Textile with Purple Interlace and Simplified Vines
4th-5th century CE
Description
Four parallel stripes of weft-faced weave with purple wool wefts; these are decorated with an interlace pattern created in the ‘flying shuttle’ technique using supplementary weft floats of a buff colored yarn. This interlace pattern is made up of the repeated motif of six or seven loops of a coiling vine with six-petalled flowers inside their interstices. Segments of coiling vine are interrupted by X-shaped motifs inside squares. A tapestry woven section consisting of a purple scrolling line with purple dots against buff colored area of yarn runs in between each pair of purple stripes. The scrolling lines and dots most likely represent a simplified vine and leaf motif. A strip of plain woven undyed linen runs across the center of the fragment separating the two areas of weft-faced weave. Areas of plain woven undyed linen are also visible in two areas along the bottom of the textile; one is considerably lighter in color than the other.
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