Square: Three-Lobed Leaf
5th-6th century
Description
A tapestry woven fragment with a design of leaves. At center is a three-lobed dark blue leaf or flower outlined in green situated within a gold diamond. The blue leaf is decorated with rows of alternating gold and white dots. [These may be created using supplementary wefts wrapped around several warps, it’s hard to tell from the online image.] Gold tendrils bearing heart-shaped leaves emerge out of the gold rectangle and spread across a white background. In the upper left part of the tapestry area, some of the gold leaves are shaded with a darker orange. At the top edge of this fragment is a small area of plain woven linen, indicating that this fragment was cut from a piece that had swatches of plain woven linen surrounding the tapestry woven area(s). Linen warps are paired in the tapestry area. Tapestry over 2 warps; warp: S-spun undyed linen (8 group warps per 1cm); weft: S-spun undyed linen, S-spun wool, various colors (18-20 per 1 cm).
Dimensions
23 x 24 cm (9 1/16 x 9 7/16 in.)
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