{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O359149"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O359149/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018LE6086/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018LE6086/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2018LE6086","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EX1229","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EX0960","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE1688","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE0174","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O359149/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O359149","accessionNumber":"417-1887","objectType":"Textile fragment","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Tapestry woven panel from the hem of a linen tunic, depicting scenes from the Biblical narrative of David.","physicalDescription":"A band from the hem of a tunic, tapestry-woven in dyed wool and undyed linen thread on linen warps.  The decoration, on a red ground, consists of roundels depicting scenes from the Biblical story of David, alternating with half-roundels containing pairs of confronted horsemen. There are small rosettes in the intervening spaces between roundels. Each roundel has a double border, the inner with a serpentine vine-motif on a white ground, and the outer with an interlocking gem-ornament. \n\nThe left, incomplete roundel depicts David brought before Saul (Samuel 17: 31-32), wiuth David recounting his successful fight against a lion and bear in order to convince Saul to let him fight Goliath. There are letters forming a largely incomprehensible text alongside the figures, although some of the letters might represent a garbled abbreviation of the Coptic for 'David'. The right-hand roundel depicts David's fight against the lion (Samuel 17: 34-36), with a figure (the personification of Dynamis) looking on. Both the composition of this scene, with David's arms around the lion's neck, and David's nudity, may have been influenced by depictions of Hercules slaying the Nemean lion. \n\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"wool","id":"x40131"},{"text":"linen","id":"x29412"}],"techniques":[{"text":"weaving","id":"AAT53642"},{"text":"tapestry weave","id":"AAT61981"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Tapestry woven linen and wool","categories":[{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"},{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MES","id":"THES48607"},"images":["2018LE6086","2011EX1229","2011EX0960","2017KE1688","2017KE0174"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"021","id":"THES312736"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Band","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Egypt","id":"x29512"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Akhmim","id":"x28714"},"association":{"text":"found","id":"x42575"},"note":"Possibly. Red-ground tapestries such as this form a group particularly associated with Akhmim, but Akhmim was widely given as a provenance to textiles dug up in Egypt as it formed an additional selling point, so must often be treated with caution."}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"7th Century - 9th Century","earliest":"0600-01-01","latest":"0899-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"A fragment of a David-cycle tapestry in the Deutsches Textilmuseum Krefeld (inv. no. 10246) was radiocarbon dated to give the following calibrated age:\r\n656-767 AD (8.3% confidence)\r\n619-799 AD (95.4% confidence)\r\n\r\nFor this radiocarbon dating see A. Paetz gen. Schieck, \"Radiocarbon dating on nine Late Antique and Early Islamic tapestry weavings of Dionysian, Joseph and David-cycle design\", in A. de Moor and C. Fluck, <i>Methods of dating ancient textiles of the 1st millennium AD from Egypt and neighbouring countries</i> (Tielt: Lannoo, 2007): 176."}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Sir C. Purdon Clarke, C.V.O.,C.I.E., in 1887","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"8","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"24","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Fragment from a tunic with depicting scenes from the Biblical story of David, tapestry woven linen and wool, Egypt, 7th - 9th Century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"T.E. Dale, \"The power of the annointed: The Life of David on two Coptic textiles in the Walters Art Gallery\", <i>The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery</i> 51 (1993): 23-42."}],"production":"Examples such as this piece, consisting of roundels with stylised floral borders on a red background, represent tapestry woven imitations of contemporary silks. ","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["417-1887"],"accessionNumberNum":"417","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1887,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-07","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}