One saint wears a pallium over a chasuble, a style of dress that suggests a dating between the eleventh and the twelfth centuries. He is otherwise not vested as an ecclesiastic; the embroidery may therefore have originated outside Europe, possibly at a Coptic community in Egypt. On the other hand, the technique and the architecture, which have something in common with Carolingian art, may suggest a European origin.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Embroidered Textile with Three Saints
Date:12th century
Geography:Attributed to Egypt
Medium:Cotton; embroidered in gold wrapped thread and silk
Dimensions:L. 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm) W. 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm)
Classification:Textiles-Embroidered
Credit Line:Gift of Mrs. Edward S. Harkness, 1929
Object Number:29.106a, b
Embroidered Textile with Four Saints
Densely embroidered, these textile fragments probably came from an ecclesiastical vestment or liturgical cloth. By the thirteenth century in Eastern Orthodox churches, such embroidered vestments and altar cloths with haloed figures under arcades were common, and the fashion of covering the entire surface of the fabric in embroidery was seen frequently, beginning in the fourteenth century. Here the specific technique is a distinct variation on couching and is not identifiable with a particular culture. The dress of the figures, however, suggests that this textile was made in the Coptic Church in the thirteenth century.
The figure on the far right in the triad, carrying a processional cross, is a Coptic deacon or priest, identified by his wearing of an orarion, a stole of crosses that wraps the shoulders and hangs down one side of the body, over a sticharion, a type of tunic or long robe.[1] His belt and lack of beard indicate that he might also be a monk. Two of the figures carry Gospel Books, appropriate to apostles or theologians of some sort.
Yet the figures’ attire includes leggings, typical of secular figures in the Islamic sphere.[2] The wearing of leggings beneath greatcoats originated in ancient Persia and was known in early Islam. In the Mamluk period men wore belted coats (aqbiya) over leggings (ran), with variations in sleeves, fabric, and other ornament to illustrate their status. All the men, except for the beardless man on the right of the group of three, display this type of dress, seen in many illuminations of the Assemblies (Maqamat), an Arabic compendium of tales, which date to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.[3] Due to losses, it is unclear if the beardless man on the left carried anything.
Jennifer Ball in [Drake and Holcomb 2016]
Footnotes:
1. Innemée, Karel C. Ecclesiastical Dress in the Medieval Near East. Studies in Textile and Costume History. I. Leiden and New York, 1992, pp. 13–61.
2. Stillman, Yedida Kalfon. Arab Dress from the Dawn of Islam to Modern Times: A Short History. 2nd. ed. Themes in Islamic Studies. 2. Leiden, 2003, pp. 62–72.
3. Grabar, Oleg. The Illustrations of the Maqamat. Text vol. and microfiche fascimile. Studies in Medieval Manuscript Illumination; Chicago Visual Library Text-Fiche, 45. Chicago. 1984.
[ Paul Mallon, Paris; sold to Harkness]; Mrs. Edward S. Harkness, New York (until 1929; gifted to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven," September 26, 2016–January 8, 2017, no. 28.
Drake Boehm, Barbara, and Melanie Holcomb, ed. Jerusalem, 1000–1400: Every People under Heaven. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. no. 28, p. 87, ill.
Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World vol. 3 (2022). pp. 205–35, ill. fig. 15.
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