Pattern Sheet with Diaper Design
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Silks were woven in many designs. One widely popular type was a diaper pattern that used a latticelike organizational scheme with narrow intersecting diagonal bands to create rhomboid or square fields filled with various motifs.
The diaper pattern on this papyrus fragment, a pattern sheet for the woven decoration of a tunic, is similar to contemporary Persian silks. The dissemination of papyrus templates such as this and the textiles based on them perhaps contributed to the spread of Persian motifs in other media, such as mosaics.
The diaper pattern on this papyrus fragment, a pattern sheet for the woven decoration of a tunic, is similar to contemporary Persian silks. The dissemination of papyrus templates such as this and the textiles based on them perhaps contributed to the spread of Persian motifs in other media, such as mosaics.
Artwork Details
- Title: Pattern Sheet with Diaper Design
- Date: 5th–6th century
- Geography: Made in Egypt
- Medium: Black ink and light yellow, dark yellow, pink, blue, and white paint on light brown papyrus
- Dimensions: 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (7 x 7 cm)
- Classification: Papyrus
- Credit Line: The Austrian National Library, Department of Papyri, Vienna (P. Vindob. G 1.310)
- Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters