Tunic Front: Riders and Dancers
4th-5th century CE
Description
This finely woven textile fragment is either the front or back of a tunic. The two monochrome, tapestry-woven shoulder bands (clavi) contain lions, rabbits, riders, dancers/hunters, birds, and flowers in black against a buff background. The designs are black against an undyed background. Motifs include: a plant with three eight-petalled flowers; a predator-prey pair consisting of a lion, spotted hound, or leopard hunting a rabbit or a gazelle; riders with hands raised upon prancing horses; dancers, some wrapped with sashes and some dangling vines from their hands. While most of the motifs are oriented in the same way in both bands, the riders are paired across the tunic bands and are mirror symmetrical. The bottom edge of this tunic is intact and is marked with a row of vertical black rectangles. A wave scroll borders the bands. The area between the clavi is plain-woven undyed linen. This textile sits on a support of light colored plain-woven linen.
Dimensions
33.66 x 57.15 cm (13 1/4 x 22 1/2 in.)
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