Egypt, Coptic, ca. 400 CE. This textile depicts vines, a dog with a red lead around its neck, a swimmer, and a deer, all of which are fairly realistic and easy to interpret. The design of Coptic weaving influenced early Islamic art. For example, swirling vines are often seen in Byzantine floor mosaics. Animals are one of the most conspicuous features of Egyptian art, from Predynastic times onward. Many Coptic artifacts feature dogs, usually in hunting scenes and often with prominent collars; some scholars have suggested that this symbolic of the triumph of virtue over evil.

One of the most interesting things about this textile is that it depicts a deer. The stag was a symbol of Christ and Coptic artists therefore would have wanted to include them in their art, but the only deer known to have lived in Egypt in the Holocene, the fallow deer, had gone extinct in that area during the New Kingdom period. As a result, Coptic artists would have had to look to pharaonic art instead of living creatures to make these images.

Size: 15-1/4" long, as thin as cloth, and 2-3/4" wide.

Provenance: Ex-private Simonian collection, Los Angeles, CA acquired before 1982

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#110104

Fragmentary, else excellent.