Ornamental Shoulder Bands from a Tunic (500s): Art, History and Details

Ornamental Shoulder Bands from a Tunic (500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The orientation of the figures indicates that these were vertical bands on a tunic descending from the shoulders. Human figures under arches alternate with dogs, rabbits, and a lion. The right band displays a nude female dancer playing finger cymbals at the top and bottom, and in the center, a hunter dressed in a short garment (chiton) draped over one shoulder carries a shield in his right hand and a rock in his raised hand. The left band displays, from top to bottom, a nude male carrying a leafy branch; a shepherd carrying a shepherd’s crook and dressed in a skirt of animal skin; and a nude female dancer with a scarf loosely draped behind her.

Object facts

• Title: Ornamental Shoulder Bands from a Tunic
• Date: 500s
• Culture: Egypt, Byzantine period
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Undyed linen and dyed wool: tapestry weave with supplementary weft wrapping
• Dimensions: Overall: 65.1 x 7.6 cm (25 5/8 x 3 in.); Mounted: 74.9 x 15.2 cm (29 1/2 x 6 in.)
• Collection: T - Coptic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1926.145.a

Collection credit

Gift of George D. Pratt

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.