarkable execution testifies the high quality of this piece, which undoubtedly belonged to a noble person. Reference: Direction des Musée de France, Musée du Louvre Textiles et Mode Sassanides, 1997, ­L’edition dirigé par Anne de ­Margerie. LYO 1 Winged horse. 7th century. Silk samite. Sassanian Persia, found in Albert Gayet’s excavations in Antinoë, Egypt. A sharp woven line of pearl ring, crescent

LYO 3 Mantle of high status. 6th to 7th century, Antinoë. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Thought to be woven in Syria due to the level of ­technical skill. H 38.7 × W 33.6 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LYO 4 Crowned faces juxtaposed with birds. 4th to 5th century. Syria or Iran. Silk samite. Albert Gayet’s excavations in Antinoë. Woven and dyed using different skills from LYO 1 and LYO 2, notably seen on the depiction of the face, especially its round eyes and nose. This feature is found in typical orange, light beige, yellow green dye and painted with white pigment, the same as LOU 1. H 23.0 × W 38.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. LYO 5 Silk samite patched on a kaftan. The silk fragments appeared to be similar to LYO 1 and LYO 2.

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This well-sewn cashmere kaftan could be from the 8th century, as the hem of neck and sleeves are patched with figured woven silk. It was influenced from T’ang China, see SRM and PET. Photographs by Musée des Tissus and Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon.

MAA 2 Buffalo in hearts. 11th to 12th century. Eastern Iran or Central Asia. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. H 32.5 × W 20 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LYO 6 7th to 8th century. ­Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Excavation in Akhmim, Egypt. Pattern with similar trend seen in VAM 3 Orange and light yellow. H 20.0 × W 23.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reference: Lyon, Historique des Tissus Soieries Sassanides, Coptes et Byzantines V-XI Siècles, 1986.

MAA 3 Lion pattern. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. 10th to 11th century. Central Asia. Stylized patterns prove influence from Islam. Reliquary box of St. Servatius. H 11.7 × W 33.0 cm. H 19.5 × W 90.0 cm. H 18.9 × W 22.0 cm. H 19.5 × W 53.4 cm. H 12.0 × W 53.9 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

LYO 7 Shroud of St. Austremoine from Mozac Abbey. 9th century. Byzantine. Silk samite. Emperor (possibly Basil I) wearing a long jewelled tunic for parading. The fabric shows an original Byzantine design except for the deformed ribbon. Patterns in medallions are not stylized yet. Ground: dark blue is not discoloured Pattern: orange red, natural white H 74.0 × W 71.0 cm. Repeat: about H 80.0 × W 40.0 cm. Photographs by Tissus, and Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon. MAA 1 Human and angels. 7th to 8th century. Byzantium. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Similar to MET 3 but these ­fragments are the originals. H 56.8 × W 52.2 cm. H 36.2 × W 48.0 cm. H 14.2 × W 32.4 cm. H 11.2 × W 9.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MAA 4 Silken robe. 8th century. Probably China. Figured gauze. The so-called ‘dalmatic of St Lambert’. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MAA 5 Silk with floral pattern. Damask, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. 6th to 7th century. Egypt. H 18.0 × W 39.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MAA 6 Bag. 10th century. Spain. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. H 25.2 × W 10.6 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MAA 7 Red silk with lion. 11th century. Iran. Lanciette plain weave.

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The brilliant red means Ararat kermes was probably used. H 15.0 × W 18.0 cm. H 30.0 × W 16.2 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MAA 8 Part of a funny animal. 9th to 10th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. H 23.3 × W 28.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

H 46.0 × W 56.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MAD 2 Simurgh. 7th to 8th century. Byzantine with a Sassanian silk influence. Silk samite. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. Woven using thicker threads than MAD 1. H 33.0 × W 52.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MAD 3 Heraldic pattern. 12th century. Figured samite with linen. H 7.0 × W 15.0 cm. H 27.0 × W 42.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

MAA 9 Floral geometrical pattern. Silk lampas with gold thread. 12th to 13th ­century. Spain. H 10.7 × W 28.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MAA 10 Lion pattern. Silk lampas ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. 13th to 14th century. Italy. H 12.3 × W 11.5 cm. H 5.7 × W 5.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MAA 11 Silk bag. 14th to 15th century. Italy. Lampas. H 18.0 × W 19.3 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Comments are taken from Annemarie Stauffer, Die Mittelalterlichen Textilien von St. Servatius in Maastricht (Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung, 1991). MAD 1 Simurgh. 6th to 7th century. Sassanian Persia. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. A green colour and expertly woven pearl rings together with the complicated side pattern proves that it is Sassanian made.

MAD 4 Spanish style of a falcon beside thin trees. 11th to 12th century. Spain. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Shroud of St. Front of Périgueux. H 29.0 × W 40.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MAD 5 Lions, trees and heart pattern. 12th to 13th century. Spain. Lampas. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. A typical Spanish pattern of crowned lions that is similar to IMA 5. H 84.0 × W 55.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MET 1 Mounted Amazons hunting leopards. 6th century. Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite. The edges of the fabric rings are turned back and remain stitched using linen.

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The border of the medallion is formed mostly by heartshaped patterned leaves. Colours are natural white and faded purple-red. It is the shroud of St. Fridolin who was buried in his abbey in Säckingen on the Upper Rhine in the late 6th century. H 22.0 × W 19.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MET 2 Fragmentary band with scenes from the infancy of Christ. 5th to 6th century. Syria. Wool, linen and silk warp-faced compound twill. This is one of the earliest examples of woven silk-figured fabric, with mixed materials. H 9.5 × W 55.2 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MET 3 The original is 6th to 7th century. Attributed to Syria. Silk samite. The design was copied in 1895 in Germany and varies in the colour and expression of the eyes. It also differs in the wings and the faces of the bulls at the base of the column from the Maastricht textile (MAA 1). H 27.0 × W 27.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MET 4 The original is 7th century. Attributed to Syria. Silk samite. H 26.3 × W 26.3 cm. This fragment was acquired in Maastricht at 1888 and is referred by Annemarie Stauffer to be copied in 1895 in Germany. It was instructed by Eugen Vogelsang from the Textilschule in Krefeld, Germany. It differs in weaving density, colour and expressiveness of pattern from the similar fabric in (VAT3). Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reverse. MET 5 Silk, wrapped gold. First half of the 12th century. Lampas. Addorsed griffins, gazelles in secondary crest and designed animals in the medallion.

H 43.2 × W 30.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MET 6 Riding coat. First half of the 13th century. Iran. Silk samite. The pattern and composition are in the traditional style of Iran – trees, birds, lions and flowers cover the entire fabric. H 175.0 × W 128.0 cm. Repeat: 22.0 × 21.0 cm half step. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MFA 1 A herdsman. 5th century. Syria. Silk twill, reversible. This textile was found in a Coptic grave. The colours are natural white and faded purple / red. H 9.1 × W 7.1 cm. Repeat: about H 7.5 × 5.0 cm every half step. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MFA 2 Fragment of trim from a coat. 5th to 6th century. Probably Sassanian, Persia. Silk samite. Found in a grave at Antinoë, Egypt. The colours are dark blue, orange, light yellowish green and white. The weaving technique is fine enough to depict various types of curved line. H 18.5 × W 31.0 cm. Repeat: about H 7.5 × 5.0 cm every half step. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MFA 3 Two birds beside a holy tree in a lozenge pattern. 5th to 6th century. Probably woven in Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite. The red colour has faded and changed to brown, and was probably dyed using safflower. H: 8.3 × W 13.0 cm.

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Repeat: H 7.5 × W 16.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MFA 4 Griffin attacking a dog or leopard. 6th century. Early Byzantine, woven in Syria. Silk weft twill. Found in the stone coffin of the daughter of Great Pippin. H 20.0 × W 34.0 cm. Repeat: about H 26.0 × W 19.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MFA 5 Bud-flowering tree in a medallion of curved lines. 6th to 7th century. Probably woven in Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite. H 19.0 × W 19.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MFA 6 Flowering tree in a medallion. 7th to 10th century. Early Byzantine or early Islamic, copied from MFA 5. Silk samite. H 16.5 × W 15.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MFA 7 Part of a tunic. 12th to 13th century. Iran. Griffins, birds and foxes around a tree with arabesque ornament. The pattern and composition are in the traditional style of Iran, but also adopt a Chinese style. Silk plain weave with supplementary patterning wefts. The ground colour is light yellow / beige and the patterns are dark blue green. H 34.0 × W 50.0 cm. Repeat: H 12.5 × W 17.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MFA 8 Griffins and ibexes.

11th century. Bu ¯ yid / Iran. Silk plain weave with supplementary patterning wefts. Dark purple and reddish white. The symmetrical stylized pattern shows an arabesque taste. H 70.0 × W 35.5 cm. Repeat: H 27.0 × W 21.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MFA 9 Harpies and lion with griffins. Early 12th century (Spanish Almoravid). Probably woven in Almeria, Spain. In a medallion with a wide border is a man with a creative griffin. Silk lampas with supplementary discontinuous metal-wrapped patterning weft. This fragment is one of the highest quality in medieval Spain. Connecting roundels have inscriptions; this is the shroud of San Pedre de Osma. The secondary crest is also large and displays a geometric pattern with animals. H 43.0 × W 50.0 cm. Photograph by: Museum of Fine Arts. Reference: Pamela A. Parmal, Lauren D. Whitley, Susan Ward, Alexandra B. Huff and Tiffany Webber-Hanchet. MFA Highlights: Textile & Fashion Arts. (Boston, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, 2006). MIV 1 Dalmatic of St. Valero. Silk and gold thread lampas / taqueté / tapestry. 13th century. Spain. Attached to the dalmatics of Saint Valero. Geometrical floral pattern and line drawing similar to kufic script due to the use of thick gold thread. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MIV 2 Cape of St. Valero. 13th century. Spain. Silk and thick gold thread. Lampas / taqueté / tapestry. Two kinds of pentacle floral pattern on a white ground, shared with an Islamic tile pattern. This is formed with interlacing curved lines and uses much gold thread.

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H 22.0 × W 25.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

The red colour is achieved using Alizarin. Photograph by Annemette Bruselius Scharff.

MIV 3 Alte Nazari, cope. Inscription – ‘Glory to our lord, the Sultan’ 1408 to 1415. Spain. Silk lampas. One of the same fabrics as the royal family. Floral design of typical Nazari style mixed with botanical motifs of western Gothic style. Part of the design is similar to a ceramic pattern. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

OSC 2 Eagle Silk or Single-headed Falcon. Photograph by Annemette Bruselius Scharff. Reference: Anne Hedeager Krag, The Eagle Silk and Other Silks in the Shrine of St. Canute in Odense Cathedral. Herning, DK: Poul Kristensen, 2010.

MIV 4 Arte Morisco. 15th century. Silk lampas. Reproduction. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. MIV 5 Gran capa (cope) – mantle. Silk lampas 15th century. Bands of Arabic floral pattern in reddish colours. H 120.0 × W 380.0 cm (approximately). Reproduction of MIV 5. Photographs by Museo e Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan (reproduction). Reference: Bienes Culturales, Tejidos Hispanomusulmanes. Instituto del Patrimonio Histórico Español, 2005.

PET 1 Kaftan. 9th century. Silk taqueté, Central Asia. Excavated from graves in north-western Caucasus. It is patched with silk samite (Byzantine: see left) inside of collar. The kaftan is the same style as the patriarch of the region. The samite is similar to KSK 1 and MAD 1 H 140.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. PET 2 9th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Part of a large pheasant or peacock The red colour could be made from kermes dye. Warp: 15.0 × 2.0 cm. Weft: 53 / cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

OSC 1 Eagle Silk. 11th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave.

PET 3 Small bag for a talisman. 7th to 8th century. Syria. Silk samite. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

OSC 1 Eagle Silk. 11th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. 45.0 / cm. Weft: unspun. 30.0 / cm.

PET 4 Pegasus. 8th to 9th century. Zandana. Silk samite. Warp: 18.0 to 20.0 / cm. Weft: 38.0 / cm. The fragment was elaborately woven in Central Asia.

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H 62.0 × W 70.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

H 32.0 × W 36.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

PET 5 Altar frontal. 12th century. Spain. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. From the monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses. H 108.0 × W 238.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

PET 10 Man’s cap. Birds in a ring of pearls belt. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. The ground colour is probably discoloured red using madder dye. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

PET 6 Upper part of a kaftan. 7th to 8th century. Sogdiana. A few kinds of figured silks are patched on the surface of this jacket. Silk fragments are woven using the samite technique. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

PET 11 Soldiers in a ring of pearls. 7th to 8th century. Byzantine, Syria. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Part of the lining of a cape. The details of the pattern were woven clearly. The ground of the collar is probably a faded red using madder dye. H 13.5 × W 32.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

PET 7 7th to 8th century. Central Asia, probably Sogdiana. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Silks patched on a sheepskin. A garment for a man, in linen with a fur lining. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. PET 8 Part of a cap. 7th to 8th century. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Elements of the pattern express characteristics of Central Asia, but are of high quality. Warp: 26.0 × 2.0 / cm. Weft: 40.0 / cm. H 32.0 × W 36.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. PET 9 Woman’s cap. 8th to 9th century. Zandana. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This shows part of a Simurgh pattern. From the monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses.

SC 1 Dress of Otto II. The shroud of St. Calais. 8th to 9th century. Byzantine. This fabric is the most complex and sophisticated design in Byzantine samite using a ‘Z’ twist. Variable purple and green threads were woven alternately to create the animal imagery and used for long scarves and caps. Also, there are colours of pale blue, purple and green in the circle. The fabric comes from a legend of ­Bahram V. It was woven in a later year – KSK 1. Every part of the fabric seems to be woven using a highly skilled technique. The legendary fabrics are assumed to relate to Otto II whose queen was a niece of the Byzantine Emperor Johannes I. She carried many silk trousseaux with her. H 114.5 × W 75.0 cm. Repeat: H 89.0 × W 85.0 cm. Photographs by Pinterest and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. SEN 1 Animals and flower on a white ground. 7th to 8th century. Iran. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave.

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H 4.5 × W 3.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

H 12.5 × W 10.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reverse.

SEN 7 Human face. 5th to 6th century Photograph by Musées de Sens. (Anna Muthesius). Silk samite. Reliquary casket of an anonymous saint. H 4.8 × W 3.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 2 Man being attacked. 6th to 7th century. Byzantine. Silk tabby. H 12.0 × W 13.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. SEN 3 Life of Joseph. 5th to 6th century. Silk samite. H 11.4 × W 17.5 cm. H 7.1 × W 14.7 cm. H 4.0 × W 4.4 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 8 Human busts. 6th to 7th century. Egypt (most likely, Armant). Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. H 14.5 × W 23.5 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 4 Birds and palmettes. 5th to 6th century. (Dorothy G. Shepherd). Samite. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. From the reliquary casket of an anonymous saint. H 10.2 × W 9.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 9 Horses set within medallions. 8th to 9th century. Iran. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. Similar trend in design and colour to MAD 3. Reliquary casket of St. Paul. H 29.0 × W 40.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 5 Bust of an ­emperor. 8th century. Byzantium. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Emerald green and purple bust of an emperor set within a medallion. H 10.6 × W 9.7 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 10 Reliquary pochette (small bag). 11th century. (Dorothy G. Shepherd). Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Reliquary casket of an anonymous saint. The pattern is a part of a large bird. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SEN 6 Human heads. 7th century (Anna Muthesius). Eastern Mediterranean. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist.

SEN 11 Lion stranglers. 7th to 9th century. (Gabriel Vial). 8th century. (Dorothy G. Shepherd). Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave.

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Shroud of St. Victor. H 160.0 × W 66.0 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. SEN 12 Confronting lions. 8th century. Iran. (Gabriel Vial). Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. From the reliquary casket of St. Colombe. H 240.0 × W 118.0 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. SEN 13 Birds and griffins. 12th century. Byzantine. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Warp: ‘Z’ twist. Ten fragments forming the shroud of St. Potentianus. The flame of circle composed of pseudo-kufic inscription. The design is mixed of Byzantine and early Islamic, also heavy paws and legs are originally Sassanian. H 145.0 × W 97.0 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. SEN 14 Confronting lions. The shroud of St. Leo, Archbishop of Sens. 12th–13th century. Spain. (Dorothy G. Shepherd). Hispano-Moresque weaving. Silk brocade. Palmettes are filled in all small spaces. H 108.5 × W 48.5 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. SEN 15 Griffin or simurgh in a medallion. 12th century. (Gabriel Vial). 11th century. (Dorothy G. Shepherd). Byzantine. Silk brocade. The shroud of St. Siviard.

H 135.0 × W 89.0 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. SEN 16 Chasuble of St. Thomas Becket. 12th century. Lampas H 135.0 cm. Photographs by Musées de Sens and Ryoko ­Yamanaka Kondo. SEN 17 Peacocks. Ornament for a lectern. 10th to 11th century. Violet brocade. H 181.0 × W 78.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reference: René Fourrey, SENS Ville d’Art et d’Histoire,1982, Lyon. SHO 1 Ungenkin, flower stripes. 8th century. Warp-faced nishiki in compound three-harness twill weave. This lines the inside of a mother-of-pearl box. The cloth has an interface of handmade paper (washi) and a lining of green bind-resist-dyed (kōkechi) ashiginu. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House. SHO 2 Biwa (lute) bag with a karahana design. 8th century China (T’ang dynasty). Silk samite, eight flowers with sculpted rims surround a central lotus flower, and concentrically farther out, a vine connects eight large tilted lotus flowers. The subordinate motif fills the interstices with a vine scroll (karakusa) in the style of a ho¯so¯ge (a fabulous peony-like flower) depicted as sideview flowers and leaves. The main motif is the greatest of all the floral patterns found on nishiki in the Shōsō-in. H 95.0 × W 48.0 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House. Restoration.

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SHO 3 Vest with short-sleeves for Tōkogaku performance. 8th century. Silk brocade. The Shōsō-in stores several costumes for the ancient T’ang music that was performed at the consecration of the Great Buddha (752), and presumably this vest was worn at that time. H 73.0 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House. SHO 4 Covered armrest with image of a phoenix on a purple ground. 8th century. Brocade. A phoenix spreading its wings and standing on one foot appears in the centre of a ring of grapevine scrolls and forms the main motif, while diamond-shaped flower motifs with a central compound flower surrounded by flowers depicted in side views form the subordinate motif. The placement of the main motif and construction of the subordinate motif has similarities to karahana designs. A nishiki cited as resembling this was found by the Frenchman Paul Pelliot in the Astana cave in Turfan. H 20.0 × W 25.0 × L 78.0 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House. SHO 5 Armrest covered with striped nishiki (brocade). 8th century. This piece corresponds to the chōhankin, or ‘stripedpattern weave’ armrest mentioned in the Kokka chinpō chō (Record of the Nation’s Rare Treasures; Item 15). Karahana floral motifs and flying bird motifs appear in broad vertical stripes of alternating purple and light green grounds. Narrow white stripes with half-flower (nozokikamon) lie between the broad stripes. H 16.0 × W 21.6 × L 71.0 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House. SHO 6 Standing screen with nishiki fragments. 8th century. Japan. Brocade.

The main motif of this magnificent karahana design measures over 20 cm in height. The soft expression and skilful colour arrangement mark this as an outstanding example among the karahana designs on textiles in the Shōsō-in. Identical patterns rendered in different colours were manufactured. Textile: W 115.0 cm. Standing screen: H 149.4 × W 57.0 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House. SHO 7 Mat 8th century. Twill weave nishiki (a colourful, patterned woven silk) with design on a purple ground for an offering table. Materials and techniques – the obverse side is nishiki with a design on a purple ground. The border is nishiki with striped patterns, trimmed with silk braid. The reverse side is a plain weave silk, dyed green using the method of ko¯kechi (tie-dyeing). Furthermore, it is padded with bast-fibre cloth and silk floss. H 107.0 × W 52.5 cm. Photographs courtesy of the Shōsō-in Treasure House. Reference: Kaneo Matsumoto, Jo¯dai-Gire 7th and 8th Century Textiles in Japan from the Sho¯so¯-in and Hōryū-ji. (Kyoto: Shikosha Publishing Co., 1984). SRM 1 Pair of silken socks. 7th to 8th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 21.5 × W 14.0 cm. Photograph by Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum. SRM 2 Duck pattern. 8th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 70.0 × W 24.6 cm. Photographs by Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum. SRM 3 Duck motif. 7th to 8th century.

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Beautifully woven curved line of plant. Warp: dark brown. Weft: greyish green, white. Similar fabrics in Lyon, Maastricht and Boston. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reverse.

Central Asia. Samite. H 41.6 × W 24.8 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. SRM 4 Silk with simorgh pattern. 7th to 8th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 25.4 × W 41.4 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

VAM 2 Dress ornament. Late 6th century. Found and made at Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite ∅20-21 cm. Warp: dark brown. Weft: greyish brown (red), white. The pattern is turned from side to side but the organization chart is not turned from side to side. Patterns in the roundel are complex flowers. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

SRM 5 Silk with bird pattern. 8th to 9th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 76.8 × W 14.0 cm. SRM 6 Silk with deer pattern. 10th to 11th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 71.0 × W 36.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. SRM 7 Deer pattern. 6th century. Central Asia. Samite. H 139.0 × W 82.0 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. SRM 8 Silken po (round-necked robe). 8th century. China (T’ang dynasty). Silk. H 122.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reference: A Glitter of Silk Road, Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum, Japan, 2006. VAM 1 Dress ornament. 6th century. Found and made in Akhmim, Egypt. Silk samite ∅22.0 cm.

VAM 3 Marwan Silk and reproduction. 7th to 8th century. Islamic. Egypt. Silk samite. This textile was woven in the former Sassanian territory of Greater Iran, and the historical tiraz inscription was added in a government workshop in Ifrīqiyvah (possibly) Kairawan in modern-day Tunisia. The textile is embroidered with the name of the Islamic caliph of Marwan Commander. H 111.0 × W 57.0 cm. Frame mount. Warp: orange / yellow. Weft: red, green (indigo + madder), yellow and natural white. See Chapter 7 p. 84 Photographs by Victoria and Albert Museum and Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Reproduction. VAM 4 Horseman. 7th to 9th century. Byzantine, Syria. Silk samite. The horsemen are shooting an arrow at lionesses of different postures. Each horse looks in different

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directions. The roundel incorporates three types of flower patterns quite similar to the Nativity Silk in the Vatican. The red colour has not faded, which attests it was dyed with cochineal (probably Armenian). H 9.5 × W 8.5 + 10.5 cm. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. VAM 5 Charioteer. 8th century. Byzantine, probably Constantinople. Silk compound weave. This fragment shows a part of Byzantine emperor on a quadriga. The connecting part of the roundels is a sign of his imperial status. H 25.0 × W 10.0 cm. ∅ about 41.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. Paul Williamson, The Medieval Treasury: The Art of the Middle Ages in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London: V&A Publishing, 1997). VAM 6 The Lion Strangler. 6th to 8th century. Byzantine, probably Syrian. Silk samite. The Lion Strangler wears a Hellenistic short tunic with Roman chlamys. The main pattern is set between arches which includes red rectangles and buds. Similar lionstrangler patterns remain in small pieces as it was used as an alternative to currency. H 41.0 × W 32.2 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. VAM 7 Mythical animal. 9th to 11th century. Silk compound weave probably made in the early Islamic region. With a griffin’s beak and simurgh’s ears, it was woven from thin threads but shows a rough line of form. It attests that it was woven in an area not accustomed to weave figures at that time. H 23.0 × W 28.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

VAM 8 Peacock followed by unicorns. 1100 to 1150 CE. Spain (probably Almeria). Silk samite. Dyed with kermes and indigo. The inscriptions seem to be decorative in shape. H 34.0 × W 24.0 cm. Photographs by Victoria and Albert Museum. VAT 1 Geese in pearl roundels. H 22.8 × W 29.2 cm. Roundel: 22.0 cm. Ring motif: 2.5 cm diameter. 6th to 7th century. Sassanian samite. Discovered beneath the altar in the Sancta Sanctorum private chapel. Incorporated in the roundels, along with the circular motifs for the linking sections and the pedestals for the birds, are strings of pearl motifs with accurately woven circles, rendered in black dye that has not faded, which requires some of the most difficult dyeing techniques. The geese peck at a beautifully curving grapevine arabesque. Their bodies have compositions of soft lines and straight lines, with ribbons added at the feet. Reverse. VAT 2 Cockerel with halo. 7th century. Sogdian. On the basis of its theme, heart-shaped roundels and other features, some publications interpret this fragment simplistically as having a Sassanian origin. However, the orange (discoloured yellow) and blue/green gradations float irregularly from the reverse side, indicating that this silk is woven with a flush technique. Similar flushing was used with a white ground to produce silks in large volumes in 18th-century Britain. H 35.0 × W 74.6 cm. Repeat: 30.0 × 35.0 cm. Cockerel: 18.5 × 16.0 cm. The shapes of the large secondary motifs are common to patterns over an area ranging from China to Central Asia. However, no textiles with similar flush techniques have been discovered from the same period, so many questions still remain. Considering the trends in the motifs and

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the uneven finish of the weave, the closest match would probably be a 7th-century Sogdian product modelled on Sassanian silk. Reverse. VAT 3 Amazones. 7th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. Addorsed Amazons on horseback patterns resemble those of the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht and MET 4, but ­different due to being a deeper red colour. The eyes of the human figures, the lions and the tails of the horses are depicted more ­naturalistically. On the other hand, the roundel is more distorted. These differences demonstrate that this was the model for the other two silks. From features such as the heartshaped motifs and depiction of the eyes, it can be considered that it was produced in Syria in about the 7th century before the establishment of the floral motif roundels. The Liber Pontificalis records for 827 to 844 mention the Amazons from Greek mythology. Amazon motifs continued to be used subsequently. H 24.0 x W 25.0 cm. VAT 4 Hunting. 7th to 8th century. Byzantine. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. In the Sancta Sanctorum, this remnant was found in use as a cushion placed inside the reliquary casket containing the sandals of Christ. The patterns incorporated into the roundel and the palm motifs are from a period when the characteristics of the Byzantine period were beginning to emerge. The patterns cover the whole cloth with little marginal space, and both colour and composition are well balanced. H 42.2 × W 34.7 cm. Warp: twist 2 yarn: 24 ends. Weft: 28 picks. Reverse. VAT 5 Annunciation. Syria during the Byzantine era.

Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This textile is thought to be part of an altar cloth from the Laterano, cut up to be used for wrapping the sacred relics. The Liber Pontificalis has a record of a gift from Pope Leo III (795 to 816) described as a roll of cloth made in Syria depicting the birth of Jesus Christ. However, evidence of silk weaving in Alexandria has yet to be found. Otto von Falke considers this textile to have been produced in Egypt, but the labelling of many Alexandrian silks suggests that the city functioned as a hub, consolidating the trade of textiles from many different regions. Pliny the Elder described the same view in Natural History: A Selection, 1 CE. H 68.7 × W 33.0 cm. Roundel: three types of flower pattern: 32.5 cm. Warp: hard-twist 22 ends. Weft: 28 picks. Reverse. VAT 6 Nativity. 7th to 8th century. Syria before 636 (Saracen took over Syria) or Constantinople after the 8th century (Imperial silk atelier was built in 713). Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. This textile is found in the Laterano as 61231. H. 31.5 × W 27.5 cm. Roundel with three types of flower is typical of the Byzantine style: 30 cm diameter. Warp: Hard-twist single-ply yarn: 22 ends. Weft: 28 picks. According to the attribution of the floral roundels and the colour, the two textiles seem to be made in the 8th century in Constantinople. Rudolf Pfister claimed that the red of the ground colour weft is dyed using a different cochineal from 61231, and a comparison of the colours today shows that the remaining red is deeper than the red of 61231. Otto von Falke suggests that the floral patterns incorporated into the roundels have their origin in lotus patterns from Egypt. However, considering the use of pearl patterns in Persian textiles at a time when pearls were seen as particularly valuable, it may be more appropriate to consider the design of the floral patterns as similarly based on the rose garlands that were valued in Rome at the time. Marielle Martiniani-Reber thought it was

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produced at the time before the Byzantine Iconoclast period (726 to 842). VAT 7 Hippogriff. 8th to 9th century. Syria in the Byzantine era. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. The reverse of a cushion discovered inside a silver container (fabricated around 817 to 824) in the Sancta Sanctorum. H 21.2 × W 21.3 and H 21.2 × W 20.9 cm. Warp thread: Twisted yarn, 18 ends. Weft thread: 24 picks / cm. Repeat: 11.0 × 14.0 cm. Reverse. The hippogriff changes orientation from left to right on alternate rows. There are no secondary motifs. Large and small flowers on the bodies are similar to CH 3 of the horse’s body. The patterns are arranged in parallel, with the orientation of the patterns reversing on alternate rows, a feature of early Christian textiles. The blue/red ground colour is dense, and like the dark green of the hippogriff’s body, has hardly faded. The dyeing is thought to have used Armenian cochineal, produced using techniques that were later lost to history. Considering also the presumed dates of the patterns, this textile is thought to have been produced in Syria. The flower patterns covering the hippogriffs’ bodies date from the early Byzantine period. Similar patterns can be seen decorating the bodies of elephants in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Later these became complex plant patterns, like those on the body of animals such as the ‘Lion Silk’ at the shrine of Saint Heribert, Archbishop of Cologne. The ribbons positioned away from the head show that this textile dates from before the Byzantine Empire took Khosrow’s palace in 627, i.e., before there had been a real spread of Sassanian patterns. VAT 8 Confronting lions. 7th to 8th century. Central Asia. Silk samite. ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Two large edged fabrics sewn together. The fact that the roundels are not completely round, the lions’ feet, the

pedestals that they stand on and the secondary motifs are clear indications that this textile was produced in Central Asia in the seventh to 8th century. In Otto von Falke’s day, little information was available about Central Asia. He gave the origin as eastern Iran, but the styles of the patterns on silks produced in that region are quite different. Secondary patterns are typical style of Central Asia. H 53.0 × W 33.3 cm. Edge: 2.0 cm. Oval ① W 13.5 × H 18.2 cm. ② H 15.7 × W 8.8 cm. Weft: bundle 2 yarn: 18 picks / cm. References: Wolfgang Fritz Volbach, I Tessuti del Museo Sacro Vaticano (­Catalogue of the Museo Sacro. Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica ­Vaticana,1942). Bulletin du CIETA, 63-64, 1986. Rudolf Pfister. ‘Sur les Tissus du Sancta Sanctorum’. Congress ­Internazionale Degli Orientalisti, XIX (1938). Photographs by Musei Vaticani. Reverse. VIC 1 Altar frontal (Witches Cloth). 12th century. Barcelona, Spain. Silk samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. From the monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses. H 108.0 × W 238.0 cm. Reproduced from Jerrilynn D. Dodds, ed. Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain. 1992. (New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013). VIC 2 13th century. Italy. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. The pattern is mixed Islamic, geometric and Byzantine eagle – the patterns and ground are uneven. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. VIC 3 13th century. San Cugat del Valles, Barcelona. Samite, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. H 20.0 × W 28.0 cm. Photographs by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo.

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CHAPTER 11 – PATTERN AND COLOUR IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE

Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo 11.1-1 The abduction of Zal by the Simorgh. Image: Wikipedia. 11.1-2 An Achaemenid gold rhyton. 5th century BCE. The National Museum of Iran. 11.1-3 A simorgh in a flower roundlet. Fukai Shinji and Mihoko Domyo, Taq-I Bustan 1,2,3,4. Tokyo: ­Yamakawa ­Publishing Company, 1969. 11.2 10th–11th-century peacock on ceramic. Musée du Louvre. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 11.3 The shroud of Saint Josse. 10th-century Iran Buˉyid. Silk samite, ‘Z’ direction of twill weave. H 52.0 × W 94 cm; H 62.0 × W 24.5 cm. Musée du Louvre. Photograph © Musée du Louvre, dist. RMN – Grand Palais / Raphaël Chipault. 11.4 Silk samite. 7th–8th century. Akhmim. The fading process of a purple-red colour. Inscribed: Zaxapolis in Greek. H 37.0 × W 29.0 cm. Victoria and Albert Museum. Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. 11.5 Silk samite. 11th–12th century. Byzantine showing the fading process of the colour red. Photograph courtesy of Abegg-Stiftung. 11.6 Silk samite. Example showing how the original purple-red colour has remained. Domkapitel, Aachen, Germany. ­Photograph by Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo. CHAPTER 12 – THE SPREAD OF SILK TO JAPAN

Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo 12.1 Wall painting depicting Japanese costumes from the 7th to 8th century. Asuka Board of Education. 12.2 Nishiki, stand cover (detail) with a pattern of grapevine scrolls. Shōsō-in. 12.3 Nishiki, beaded medallion enclosing hunting scene. Shōsō-in. 12.4 Panels of thirty-six immortal poets. Konpira shrine. 12.5 Hanging scroll of the ‘Sacred Dance by Mediums’. Konpira shrine. 12.6 Shifuku, bags for tea ceremony utensils. Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd. Inscription with Rikyu Mossou, Seikadō Bunko Art Museum, Setagaya, Tokyo.

CHAPTER 13 – WARP-FACED BROCADE IN JAPAN

Shizuo Takata 13.1 Reproduction of a drawloom that creates warp-faced brocade. The Takata Institute of Japanese Imperial Classical Costume. 13.2 Starting to weave Tate-Nishiki (warp-faced brocade) on a Takata drawloom. The Takata Institute of Japanese Imperial Classical Costume. 13.3 A completed Ninishiki warp-faced brocade, floral pattern on a red ground made on a reproduction drawloom. The Takata ­Institute of Japanese Imperial Classical Costume. 13.4 This illustration shows the method of Tate-Nishiki weaving. The Takata Institute of Japanese Imperial Classical Costume. CHAPTER 14 – ANCIENT TEXTILES PRESERVED IN JAPAN, REBORN

Kiyoshi Tatsumura 14.1-1 Reproduction of the ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’. Shitenno-shiryo-monyo Nishiki. (Shiki-shishikari-mon Nishiki.) Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd. 14.1-2 ‘Samite with Design of Four Mounted Lion Hunters’ (left). 7th century. 14.1-3 (right) shows a detail. National Treasure. Shikishishikari-mon Nishiki. Hōryū-ji. Images provided by Nara National Museum. Photographs by Kinji Morimura. 14.2-1 Reproduction of the ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Sai-renju-mon Nishiki. (Sai-enmon Nishiki.) Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd. 14.2-2 Fragments of the original ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Sai-enmon Nishiki. Fragments (Kogire-cho). Shōsō-in Treasure House. 14.2-4 (detail) and 14.2-5 (detail). ‘Samite with Design of a Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. 8th century. Sai-enmon Nishiki. Fragments (Kogire-cho). Shoˉsoˉ-in Treasure House. 14.2-3 Weave structure of the original ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’.

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Detail showing weft-faced, 3-harness, ‘S’ direction of twill weave. Sai-enmon Nishiki. Fragment (Kogire-cho). Shoˉsoˉ-in Treasure House. 14.2-6 Composition based on the fragments of the original ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Sai-enmon Nishiki. Fragments (Kogire-cho). Design Composition Shoˉsoˉ-in Treasure House. 14.2-7 Design Sketch of the Reproduction of the ‘Samite with Design of Rhinoceros in Beaded Medallion’. Sai-enmon Nishiki. Illustration by Kiyoshi Tatsumura. 14.3-1 Reproduction of the ‘Samite with Design of Large Hōsōge-style Floral Scrolls on a Blue Ground’. Commissioned for a bag for a biwa (lute) musical instrument. Hanada-ji Okarahana-mon Nishiki. Shōsō-in Treasure House. Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd. 14.3-2 Reproduction of the bag for a biwa (lute). Shōsō-in Treasure House. 14.3-4 Fragments of the original ‘Samite with Design of Large Hōsōge-style Floral Scrolls on a Blue Ground’. Shōsō-in Treasure House. 14.3-3 Bag for biwa. Shōsō-in Treasure House. 14.4-1 Reconstructed warp-faced compound weave fabric with ‘Design of Circles Enclosing White Tigers and Zhūquè Birds’. En-mon Byakkosuzaku Nishiki. Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd. 14.5-1 Reconstructed ‘Samite with Design of Mandarin Ducks and Scrolling Vines’. Oshidori-karakusamon Nishiki. Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd. 14.6-1 Reconstructed Chōhankin with ‘Design of Lion Faces’ (bottom, left). Shikami-mon Choˉhankin. Photograph by Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd. 14.4-2 Warp-faced compound weave fabric with ‘Design of Circles Enclosing White Tigers and Zhūquè

Birds’. 7th–8th century. Shokko-kin Aya-ban Tsubo-gire. The Gallery of Hōryū-ji Treasures. Tokyo National Museum. 14.5-2 ‘Samite with Design of Mandarin Ducks and Scrolling Vines’ (middle, right). 8th century. Akaji Oshidori-­karakusa-mon Nishiki. Large banner leg ornament. Shōsō-in Treasure House. 14.6-2  Chōhankin (striped, warp-faced compound weave) with ‘Design of Lion Faces’. 8th century. Nishiki Shitozu. Sock. Shōsō-in ­Treasure House.

Maps OPENING OF INTRODUCTION

Production Map of Figured Silk © Getty Images/lukbar Maps of East to West Silk Trade Routes encompassing Japan, China, Iran, Turkey, Europe, UK and the USA.

Tables Chapter 6 – Four Categories of Ancient and Medieval Classical Figured Textiles: Considering Technical Innovations in the Prologue to the World History of Ancient and Medieval Figured Weaves Dr Kazuko Yokohari At opening of chapter: Table 1: Four Categories of Figured Textiles. Byzantine Samite – Chronological Charts of Civilizations and Textiles Ryoko Yamanaka Kondo and Sarah E. Braddock Clarke.

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INDEX Aachen (Germany) 36, 53, 54 Aachen Cathedral 54, 167, 182 Abbasid Caliphate 55, 65, 83–4, 88 Abd al-Rahman I, Prince 97 Abd al-Rahman II 55, 77, 98 Abd al-Rahman III 98 Abegg-Stiftung (Riggisberg, Switzerland) 48, 65, 206–7 Agios Dimitrios, Church of (Thessalonki, Greece) 125 Agrippina, Empress 264 Alexander the Great/Alexander III of Macedon, King 31, 61, 120 Alexandria (Egypt) 48, 75, 84, 137, 185 Alexios I, Emperor 121, 129 Alexios III Angelos, Emperor 123, 129 Alexios IV Angelos, Emperor 123, 129 Alexios V Doukas, Emperor 124, 129 Alexios Apokaukos 122 Al-Malik al Ashraf Barsbay, Sultan 91 Al-Musta’lī, Caliph 85 Al-Sharf Sha’bang, Sultan 48 Altai Mountains (Central and East Asia) 24 Amazon(s) 49, 135, 168, 239 Amir, Supreme Commander 65 Anastasios I Dicorus, Emperor 112, 117 Andronikos III Palaiologos, Emperor 129 animal(s) 12, 16, 21, 25–8, 42, 48, 51, 58–9, 70, 99, 102, 139, 150–1, 153–5, 177, 204, 206, 208, 237–8, 241, 245, 256, 259 boar 32, 34, 36, 61, 84 buffalo, 201 bull(s) 36, 38, 240 camel(s) 7, 36, 84

cheetah(s) 238 cow 37 deer 61, 249, 292 dog 36, 153, 244, 257 dragon 24–5, 72, 292 dragon-head 88 elephant(s) 36, 54, 77, 84, 139, 182, 236, 256–258 fox(es) 245 gazelle(s) 210, 241 goat(s) 14, 28, 36, 72 hare 74, 182 horse(s) 16, 55, 59, 71, 84, 135, 139, 158, 284, 292 horseback 77, 79, 135 horsemen 31, 143 horse-riding hunters 284 ibex(es) 147, 167, 191, 245 leopard(s) 168, 239, 244 lion(s)/lioness(es) 14, 16, 21, 30, 36–8, 52, 72, 77, 84, 88, 98–9, 102, 104–5, 135, 139–40, 143–4, 151, 170, 174–5, 187, 190–2, 195, 202, 204, 207, 222, 242, 245, 256–8, 284, 289 Lion and Castle 224 confronting lions 140, 161, 163, 209, 220, 258 crowned lion 213 lion faces 292–3 lion hunters/hunting 29, 37–8, 190–1, 267, 269, 282–4, 289 lion strangler(s) 160, 237 rabbits 292 ram 36

370

rhinoceros 38, 282, 284–9 stag(s) 75–6 tiger(s) 24–5, 192, 292–3 zebra 84 animals − mythical and hybrid 99, 144, 256 Chimera 14 fantastic 234 griffin(s) 16, 27, 88, 99, 111, 144, 162, 164, 191, 241, 244–5, 256, 258–9 hippogriff(s) 16, 139 mythical wolves 208 Pegasus/Pegasi 16, 21, 191, 227, 256, 258, 307 Simurgh/simorgh/senmurv 16, 32, 36, 61, 78, 144, 164, 171–2, 192–3, 231, 248, 256–7, 259, 307 sphinx 16, 99, 237 unicorn 16, 145 The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries 166 winged dragon 72 winged goat 72, 75 winged horse(s) 36, 75, 79, 85, 88, 146, 150 winged lion(s) 21, 30, 72, 88 Antioch (Syria, now in southern Turkey) 47, 75 Antinoë/Antinopolis (Egypt) 36, 48, 75, 146–7, 150–4, 207, 243 Apostles 41–2, 49 Arab(s)/Arabic 1, 2, 58, 61, 76–8, 83, 85, 91, 97, 217 Arab-Islam/Islamic style 55–6, 61 Archangel Gabriel 41 Archangel Michael 120

Ardashir I 32 Ardashir II 34 Argon II 47 Arwad (Syria) 46 Assyria/Assyrian (now Iraq) 30, 47 Asterius of Amasia, Saint and Bishop 75 Babylon/Babylonia (Iraq) 30, 47 Badía, Francisco Miquel y 234, 236–8 Baghdad/Baghdadi (Iraq) 55, 65, 78, 83–5, 88, 99 Bahram V, Emperor 177, 189 Basil I, Emperor 52, 120, 149 Basil II, Emperor 54, 85, 120, 129, 189 Basilica Church of Saint Ursula (Cologne, Germany) 53 Basilica of Saint Sernin (Toulouse, France) 170 Basilica of Saint Servatius (Maastricht, the Netherlands) 135 Basilica di San Giovanni (Laterano, Italy) 133 Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo (Ravenna, Italy) 9, 109, 125 Basilica of San Vitale (Ravenna, Italy) 9, 40, 49, 109, 112, 118 Bellinger, Louisa 72 Beyazit (Bayezid) II, Sultan 57 Bible, the 5, 48–9, 75, 258 bird(s) 12, 14, 16, 21, 25, 28, 36, 50–1, 59–60, 68, 70, 84–5, 88, 98–9, 111–12, 133, 148, 154, 156, 159, 162, 188, 196, 206, 242, 244–5, 248, 254, 256–9, 267, 292 cockerel 133 dove 36 duck(s) 85, 183, 185, 247 eagle(s) 16, 36, 52, 60, 77, 98–9, 178, 219, 232, 256–8 Eagle Silk 232–3 falcon 85, 173, 178, 210–11, 233, 256–8 geese 36, 133 hawk(s) 65, 129, 207, 258 ibis 98 Mandarin duck(s) 292–3 peacock(s) 14–15, 36, 52, 60, 68, 111, 145, 165, 170, 222, 227, 235, 256–9 Peacock Silk 78 pelican 208 pheasant 227 pigeon(s) 110 of prey/raptor 60, 123, 178, 181, 207, 256–7

raven 36 vulture(s) 52 water bird(s) 36, 50 waterfowl 32, 36 Zhūquè (flaming) birds 292–3 birds − mythical and hybrid, 256–7 griffin 16, 27, 88, 99, 111, 144, 162, 164, 191, 241, 244–5, 256, 258–9 harpy/harpies 210, 245 hippogriff(s) 16, 139 Pegasus/Pegasi 16, 21, 191, 227, 256, 258, 307 phoenix 7, 16, 24–5, 36, 253, 269, 292 Saena 256 senmurv 192 simurgh/simorgh/senmurv 16, 32, 36, 61, 78, 144, 164, 171–2, 192–3, 231, 248, 256–7, 259, 307 sphinx 16, 99, 237 unicorn 16, 145, 166 winged dragon 72 winged goat 72, 75 winged horse(s) 36, 75, 79, 85, 88, 146, 150 winged lion 72, 257 Bohai Sea/Bohai Sea Envoys 267 Bolinus brandaris 9, 262–3 Bolton, Andrew 8 Book of Wei 61 Boureau, Alain 258 Bosphorus Strait (Asian/European Istanbul, Turkey) 8 Bourbon, House of (France) 58 Boyana Church, Bulgaria 127 Buddhism/Buddhist 32–3, 73–4, 79, 88, 251, 253, 264, 269, 282–3 Bukhara (Uzbekistan) 8, 61, 75–6, 84 Bursa (Turkey) 55 Būyid dynasty 65 Caesar, Julius 5 Canterbury Cathedral 58 Archives 59–60 Cappadocia (Turkey) 42 Carroll, Lewis 16 Carthage (Tunisia) 47 Catholic/Catholicism 5, 8–9, 40, 58, 91, 129 Caucasus (Europe/Asia) 31, 55–6 Changsha (China) 25–6, 70 Chanel, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ 9 House of Chanel 9–10 Chapour II, King 75

Index

371

Charlemagne, Emperor and King 54, 133, 155, 182 Charles IV, of Bohemia, King 182 Cheng, Sílvia Saladrigas 2, 97 Chiuri, Maria Grazia 14–16, 19 Christian(s)/Christianity 5, 8, 21, 32–3, 40, 48–9, 52, 54, 58, 74, 85, 91, 108, 129, 133, 139, 178, 225, 258–9, 264, 281 Christian Bible 48 CIETA 73, 76–7, 80 Clarke, Sarah E. Braddock 2, 4 Claudius, Emperor 264 Cleveland Museum of Art, The 86–7, 89–90, 92–3, 98, 104 Coen, Joel and Ethan 4 Colberg, Katharina 257 Colbert, Jean-Baptiste 58 Cologne (Germany) 53–4 Confucian 14 Constantine I/Constantine the Great, Emperor 8, 49, 108, 112, 117, 130, 133 Constantine II, Emperor 187 Constantine V, Emperor 77, 119 Constantine VII, Emperor 12, 52, 83, 120, 129, 308 Constantine IX, Emperor 40, 119–20, 122 Constantine XI Komnenos Palaiologos, Emperor 124, 129 Constantine Asen Tikh, Tsar 127 Constantinople (now Istanbul) 5, 8–9, 12, 49, 54–5, 65, 77, 83, 129, 133, 138, 175, 181–2, 232, 263 Coptic 73–4, 85, 150, 192, 234, 243 Córdoba (Spain) 55 Corinth (Greece) 48, 54, 260 Costanza II d’Altavilla 123 Cotton 76, 84, 112, 246 Cox, Raymond 2 Crete 42, 52 Crusaders 1, 91 Ctesiphon (Iraq) 50 Cyrus the Great 30 Damas 79–80 Damascus (Syria) 32–3, 47–8, 55, 59, 61–2, 65, 83 damask 35, 48, 58, 61, 85–6, 91, 104, 203 Dandan-Uyliq (China) 24 Darius I, King 30 Darius III, King 258 Dastagird (Iraq) 34 David, King 47

decorative accessories bead/beaded 5, 37–8, 130, 237, 267, 269, 282, 284–8 jewel(s)/jewellery 9, 12, 21, 40, 84–5, 88, 109, 129–30, 149, 214, 232, 246, 260 pearl(s)/pearled 5, 7, 12, 28, 36, 40, 75–6, 78–9, 84, 99, 110, 130, 133, 138, 146, 150, 171, 185, 237, 257 ribbon(s) 16, 36–7, 110, 133, 139, 146, 149 Demetrius, Church of Saint (Serbia) 50 Desrosiers, Sophie 98 Díaz, Pilar Borrego 99 Diocletian, Emperor 49 Dionysius the Areopagite 41 Dolce & Gabbana 5–6, 16, 18 Domenico Dolce 5 Stefano Gabbana 5 Domyo, Mihoko 34–6, 257 Dyes (natural) 12, 14 acorns 289 Ararat kermes 198 Armenian cochineal 139, 143, 198 Armenian red 263 carmine 14 cochineal 14, 57, 138, 181, 263 gardenia 289 gromwell 289 indigo 5, 145, 152, 175, 178, 263–4, 267, 289 Indigofera 264 isatis 264 Isatis tinctoria/woad 183, 264 kermes 14, 59, 145, 175, 185, 262–3 lapis lazuli 263 madder 14, 142, 168, 178, 262–3, 289 miscanthus 289 murex 46–7 Persicaria tinctoria 264 phellodendron 289 safflower 49, 244, 263–4 saffron 264 sappanwood 289 shellfish purple 184, 262 Eastern Roman Empire 8 Ecumenical Patriarch Nicholas 52 Edward III, King 60 Errera, Isabelle 192, 196 Etro 20–1 Etro, Gerolamo ‘Gimmo’ 21 Etro, Veronica 21

Eucharist 42 Euphrosyne Ducaena Palaiologina 124 Exultet Roll 128 Falke, Otto von 2, 48, 59, 75, 99, 137–8, 140, 185 fashion 1, 3, 5, 8–9, 12, 14, 16, 21, 58, 141, 209 fashionable 78 fashion designer(s) 9, 21 fashion opera 16 fashion photography 16 Fenellosa, Ernest 282–3 Ferzferd, E. 75 flower(s), foliage/foliate, fruit, plants, trees, vegetation botanical 213, 216 chrysanthemum 260 daisies 260 floral(s)/flower(s)/flora 12, 21, 28–9, 37, 51, 68, 79, 84, 99, 102, 110, 130, 137–9, 141, 143, 154–5, 167, 203, 205, 207, 214–17, 242, 251–4, 256–7, 259–60, 267, 269, 279, 282, 289, 292 foliage/foliation/foliate 12, 36, 68, 84, 88, 198 fruit 12, 68, 104, 289 garlands 153 grape vine(s)/vine(s) 85, 91, 133, 242, 253, 259, 269–70, 289, 292–3 honeysuckle vine(s) 283, 292 ivy 259 leaf/leaves 59, 154, 259, 289 lotus flower/blossom 36, 38, 85, 91, 138, 252, 289 palm/palmette(s) 85, 99, 136, 150–4, 156, 163, 235, 237 peony-like flower/peonies 252, 289 plant(s)/plant seeds 12, 16, 37, 139, 141, 238 pomegranate 104 rose(s) 138, 260 tree(s) 12, 28, 75, 88, 173–4, 187–8, 208, 237, 242, 245, 267, 289 bud-flowering tree 244 flowering tree 244 sacred/holy tree(s) 51, 244 tree of life 28, 104, 256–7 vegetation 99 Fortuny, Mariano 14 Fourth Crusade 1, 55, 155 Frederick I, Emperor 54 Fulco di Verdura, Duke 9

Index

372

Gayet, Albert 48, 75, 146–8 Gebal (now Byblos, Lebanon) 46 Genova 59 Genovese 58 God 83 Gómez-Moreno, Manuel 99 Gothic 104, 190, 216, 220, 259 Gozzoli, Benozzo 55 Granada (Spain) 91, 104 Grand Duke of Tuscany 56 Great Buddha/Vairocana Buddha 79, 251, 253, 267, 283 Gregory II, Pope 52 Gregory III, Pope 52 Gregory IV, Pope 55 Groot, P. de 76 Grünwedel, Albert 75 Guillaume, Bishop 55 Guimet Museum of Asian Art (Paris) 48 Hadrian, Emperor 36, 48, 150 Hagia Sophia (cathedral − Istanbul) 9, 40, 119, 121 Hangzhou (China) 65 haute couture 9, 11, 14–15, 17 heaven/the heavens 4–5, 8–9, 21, 41, 68 Helena, Empress 124 hemp 47, 49, 58, 112, 130, 246, 269 Henan (China) 23 Henning, Walter B. 75–7 Henry II, Emperor 53 Henry VI, Emperor 58 Hephthalites 32 Heraclius, Emperor 33–4, 50–1, 54, 119 Heribert Church (Cologne) 52, Herodotus 46 Herrin, Judith 49 Hierotheos 41 Hiram of Tyre, King 47 Hisan II 98 Historical Museum of Bamberg (Germany) 53–4 Homer 46–7, 49 Homer’s Iliad 47 Hōryū-ji (temple) 24, 29, 37–8, 79, 267, 269, 281–4, 289, 292–3 Huanan (China) 23 Hubei (China) 23 human(s) 16, 51, 65, 135, 154, 200, 256 busts 157–8 bust of an emperor 157 charioteer 143 face(s) 148, 157, 191 figure(s) 256, 259

heads 154, 157 herdsman 243 hunter(s) 189, 191 man 156, 245 musician 169, 266 people 259 soldier(s) 31, 231 warrior(s) 269 humans – mythical 256 angel(s) 41, 184, 200 Athena (Greek goddess) 260 Erotes (Greek gods of love) 206 God/god 206, 258 harpy 210 Hera (Greek goddess) 258 Janus (Roman god) 191, 207, 259 super-human and winged 16 Witches Cloth 218 Hunan (China) 23 Huy (Cathedral Museum, Belgium) 61 Hyderabad (India) 65 Iconoclasm 42, 49, 52, 77, 138, 259 Ierusalimskaja, Anna, Dr 55, 226 Ifrīqiyah (Tunisia) 84, 142 Ihlara Valley (Turkey) 41 Imperial Court 4–5, 130 Imperial Household Agency 2, 251, 284 Iranian Plateau 30, 32 Irene, Empress Consort and Saint 52, 119, 121 Irene, Tsarista 127 Isaac II Angelos, Emperor 54, 123 Isfahan (Iran) 36, 65 Islam/Islamic 1–3, 51–2, 55–6, 58–9, 61, 75–6, 83–4, 88, 129, 142, 144, 146, 192, 198, 202, 207, 215, 219, 232, 234, 238, 243–4, 259 Islamic-Arab 58 Ismail I, Shāh 65 Italian Renaissance 58, 133, 234, 264 Jacquard 5, 12, 46, 58, 61, 63, 80, 276, 284–6, 289, 292 looms 32 Joseph-Marie Jacquard 61 pre-Jacquard 73, 79 silk digital Jacquard 12 Japan/Japanese 2–3, 5, 12, 16, 24, 32, 61–2, 65 Japan Foundation 7 Jerusalem (Israel) 47, 51, 54 Jesus Christ/Christ 9, 41–2, 52, 120, 136–7, 182, 208, 240, 258–60

Jew(s)/Jewish 41 47, 54, 65, 75 Jiangling (China) 23–5, 70 Jiangnan (China) 23 Jiangsu (China) 23 JinPing, Xi, President 7 Johannes I, Emperor 177 John VI Kantakouzenos, Emperor 123 John II Komnenos, Emperor 121 John VIII Palaiologos, Emperor 55, 123–4 John I Tzimiskes, Emperor 53, 120 John the Baptist 182 Jonghe, D. De 76 Joseph, Life of 156 Judea (Israel) 47, 61 Justinian I, Emperor 5, 8–9, 12, 40, 49–50, 77, 112, 117–18, 130, 302 Justinian II, Emperor 77, 119 Karashehr (China) 61 Kashan (Iran) 33 Kashgar (China) 61, 73 Keran, Queen 127 Kerman (Iran) 36 Khan, Geoffrey 76–7 Khemher (weave) 57 Khosrow I, King 32–3, 65 Khosrow II, King 33–4, 50 Khorasan (now parts of Iran/Turkmenistan/ Afghanistan) 33 Khotan (China) 33, 47, 61 Khusrau II, King 84 Khuzestan (Iran) 47, 65 Kiev (Ukraine) 54 King, Donald 58 Komnenos (family) 54, 60 Kōmyō, Empress 251, 267, 283 Kondo, Ryoko Yamanaka 1–3, 30, 46, 108 Konpira Shrine (Kotohira, Japan) 272–3 Konya (Turkey) 55 Kucha (China) 61, 73 Kufic (script) 85, 88, 99, 210, 214, 220, 238 pseudo-kufic 162 Kurgan (Russia) 71 Kushan(s) 32, 61 Kushan Empire of India 61 Kyoto (Japan) 61–2 Lagerfeld, Karl 9–10 Leo I, Emperor 117 Leo II, Emperor 54, 117 Leo/Levon II, King 127 Leo III, Emperor 52, 119 Leo IV, Emperor 55, 119

Index

373

Leo V, Emperor 52, 119 Lessing, Julius 2 Leu, Saint 78 Leuschner, Joachim 258 Liber Pontificales 55, 99, 135, 137 Liège (Belgium) 53 Lindau Gospels 109–10 linen 84–5, 87, 172, 182, 230, 238–40 Liutprand of Cremona, Bishop 52 loom(s) 61, 65, 276–9 brocade 33 compound 49 damask 48, 62 dobby 33 drawloom 12, 24–5, 32–3, 48, 62–3, 73, 75, 79–80, 84–5, 91, 276–9 flower 62 Jacquard 32, 46, 58, 63, 276 lampas 63, 65 Persian-style drawloom 36 pre-Jacquard 73 Syrian 33 Syrian damask compound 36 tablet 24 Louis XI, King 182 Louis XIV, King 58 Lucca (Italy) 58 Lyon (France) 48, 58, 61, 63, 75, 77, 132, 146–50 Maastricht (the Netherlands) 53 Macedonia/Macedonian 52 dynasty 52 Mackie, Louise W. 2, 83 Maestro del Bambino Vispo 91 Mandeville, John, Sir 14 Manichaeism 49 Manuel I Komnenos, Emperor 121 Manuel II Palaiologos, Emperor 55, 124, 129 Maria of Alania, Empress 120 Martin, George R. R. 16 Martiniani-Reber, Marielle 138 Marwan I 84 Marwan II 84 Marwan Silk 84, 142, 192 Masuda, Tomoyuki Dr 2, 40 Mausoleums of Santa Costanza (Rome) 50 May, Florence E. 99 McCarthy, Cormac 4 McClanan, Anne 7 McQueen, Alexander 12–13 Mecca 83 Medici Family 55, 58

Mehmed II, Sultan 55, 59 Meiyan, Wujiang (China) 23 Mesopotamia 31–2 metaphysical 4, 9 Métiers d’art 9 Metropolitan Museum of Art, The 9, 200, 239–42 Michael I Cerularius, Patriarch 54 Middle Neolithic 5 Migeon, Gaston 2 Mongol(s)/Mongolia/Mongolian 65, 71, 88, 91 Mongol court 65 Mongolian Timurid Empire 65 Mongols 65 Monreale, Cathedral of (Palermo, Sicily) 5, 9, 58 mosaic(s) 4–5, 9, 40, 49–50, 54, 68, 112, 118–19, 125, 128, 238, 263 Moshchevaja Balka (North Caucasus) 54 Moseley, Charles William Reuben Dutten 14 Moses’ Ten Commandments 52, 264 Mugler, Thierry 14, 17 Muhammad, Prophet 51, 83 Muhammad II, Sultan see Mehmed II Murato (France) 55 Murex brandaris 9 Muslim(s) 14, 52, 58, 83, 85, 104 Muthesius, Anna 2, 157 myth(s)/mythology(ies) 7, 12 Chinese mythologies 16 Greek 14, 16, 48–9, 135, 258, 302 Japanese mythologies 16 mythical 2, 16, 70, 72, 144, 208 mythological 16 Persian mythology 16 Nasrid(s) 91, 102–4 National Museum of Damascus (Syria) 32, 47 Naxos (Greek island) 43 Neolithic 23, 70 New Testament 48 Nikephoros II Phokas, Emperor 52–3, 120 Nikephoros III Botaneiates, Emperor 120, 129 Nineveh (Iraq) 50 Nishiki 23 Norman Invasion 54 Norwich, John Julius 8 Novgorod (Russia) 128 Ogasawara, Sae 2, 23 Old Testament 46, 264

Opus Anglicanum 61 Orient/Orientalism 8 Ancient 46 Orthodox 8, 108, 129–30 Christians 40 Eastern Orthodoxy 52 Russian Orthodox 128–30 Osman II, Sultan 56 Otto I, Emperor 52 Otto II, Emperor 53, 177 Otto III, Emperor 53–4, 60, 258 Ottoman Empire 55, 83 Otto-Renaissance 53 Ottoman Turks 12, 263 Palaiologos (family) 123 Palermo (Sicily) 5, 58 Palermo Palace 56 Palermo Palace Weaving Workshop 58 Palmyra (Syria) 31, 47, 71, 263 Paradise 9, 256 Paris-Byzance 9 Parthia/Parthian Empire (Iran) 31–3 Parthian shot 31, 37, 79, 284 Pasolini, Pier Paolo 16 pattern(s) 2, 9, 12, 21, 23–8, 30, 33, 45, 47–52, 55, 60–1, 65, 206, 256–9, 269, 284, 289 Arabesque(s) 42–3, 59, 104, 133, 245, 256, 259, 269 geometric(al) 5, 12, 28–9, 55, 94, 169, 198, 205, 214, 219, 238, 245, 256 half-diamond 71 heart-shaped 84, 134–5, 174, 183, 239 lozenge(s) 50–1, 111, 153, 244, 267 medallion(s) 38, 42–3, 61, 78, 149, 157, 164, 167, 194, 232, 238, 241, 269–70, 282–8 ogee ornate 14 paisley 21 pentacle 215 repeated 46 rhombus 150 rosette(s) 151, 210, 236, 256, 259–60 roundel(s) 36–7, 75–6, 79, 84–5, 88, 133–8, 140–1, 143, 237, 257 square-shaped 9 tile 215 Pazyryk (China) 24, 71 peacock 68 Pepin the Short, King 77 Peroz, Prince 33–4 Persepolis (Iran) 30, 61

Index

374

Persia (now Iran) 12, 16, 24, 30–5, 46–51, 61, 65 (Achaemenid) Persia 30, 36, 257, 260 Ancient Persia 30, 34 Persian court culture 31 Persian culture 61 Persian Empire 32 Persian mythology 16 (Sassanian/Sassanid) Persia 12, 24, 30, 32–3, 46, 51, 61 Persian style 36 Pfister, Rudolf 72, 75, 138, 140 Phoenicia (now Lebanon with parts of Syria and Israel) 61 Phoenician(s) 46–7, 52, 55, 61, 65, 260 Piccioli, Pierpaolo 14–16, 19 Pisa (Italy) 58 Plato 49 Pliny the Elder 5, 16, 46–7, 137, 263–4, 300 Polo, Marco 12, 14, 314 Pope Innocent III 133 Pope Innocent VIII 133 Pope Leo 111 137 Pope Nicholas III 133 Pope Nicholas V 133 Pope Paul II 263 Pope Sixtus IV 133 postmodern/ism/ist 16, 21 prêt-à-porter 5–6, 9, 12–13, 16, 18–21 Procopius 50 Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite 9, 124 Qianshanyang (Wuxing, China) 23 Qur’an 83 Ravenna (Italy) 9, 40, 49 Red Sea 5 Richthofen, Baron Ferdinand Freiherr von 7, 71 Roger II, King 56, 58, 232 Roman Catholic Catholicism/Church 1, 5, 14, 75 Romanos, Emperor 52 Rome/Roman(s) 5, 8, 14 31–3, 47, 49–50, 52–4, 71, 73 Ancient Romans 5 Rome’s Senate 5 late Roman 8 (Holy) Roman Empire 52–3, 257–8 Roman garlands 36 Roman opera 16 Roman Pope(s) 52–3 Romans 14

Rowling, J. K. 16 Russian Orthodox church 128 Said, Edward W. 8 Saint Bertrand 175 Saint Catherine’s Monastery (Mount Sinai, Egypt) 125 Saint Mark’s Basilica, Venice (Italy) 128 Saint Nikita Monastery (Skopje, Macedonia) 126 Saint Paul 158, 197 Saint Peter 41, 133 Saint Petersburg 71 Saint Thomas Becket 165 Saint Ursula (Patron Saint of Cologne) 190 Salome 128 Samarkand 8, 36, 61, 65 southern Samarkand 61 Sassanian/Sassanid 2, 12, 16, 31–4, 37, 46, 51, 61 court 32–4 crafts 31 dynasty 50–1 Empire 32–4 lore 16 silks 2 style 36 Schorta, Regula 98 seal bags 58–60 Sebastocrator Kaloyan, Queen of 127 Seleucid Empire 31 Seneca 5 Sens Cathedral (France) 49, 55, 155 Serbia 54 Seres (China) 5 sericulture 8, 23, 56, 58, 70, 84, 91, 150, 266 Shapur I, King 32 Shapur II, King 32–4 Shapur III, King 34 Shepherd, Dorothy G. 75–7, 98–9, 156, 159–60, 163–4 Shiites 65 Shiraz (Iran) 36 Shōmu, Emperor 79, 267, 283 Shōsō-in 3, 24, 37–8, 74, 77, 79, 132, 247, 251–5, 268, 270–1, 274, 276, 282–4, 286–7, 289–93 Shōtoku, Prince 282, 284 Shushtar (Iran) 36 Sidon (Lebanon) 46–8, 55 Silk Road(s) 2, 4–5, 7–8, 12, 21, 24–5, 31–2, 49, 55, 61, 71–2, 226, 246–7, 266, 284, 289

Digital Silk Road 7 New Silk Road 7 Polar Silk Road 7 Silk Road Museum 246–50 Sims-Williams, Nicholas 76–7 Socotra (Yemen) 16 Sogdiana/Sogdian (now Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) 8, 36, 55, 61, 65, 229 Sohag (Egypt) 48 Solomon, King 47, 258 St. Maria Maggiore church (Rome) 112 State Hermitage Museum, The 30, 55–6, 70–1, 78, 132, 226–31 Stefan Dusan, Tsar/Emperor (family) 126 Stefan Uros IV/Dusan, Queen of 126 Stein, Marc Aurel, Sir 36, 73, 79 Stermonius/Austremoine, Saint 77, 146, 149 Straits of Gibraltar 47 Suleiman I, Sultan 55 Sumerian(s) 263 sun 14, 16, 21, 37 Surrealists 14 Susa (now Shush, Iran) 30–3, 36, 258 Syria/Syrian 56, 58, 62, 65, 71 Takata Institute of Japanese Imperial Classical Costume, The 276–80 Takata, Shizuo 2, 276 Takata, Yoshio 276 Taklamakan Desert (Northwest China) 7, 27 Taq-i Bustan (Iran) 34, 35, 75, 84, 257 Tarim Basin 73 Tatsumura Textile Co. Ltd. 274, 281, 283, 285, 291–3 Tatsumura Textile Research Institute 267 Tatsumura, Heizō 281–2, 284 Tatsumura, Kiyoshi 3, 281, 288 Taurus Mountains (southern Turkey) 55 Tehran (Iran) 88 Tenshin, Okakura 282–3 Thebes (Greece) 48, 54–5 Theodora, Empress 5, 9, 40, 49–50, 52, 112, 118, 120, 308 Theodore Metochites 129 Theodore Synadenos 124, 129 Theophanu, Empress Consort 53, 182 Theophilos, Emperor 52 Thessaloniki (Greece) 54 Tiraz 48, 55, 84–5, 87, 91, 142 Tōdai-ji (temple) 74, 79, 251, 267, 281–3 Tokyo National Museum/Tokyo Imperial Museum 79, 276, 282, 289, 292–3

Index

375

Tokyo University Iraq-Iran Archaeological Expedition 34 Topkapi Palace (Istanbul) 55 Topkapi Palace Museum (Istanbul) 56–7 Troyes, Cathedral of (France) 77 Turpan (China) 28, 73 Turkistan (Kazakhstan) 73 Turks 54, 61, 65, 77 Tuscany, Count of 58 Tyre (Lebanon) 9, 46–8, 50, 55 Tyrian purple 9, 52, 58, 112, 178, 262–3 Umayyad Caliphate 55 UN 7 UNESCO 7, 220 Valentino 14–16, 19 Valentino Garavani 14 Varanasi (India) 65 Vatican (Italy) 36, 48, 58, 122, 129, 133–40, 143, 163, 198, 262, 317 Velluti family (Italy) 58 velvet(s) 16, 55, 58, 104, 234, 274 Venetian Ambassador 55 Venice (Italy) 53, 58 Versace Donatella Versace 9 Gianni Versace 9, 11 Vial, Gabriel 81, 160–1, 164 Vic, Cathedral of (Spain) 98, 169 Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK) 61, 78, 132, 141–5, 261 Virgil 16 Virgin Mary 5, 40–3, 52, 91–2, 94, 182, 197, 264 Virgin and Child 43, 49, 186 Vladimir the Great, Grand Duke 54 Volbach, Wolfgang Fritz 78, 140 Von, Nieheim, Dietrich 257 Wabi-sabi 12, 274 warp-faced weaving/warp-faced silk 2, 23–8, 32–3, 46, 69, 72, 79, 80–1, 88, 276, 278, 292–3 Warring States 23–5, 33, 46 Watt, James C. Y. 5 Weaving 1–2, 5, 21, 24, 32–4, 36, 40, 45–7, 49, 54–6, 58, 61, 65, 150 double weave 269 swivel weave 269 weft-faced weaving/weft-faced silk 12, 24, 28–9, 32, 46, 72, 74, 88, 276, 278, 292 Weibel, Adèle Coulin 74, 236–7

Western Turkic Khaganate 32, 61, 65 Wool/woollen 32–3, 47, 58, 71–2, 73–5, 84, 112, 130, 209, 240, 246, 263, 274 Wulff, Hans E. 33, 258 Xiongnu (Chinese tribe) 70–1 Xiyincun (Xia County, China) 23 Yathrib (now Medina, Saudi Arabia) 83 Yeats, William Butler 4

Yiwu (East China) 7 Yokohari, Kazuko Dr 2, 32, 69 Yoshihara, Hiromi 64, 113–28 Yusuf III 104 Yutsugi, Prince 266 Zagros Mountains (Iran) 34, 263 Zandana/Zandaniji (near Bukhara, Uzbekistan) 61, 65, 75–7, 85, 199, 227

Index

376

Zeuxippus Palace Workshop (Constantinople) 54 Zeuxippus, Baths of (Constantinople) 52, 54 Zoroastrianism 21, 30–2, 34–5, 38, 51, 61, 175, 256 Zoroastrian goddess Aredvi Sura Anahita 34 Zoroastrian Avesta 34 Zoroastrian god Mithra (of war) 34, 37–8 Zoroastrian supreme god Ormazd 34

377

378

379

380