Nereid (Sea-Nymph) from a Hanging (late 300s–400s CE): Art, History and Details

Nereid (Sea-Nymph) from a Hanging (late 300s–400s CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The brilliant colors and complex design of this panel, likely one of several forming a tapestry, testify to its makers’ skill. Vines and birds frame a nereid, a mermaidlike mythological creature, against a dark blue ground. The weaver has aligned different-colored threads to create shading and special details. Blue threads representing water are integrated into the weaving of the glass bowl. Alternating pink and blue threads combine to create a smoky effect around the nereid’s eyes. Small spots across the surface are stable organic spores and fortunately do not affect the condition of this millennia-old textile.

Object facts

• Title: Nereid (Sea-Nymph) from a Hanging
• Date: late 300s–400s CE
• Culture: Byzantine Empire (Egypt)
• Type: Textile
• Technique: dyed wool, undyed linen
• Dimensions: Overall: 66.7 x 65.4 cm (26 1/4 x 25 3/4 in.); Mounted: 76.8 x 75.6 x 2.9 cm (30 1/4 x 29 3/4 x 1 1/8 in.)
• Collection: T - Coptic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1953.18

A detail from the museum

Look closely at the eyeliner beneath the eye: it is formed by mixing two colors of thread, pink and blue.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Art and Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Art." Archaeology 6, no. 4 (1953): 195-202.
• Shepherd, Dorothy G. "A Late Hellenistic Tapestry from Egypt." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 41, no. 1 (January 1954), pp. 4–6.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.