The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Roundel from a Curtain

Roundel from a Curtain

300s CE
plain weave ground with tapestry weave and supplementary weft wrapping; undyed linen and dyed wool
Overall: 45.2 x 47.7 cm (17 13/16 x 18 3/4 in.); Mounted: 64.1 x 64.1 x 2.5 cm (25 1/4 x 25 1/4 x 1 in.)
Gift of Henry Hunt Clark 1946.412
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The purple color was achieved with kermes, a dye derived from the dried bodies of insects of the same name.

Description

This circular element called a roundel that originally decorated a curtain displays a perfectly interlaced knot, a design believed to provide protection from harm. Curtains were often used as modular walls in houses, theaters, and Christian churches during the late Roman and early Christian periods.
  • Sims, Lowery Stokes. The persistence of geometry: form, content, and culture in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. p. 21, 31, 116
    Thomas, Thelma K. "Making Textiles and Assessing Their Value." In Designing Identity: The Power of Textiles in Late Antiquity. Thelma K. Thomas, ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016. Reproduced: P. 79, 81, fig. 1-4.3
  • Coptic Textile Rotation Gallery 106. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 21, 2022-November 12, 2023).
    Coptic Textile Rotation Gallery 106. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 23, 2017-May 14, 2018).
    Designing Identity: The Power of Textiles in Late Antiquity. Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, NY, New York, NY (February 25-May 22, 2016).
    Coptic Textile Rotation Gallery 106. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 4, 2011-May 21, 2012).
    The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
    Byzantine Gallery 210 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 29, 2004-July 18, 2005).
    Byzantine Gallery 210 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 12, 2000-October 25, 2001).
    Gallery 210 textile rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11, 2000-October 21, 2001); (October 29, 2004-July 18, 2005).
  • {{cite web|title=Roundel from a Curtain|url=false|author=|year=300s CE|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1946.412