{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O352741"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O352741/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EV8829/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EV8829/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2011EV8829","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KN2429","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O352741/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O352741","accessionNumber":"119-1891","objectType":"Textile fragment","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"A circular icon, cut from a larger piece of silk compound weave. Possibly Egyptian or Byzantine, ca. AD600-900. Samite. Green imagery on a white background. The imagery is pixelated. At the centre two leaves branch out from a central  pole with a cross, within a circle, at its top. This motif is bordered with a wide circle with geometric design inside. The design is connected to other designs which have been cut away. \n\nSamite (woven silk) was thought to originate from Persia under Sassanian rule (AD224-651). It was commonly decorated with pairs of animals and birds and set in pearled lotus roundels. It is often found in Western burials, within church possessions and along the Silk Road. Byzantine weaving workshops took on the samite technique to make it an essential weave of the period.  It was a luxury textile of the Middle Ages brought to Europe when the Crusades opened up direct contact with the East. It was forbidden to the middle classes of France under the sumptuary rules c. 1470.","physicalDescription":"Roundel from a tunic, in bichrome samite (weft-faced compound twill) woven in brown and cream/buff silks. At the centre is a stylised, geometric tree or vine, representing the tree of life. On either side are two pairs of spade-shaped leaves. The roundel is surrounded by a circular border (approximately 20mm wide) with a stylised, wave-like floral motif. At the top of the roundel is the beginning of a stem suggesting that this roundel was orgiinally the pendant at the end of a clavus.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"}],"techniques":[{"text":"weaving","id":"AAT53642"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silk samite","categories":[{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"},{"text":"Archaeology","id":"THES48874"},{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"},{"text":"Death","id":"THES48970"}],"styles":[{"text":"Egyptian","id":"AAT20251"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"MES","id":"THES48607"},"images":["2011EV8829","2017KN2429"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"009","id":"THES306366"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Textile fragment","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Egypt","id":"x29512"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Possibly"},{"place":{"text":"Akhmim","id":"x28714"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Bichrome silk samites like this piece have traditionally been attributed to Akhmim (for further details see reference field)."}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"7th Century - 10th Century","earliest":"0600-01-01","latest":"0999-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Similar pieces held by Abegg-Stiftung, Riggisberg and Katoen Natie, Antwerp were C14 dated to this range (for further details see reference field)"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"83","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Objecys 118-1891 to 136-1891 purchased together for £44 9s 10d from Henry Wallis. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Textile fragment, roundel from a tunic, compound twill samite in brown and buff silk, Egypt, possibly Akhmim, 7th - 10th Century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"For the dating of the Abegg-Stiftung pieces see S. Schrenk, &lt;i&gt;Textilien des mittelmeerraumes aus spatantiker bis fruhislamischer zeit (Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung, 2004), 321-323. The V&amp;A's piece is similar to both cat. no's 147 and 148: No. 147 C14 dated to AD793-995 (100% probability) and no. 148 C14 dated to AD664-827 (93.3% probability).\n\nFurther similar examples in Antwerp (657/DM 33D and 151/SM 33C) have also been carbon dated to between the 7th - 10th Centuries; see A. De Moor, \"Radiocarbon dating of ancient textiles: State of research\", in A. de Moor and C. Fluck, &lt;i&gt;Methods of Dating Ancient Textiles of the 1st Millennium AD from Egypt and Neighbouring Countries: Proceedings of the 4th Meeting of the Study Group “Textiles from the Nile Valley\"&lt;/i&gt; (Tielt, 2007), 102-3, Figs. 7-8;"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Two colour silks like the present example have often been attributed to Akhmim; see A. De Moor, S. Schrenk, and C. Verhecken-Lammens, “New Research on the So-Called Akhmim Silks,” in S. Schrenk, <i>Textiles in situ: Their Find Spots in Egypt and Neighbouring Countries in the First Millennium CE</i> (Riggisberg, 2006), 85–94."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"wallis","id":"A19275"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["119-1891"],"accessionNumberNum":"119","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1891,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-01","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}