id: 128462 accession number: 1951.400 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1951.400 updated: 2022-05-14 09:01:06.704000 Resist-Dyed Hanging with Biblical Scenes, 500–550. Egypt, Byzantine period. Linen: resist-dyed, plain weave; overall: 99.7 x 104.8 cm (39 1/4 x 41 1/4 in.); mounted: 111.1 x 114.3 x 2.5 cm (43 3/4 x 45 x 1 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1951.400 title: Resist-Dyed Hanging with Biblical Scenes title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 500–550 creation date earliest: 500 creation date latest: 550 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: Egypt, Byzantine period technique: linen: resist-dyed, plain weave department: Textiles collection: T - Coptic type: Textile find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 99.7 x 104.8 cm (39 1/4 x 41 1/4 in.); Mounted: 111.1 x 114.3 x 2.5 cm (43 3/4 x 45 x 1 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Greek inscriptions identify the various scenes from the Old and New Testaments. Above the first of the Magi in the upper register can be seen the two letters "XP" from the Greek work for gold. At the left of the middle register are two figures, the first almost destroyed and the second identified by the inscription, "EIWANNHC," as John. In the lower register is a portrayal of Jonah thrown up on the shore with the big fish beside him and accompanied by the inscription, "EIWNAC." Moses, almost completely destroyed, is only identifiable by his inscription, "MWCHC." translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Indigo Tradition in Textiles opening date: 1973-12-02T05:00:00 The Indigo Tradition in Textiles. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (organizer) (December 2, 1973-January 20, 1974). title: Byzantine Gallery 210 Rotation opening date: 2003-10-27T05:00:00 Byzantine Gallery 210 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 27, 2003-October 25, 2004). title: Coptic Textile Rotation opening date: 2014-03-18T04:00:00 Coptic Textile Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 18, 2014-March 2, 2015). title: Coptic Textile Rotation opening date: 2019-05-13T04:00:00 Coptic Textile Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 13, 2019-May 11, 2020). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Blue Traditions: Indigo Dyed Textiles and Related Cobalt Glazed Ceramics from the 17th through 19th Century. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (December 4, 1973-January 20, 1974). * Age of Spirituality, Late Antique and Early Christian Art: Third to Seventh Century. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (November 1977-February 12, 1978). --- PROVENANCE said to have been brought to Paris from Egypt in the 1870s or 1880s date: footnotes: citations: (Mrs. Paul [Marguerite] Mallon [d. 1977], New York, NY, and Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?–1951 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1951– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: This hanging belongs to an elite group featuring biblical scenes that early Christians would have recognized. The upper register on the left shows a cross-legged stool in a fragmentary Adoration of the Virgin; as a Coptic inscription indicates, the Magi approach from the right. The middle register on the left may depict the Baptism of Christ while the other three figures separated by columns appear to illustrate the Miracle of Loaves and Fishes. Old Testament scenes in the lower register include Jonah and the Whale. The scenes were created using a resist-dye technique. A substance that dyes cannot penetrate was applied to the linen cloth. After the cloth was immersed in an indigo dyebath, the resist was removed, revealing the design on the undyed linen against the blue-dyed ground. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Shepherd, Dorothy G. "An Egyptian Textile from the Early Christian Period." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 39, no. 4 (1952): 66-75. page number: p. 66-8 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25141787. The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 73 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n27 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 32 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n56 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 38 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n60 Katzenberg, Dena S. Blue Traditions; Indigo Dyed Textiles and Related Cobalt Glazed Ceramics from the 17th Through the 19th Century. [Baltimore]: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1973. page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 1, p. 118; Reproduced: cat. no. 1, p. 49 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 39 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n59 Weitzmann, Kurt, and Hans-Georg Beck. Age of Spirituality: A Symposium. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980. page number: cat. no. 390, p. 433 url: Kajitani, Nobuko 梶谷宣子. Koputo gire [コプト裂 = Coptic Fabrics]. Kyōto: Kyōto Shoin, 1981. page number: pl. 45, p. 35 url: Williams, Elizabeth Dospěl. "Sacred Imagery." In Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt, 63-68. Washington: The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, 2019. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 67, fig.16 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1951.400/1951.400_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1951.400/1951.400_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1951.400/1951.400_full.tif