Gebel Adda (Sudanese Nubia). Church IV, Vault B (-C) (funerary). Field registration number: 66:1:11. Textile register number: n.d. Around body inside quilt.
13th-14th c. CE
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (Canada). Inventory number ROM 973.24.3551.1/.2 (sample fragments)
The complete piece ("Silk textile, multicoloured") was donated to the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo and recently transferred to the Nubia Museum, Aswan, where it is probably registered under number 23899 (data obtained during my stay in December 2017).
7.5x8.5 and 4.5x75
Weft-faced tabby (ground) and supplementary floating wefts (pattern).
Stripes and bands, golden on black ground. Bands decorated with a) inscription and b) winged animals (bee?) in small compartments separated by twists. Setting of the warp in areas with golden threads (973.24.3551.1): 2 gilded threads/3 red silk threads (covered by weft)/10 gilded/2 red/2 gilded/2 red/10 gilded/3 red/2 gilded. Setting of the weft in 973.24.3551.1: a) 3 black silk/2 ecru silk/1 gilded/2 ecru/3 black b) 4 ecru silk/ black silk threads on 1.5cm + supplementary floating wefts/4 ecru silk c) 3 black/5 ecru/1 gilded/8 ecru/1 gilded/5 ecru/3 black/2 ecru/2 black/2 ecru /2 black/2 ecru/2 black/2 ecru/3 black/7ecru/1 gilded/9 ecru/1 gilded/7ecru/3black and then ground Setting of the weft in 973.24.3551.2: a) 4 black/c. 18 ecru + supplementary floating wefts)/3 black (then ground about 40 wefts) b) 3 black/11 ecru/1 gilded/10 ecru/3 black/3 ecru/1 black/1 ecru/2 black/2 ecru/4 black/1 ecru/1 gilded/11 ecru/1 black c) 4 ecru/ black silk threads on 1.35cm (c.84) + supplementary floating wefts/3 ecru d) 2 black/1 ecru/ 1 gilded/3 ecru/3 black then ground
- silk
- I
- red + threads with gilded leather round a linen core (2sS, undyed)
- 26-28 warps/cm (in areas with golden threads density is 20 warps/cm)
a) 3551.1 (ground)
- silk
- slight Z
- ecru
- 56 paired picks/cm
b) 3551.2 (ground)
- silk
- slight Z
- ecru
- 68 paired picks/cm
In weft: black silk, I, paired picks. In fragment 3552.2 observed under microscope, in the area of the superior black band, blue dye appears on a part of the ecru silk (on approx. 4 threads) and also light green dye on 4 picks.
Textile examined by M.M. Wozniak in November 2017.
n.c.
Import.