Panel from a Large Curtain, Overlapping Leaves (300s–400s CE): Art, History and Details

Panel from a Large Curtain, Overlapping Leaves (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:

These colorful overlapping leaves with interspersed buds along the sides originally formed a decorative panel in a large curtain. Together with several similar designs, they alternated with areas of undyed linen decorated with scattered wool and linen tapestry-woven motifs. Although decorative motifs were often woven into the ground fabric, this panel was sewn on afterwards. During the late Roman and early Christian period curtains with woven or applied decoration were used in churches and Christian meeting rooms to separate the clergy from the congregation. They were also hung in doorways and between columns both inside and outside. Their importance is evident in numerous portraits of religious figures and laymen represented between curtained arches.

Object facts

• Title: Panel from a Large Curtain, Overlapping Leaves
• Date: 300s–400s CE
• Culture: Egypt, Byzantine period
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Undyed linen and dyed wool: tapestry weave sewn on plain weave ground
• Dimensions: Overall: 118.7 x 16 cm (46 3/4 x 6 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1983.145

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

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.