Cleveland Museum of Art

Fragment of Round Segmentum

Date

400s–600s CE

Medium

Wool: tabby ground, inwoven tapestry ornament

Culture

Africa, North Africa, Egypt, Coptic-style weaver(s)

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Segmentum (medallions) like this decorated tunics in Coptic Egypt. Medallions were woven into a tunic’s shoulders or lower half. This medallion's design scheme displays waves encircling geometric shapes and representational images. It features a cross-legged dancer balanced on a vase with hands raised prayerfully. Other dancers clang cymbals while satyrs frolic below them. Coptic can refer to a language, an ethnic group, a religion, or an artistic style (which wasn’t always Christian). Coptic classical imagery reflects the Hellenized (Greek, 305–30 BC) and Roman cultures of Egypt (30 BC–AD 395) before the Byzantine era. Human figures with fish tails are woven into the border of this medallion.

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