Cleveland Museum of Art

Ornamental Shoulder Bands from a Tunic

Date

500s

Medium

tapestry weave with supplementary weft wrapping; undyed linen and dyed wool

Culture

Egypt, Byzantine period

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This fragment shows human figures including dancers, a hunter, and shepherd under arches alternating with animals such as dogs, rabbits, and a lion. The orientation of the figures indicates that these vertical bands were once part of a tunic. The decorative bands would have descended from the shoulders. Since the mid-3rd century tunics were the main garments worn in Egypt which was then part of the Roman Empire. One band contains a nude female dancer playing finger cymbals while the other shows a shepherd carrying a crook and dressed in a skirt of animal skin.

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