7th century
Vivid, fragmentary tapestry woven band with two riders. Each rider raises high his left arm. The upper rider has red hair, white clothing, and large yellow shoes. He sits on a red horse against a dark green, almost black field and faces to the right. The rider facing left has black hair, gold and pink clothing, black shoes, and a big smile. He sits upon a green galloping horse against a red field. Below the green horse, the top of a dark green square is visible, suggesting the design of the upper rider may repeat below. There is an outer border of interlocking color segments and an inner border of white dots connected by bars of red and green against a gold field. The fragments in the border areas are not all in their original placement. The warps run perpendicular to the design. The tapestry band is mounted on a backing of folded plain linen.
20 x 11.75 cm (7 7/8 x 4 5/8 in.)
Linen and wool
5th-7th centuryByzantineBrown satin ground with embroidered decoration
18th centuryChineseBook of swatches mounted on paper (56 sheets)
19th-20th centuryJapaneseSilk
ChineseWarp: 2 S ply Z spun white and brown wool warps on one level. Wefts: 1 Z spun yarn, 2 shoots. Pile: 2 S ply Z spun wool. Pile colors: dark red, light red, aubergine, freckled orange (possibly aniline), dark indigo blue, light freckled indigo, yellow-green, green, yellow, aniline ornge, indigo sulfonic, brown and white. Knots: symmetrical. Knots in center area are off-set. 41 knots per vertical decimeter; 25 knots per horizontal centimeter. Both selvedges: bundles of 2 or 3 warps wrapped in red weft material. Top end (listed from edge of pile): band of single line red and blue soumak; band of white and brown 2 ply pile yarn over pairs of warps; 2.5 cm. cicim float brocading using pile yarn on top of a 2 ply red structural weft; single line of soumak; another cm. of same white and brown 2 ply pile yarn, which is then bound over; approximately 7 cm. red pile yarn over pairs of warps. Bottom end: 1 cm. white and brown 2 ply pile yarn; 2 lines of red and blue soumak; 3 cm. slit tapestry weave for ties (to close bag), brown and white soumak; 1/2 cm. tapestry weave; right to left transverse warp braids. Pile is of somewhat remarkably long wool. Ties (to close the bag) are extant: braids in blue, red and brown.
19th-20th centuryKurdishWarps: undyed white wool. Wefts: variable, including outlining wefts, eccentric wefts. Weft colors: light red, dark red, red-brown, purple (made of red and blue), light blue (abrashed), green, dark olive green, dark blue. Whites are wool and cotton combined. The rest are wool.
19th centuryTurkishWool
5th-6th centuryByzantine