Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt

August 31, 2019 through January 5, 2020

Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt Vibrantly colored textiles were omnipresent in the palaces, places of worship, and humble homes of the eastern Mediterranean in the late antique and early medieval periods (fourth through tenth centuries). They served as cozy bed cloths, adorned bare walls, cushioned hard surfaces, and veiled sacred spaces, while playing preeminent roles in creating, defining, and enhancing spaces. Their physicality and iconography, interchangeability and impermanence— along with their ability to filter or block light and air, and their potential to reveal or conceal as needed—made them essential in shaping interior space. Moreover, these textiles document continuities and changes in textile weaving and aesthetics as the eastern Mediterranean transitioned from pagan beliefs to Christianity and Islam.

About the Collaboration Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt is a collaboration between two Washington, D.C. cultural institutions: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, and the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum. The exhibition brings together one-of-a-kind artworks under one roof and supports a wide range of scholarly and public programing.

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Sumru Belger Krody

Elizabeth Dospěl Williams

Senior Curator, George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum

Assistant Curator, Byzantine Collection, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Gudrun Bühl Director, Museum für Lackkunst, Münster, Germany

Program Highlights All programs are held at the museum, located at 701 21st Street, NW, and are free unless otherwise noted. For a complete list of programs with descriptions, or to register for a program, visit museum.gwu.edu/programs or call 202-994-7394.

Member Tour

Workshop

Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt Friday, August 30, 12 PM Saturday, September 7, 12 PM

Choosing Fabrics for Your Home October 26, 10 AM–3 PM Karthika Audinet, designer

Sumru Belger Krody and Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, Woven Interiors co-curators Free for museum members, but reservations are required

Scholarly Colloquium New Threads: Recent Research on Egyptian Textiles Saturday, November 9, 9 AM–4 PM Fee: $35/members, $65/public

Gallery Talk Textile Preparation for Woven Interiors Thursday, September 12, 12 PM Cathleen Zaret, associate conservator

Family Day Celebration of Textiles: Comfort at Home Saturday, September 14, 10 AM–4 PM

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Film Immortal Egypt: Invasion Thursday, November 14, 12 PM (60 minutes)

Textiles | Architecture | Space Envisioning the interiors of early medieval Egypt demands some imagination. None of the textiles presented in this exhibition were found in their original architectural context. They were re-used as shrouds in burials and preserved thanks to the desert environment of Egypt.

Our understanding of how they were originally used comes largely from studying the textiles themselves, references in contemporaneous literature, and visual arts such as mosaics and wall paintings.

Many of these textiles depict architectural structures like columns and archways, mirroring the spaces in which they were once hung. Some preserve loops and other evidence of their display in architectural settings.

Rods and curtain rings found in excavations also suggest that textiles were not only used as coverings for furniture, but were hung on walls, in front of doors, and between columns.

Private Spectacle Textiles played an important role in defining social experiences, particularly in elite dining rooms.

Imagery drawn from ancient myths, philosophy, and literature was

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pervasive on furnishing fabrics and other luxury objects, such as silver serving sets. The iconography not only reflected themes of festive enjoyment, it also reinforced class differences by privileging those with knowledge of the images’ literary content. These luxury textiles reinforced elite status and connected wealthy citizens across the Mediterranean in a shared culture of power.

Ambiguous Messages: Textiles with Sacred Iconography The religious uses of textiles in early medieval Egypt are known primarily through textual accounts.

However, the types of textiles that decorated late-antique shrines and churches remain largely speculative.

Iconography presents one of the few indicators suggesting religious function. Textiles with religious imagery were also used in the home, while textiles devoid of any overt confessional figuration were very likely brought into service in the liturgy. Furnishing textiles thus attest to the difficulties of drawing firm lines between private and public, sacred and secular, or Christian and pagan, as we do today.

Comfort at Home Some of the textiles presented in this exhibition are humble in appearance, but they give a glimpse into ordinary lives.

Like us, people surrounded themselves with material possessions, of which textiles took a center stage. Textiles created environments that were physically, sensually, and spiritually comfortable.

In homes, textiles such as curtains, wall hangings, blankets, cushions, covers, and towels offered physical as well as spiritual protection through their materiality and auspicious iconography. Soft covers provided comfortable surfaces for people to sit or recline. Wall hangings, curtains, awnings, and other hangings helped insulate against cold and protect from the harsh mid-summer sun.

Intermediaries Beyond their decorative, symbolic, and utilitarian functions, textiles also served as design intermediaries across different media. Widespread admiration for textiles’ rarity, impressive craftsmanship, and visual opulence helps explain why their decorative elements were so frequently copied in other formats, such as stone and mosaics. Their infinitely repeatable designs and varied production methods made them the perfect vehicles for transferring ornamental motifs from one medium to another. Translating an ornamental pattern to a new medium was

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not a simple task. It required artists to pay close attention to visual similarities and to consider the possibilities and limitations of their materials.

Continuity and Change In the decades after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE, Islam rapidly expanded from its original birthplace in Arabia into Byzantine territory in Syria, Egypt, and North Africa, and into Sasanian territory in Mesopotamia and Iran. The new religion quickly established itself as a political and cultural force as diverse communities and myriad artistic traditions came under one controlling power. People and their products moved from one region to another with considerable ease, spreading ideas and tastes far beyond the places they originated. Among the goods that were traded, textiles reigned supreme. They were substantial in value, but light in weight, and could be converted to money anywhere in the world. Their aesthetic was widely copied across media—a reflection of the period’s widespread admiration for fabric.

Hanging Depicting Doorman Drawing a Curtain, Egypt, 5th century. Tapestry weave, wool and linen.

188 x 93.5 cm (74 x 36.8125 in). The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 57.180. Charles Potter King Fund.

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Hanging with Horses and Lions (detail), Eastern Mediterranean, 6th-7th century. Tapestry weave, wool and linen. 188.6 x 100.97 cm (74.25 x 39.75 in). Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection BZ.1939.13.

Curtain or Hanging with Erotes, Animals, Heads, Garland (detail), Egypt, 4th-5th century. Tapestry weave, wool and linen. 342.9 x 195.58 cm (135 x 77 in). The Textile Museum 71.118. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1950.

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Hanging with a Depiction of Hestia Polyolbus (detail), Egypt, 6th century. Tapestry weave, wool. 114.5 x 138 cm (45.0625 x 54.3125 in). Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection BZ.1929.1.

Fragment of a Hanging with Nereids (detail), Egypt, 5th-6th century. Tapestry weave, wool and linen.

95 x 143.5 cm (37.375 x 56.5 in). Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection BZ1932.1.

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Catalogue A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt by Gudrun Bßhl, Sumru Belger Krody, and Elizabeth Dospĕl Williams is available for sale at the museum shop.

Lenders to the Exhibition Brooklyn Museum Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Harvard Art Museums Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan

Related Exhibition

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Ornament: Fragments of

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Art Institute of Chicago The Cleveland Museum of Art

Byzantine Fashion is on view at Dumbarton Oaks Museum (1703 32nd Street, NW, Washington, DC) from September 10, 2019, through January 5, 2020. The exhibition brings together complete tunics, parts of garments,

Supporters of Exhibition Support for this exhibition and its accompanying

and contemporary replicas

catalogue is provided by

of ancient dress to evoke the

the Coby Foundation, Ltd.,

fashions of this lost world. doaks.org/visit/museum/ exhibitions/ornament

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Elisabeth French, Norma and Ted Lonoff, the Markarian Foundation, and Roger and Claire Pratt.

Visitor Information Location

Textile Library

The museum is located at the corner of 21st and G streets, NW, four blocks from the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro Station (Blue, Orange, and Silver lines).

For directions and parking information, visit museum.gwu.edu/getting-here.

Located on the museum’s fourth floor, the Arthur D. Jenkins Library is open Wed–Fri 1–4 PM and by appointment.

Please contact the librarian before your visit at museumlibrary@gwu.edu.

Museum Shop

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