Sleeve from a Tunic (700s): Art, History and Details

Sleeve from a Tunic (700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Figures and winged animals from ancient Greece and Rome remained popular during the early Islamic period of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. The naked figure could represent Dionysus, the Greek god of wine; he holds his thyrsus, a staff decorated with ivy leaves and pinecones, while pouring liquid from a small jug for the panther. These colorful designs probably adorned the sleeve and front or back of a tunic, a garment worn directly on the body for over 1,000 years, from Roman antiquity to the Middle Ages. Popular decorations were regularly reused and sewn onto new tunics, as can be seen on this winter garment made of wool.

Object facts

• Title: Sleeve from a Tunic
• Date: 700s
• Culture: Egypt, Umayyad period (661–750) or Abbasid period (750–1258)
• Type: Textile
• Technique: wool; plain weave with slit-tapestry weave
• Dimensions: Overall: 31.7 x 34.3 cm (12 1/2 x 13 1/2 in.); Mounted: 41.3 x 46.4 cm (16 1/4 x 18 1/4 in.)
• Collection: T - Coptic
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1982.107.c

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings 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.