Roundel with Amazons
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Nineteenth-century excavations at the cemetery at Panopolis (Akhmim), a city long associated with Dionysos, yielded silks elaborately woven with classical motifs. Recent radiocarbon dating of textiles associated with the site place them between the seventh and ninth centuries, providing a sense of the continuity of styles as the region transitioned from Byzantine to Islamic rule.
Riding Amazons with one breast exposed represent another antique motif popular in the Byzantine and Islamic periods. Textiles with this pattern are traditionally associated with Akhmim.
Riding Amazons with one breast exposed represent another antique motif popular in the Byzantine and Islamic periods. Textiles with this pattern are traditionally associated with Akhmim.
Artwork Details
- Title: Roundel with Amazons
- Date: 7th–9th century (?)
- Geography: Made in Egypt or Syria (?)
- Medium: Weft-faced compound twill ( samit ) in blue-violet and beige silk
- Dimensions: Overall: 8 1/16 x 8 1/16 in. (20.5 x 20.5 cm)
- Classification: Textiles
- Credit Line: Musée National du Moyen Âge, Thermes et Hôtel de Cluny, Paris (Cl. 21840)
- Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters