Having established a framework for analysis of silk from textual sources in the first half of this work, the following chapters provide a complementary perspective on surviving patterned textile fragments attributed to Mediterranean and Near East workshops between ca.
600-1300. The focus of this investigation is a specific category of textiles known as weft-faced compound weave figured silks. Surviving evidence shows that this structure was the dominant method of patterning silk textiles at production centres throughout the region.1
Parallel to the framework applied to written sources, chapters 5 through 7 examine figured silk fragments. This chapter describes how research approaches have been shaped by recovery and formation of collections. During the past century, various methods have been applied to study the material and devise a framework for attribution. Chapter 6 defines a new research methodology based on characterisation of silks using high-resolution digital images and software tools to aid in objective analysis. Chapter 7 examines data collected according to the defined protocol and presents research findings.
5.1 Survival Contexts
Thousands of weft-faced compound weave figured silk fragments attributed to Mediterranean and Near East workshops are housed in museums, private collections, and religious institutions, mainly in Europe and North America. Most figured silks were found in one of two contexts: reliquaries and shrines in European churches, and archaeological
excavations of cemeteries in the Near East. Textiles from these contexts vary widely in terms of their cultural and historical circumstances of survival. Factors that affect present conditions
1 See chapter 7 for a discussion of patterning methods.
include environmental exposures, post-discovery handling of materials, and exchange through a network of dealers and collectors.
a. Silk from European shrines
Some of the most impressive figured silks have come down to us from the shrines of saints and elite tombs in European churches. Both the quality and quantity of these materials can be attributed to two factors: the high value accorded to imported silks in the history of Europe, and rituals associated with the relics of saints. In Christian Europe, imported silks were highly valued.2
The westward flow of silk as diplomatic gifts was well documented in primary sources.
The Liber pontificalis recorded donations of a large number of precious silks to religious institutions where they were used for various purposes such as wrappings for relics, vestments, hangings, furnishings, metalwork linings, and book-bindings.3 Patrons included rulers and their families, high ecclesiastics, and wealthy laymen.4 Donation records survive in some institutions such as Sens Cathedral. In 1897 Chartraire published an inventory of the Sens Cathedral Treasury which included endowments by Charlemagne.5 The quantity and diversity of surviving silks and their widespread distribution across many religious institutions
indicates that patrons acquired them through various means including trade and as spoils of war.
2 Muthesius 1982, 10. For compendia of European sources pertaining to valuable textiles, see Michel 1852, Parts I and II, 6-87; Sabbe 1935a; Sabbe 1935b.
3 For example LP, Davis 8th, 24, 27-28, 44-45, 81, 143-146, 153-156, 180-182, 193-200, 219-220, 223-230, 236; LP, Davis 9th, 14, 20-24, 54, 58-59, 62, 65. See Brubaker and Haldon 2001, 80-108; Martiniani-Reber 1999.
4 For a summary of inventory records pertaining to donations of valuable silks, see Muthesius 1982, 329-336.
5 Chartraire 1897, I-IV. For other references to Charlemange, see chapters 1.2 and 2.3.
In medieval Christian Europe, the cult of saints refers to the rituals and institutions surrounding the posthumous commemoration and veneration of a recognised holy person.6 Saints’ physical remains were translated from extramural sites to shrines in churches as focal points for public veneration and pilgrimage. The exceptional social value attributed to silk was demonstrated by its use to wrap and adorn saintly relics encased in special crypts,
sarcophagi, or reliquaries located in chapels and altars. Over time, institutions with important relic groups became major pilgrimage centres.
In addition to recognised holy persons, the bodies of elite persons in society, including princely family members and high church officials, were often robed in fine silk garments and placed in crypts located in religious institutions. In times of political and social unrest, these shrines and tombs were subjected to widespread destruction. Over the centuries, the contents of many were lost to war, theft, natural disasters, neglect, and dissolution.
Given silk’s relative fragility and organic composition, survival of a reasonably large body of material seems miraculous. Conservation experience shows that the seasonal, humid climate of Europe is a poor preservation environment.7 Over the centuries, silks exposed to normal ambient conditions simply turned to dust. Textiles placed in subterranean sealed crypts and airless chambers were protected from a wide range of exposures leading to decomposition. A stable micro-environment protected tomb contents from the deleterious effects of light as well as fluctuating temperature and humidity levels.8 In such conditions,
6 For definition and discussion of the cult of saints, see Brown 1981; Hayward and Howard-Johnston 1999. For an in-depth study of a shrine’s history, see Bonner, Rollason, et al.
1989.
7 Wild 1988, 12-13.
8 Wild 1988, 12-13; Wild 1990, 3-4. For a discussion of the specific factors involved in textile damage, see Cooke 1990, 9.
protein-based fibres such as silk are less susceptible to biological antagonists than cellulose materials like linen.9
The circumstances through which ancient silks were removed from shrines and eventually accessioned into public collections are a product of a complex set of conditions, events, and broad social changes. In his summary of luxury textiles found in religious institutions, Otavksy described evolving attitudes toward the contents of saintly tombs.10 According to prevailing religious beliefs, physical contact with saintly remains endowed secondary relics with sacred properties. In contrast, a modern, secular point of view is that fine silks have independent value as historical artefacts. Even today, silks in shrines
demonstrate the on-going tension between articles of religious piety and artefacts of historical interest. Silks in some religious institutions are unavailable for study; unopened shrines almost certainly contain important silks.
The earliest tomb openings occurred for one of two reasons: rites associated with translation and recognition, and reconstruction of cathedrals and abbeys that led to discovery of tombs. Several recorded tomb openings between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries convey changing attitudes toward secondary relics. For example, in preparation for
canonisation rites in Seville, the coffin of King Ferdinand III (d. 1252) was opened in 1668.
Reportedly, a well-preserved garment was ripped apart by crowds eager to obtain relics.11 Two early accounts describe the luxurious silk garments found in papal tombs that were reinterred with their contents. According to an account in 1578, the body of Pope Gregory VII
9 Cooke 1990, 3-11. For conditions leading to degradation of silk, see Garside and Wyeth 2002; Garside and Wyeth 2007; Peacock 1996; Becker, Magoshi, et al. 1997.
10 Otavsky 1995, 12.
11 Arco 1954, 232-233.
(1073-1085) was observed in fine garments woven of silk and gold.12 In 1605 Giacomo Grimaldi meticulously recorded Pope Boniface VIII’s vestments including figured silks.13
The tomb of Charlemagne at Aachen Cathedral was opened in 1843 and the remains removed. In 1851 Cahier and Martin published a description of the tomb contents including valuable figured silks.14 Some other major tomb openings with finds of important figured silks are the shrine of St. Servatius at Maastricht in 1863 and the relics of St. Hippolytus at St.
Ursula Church, Cologne in 1871.15 In 1893 a casket containing anonymous relics wrapped in fine silks, originally in the abbey of St. Pierre, was opened at Sens Cathedral.16 Several scholars have published detailed analyses of textile relics from St. Cuthbert’s tomb at Durham Cathedral.17
The tomb of Pope Clement II (1046-1047) in Bamberg Cathedral was opened in 1949 and the textiles and metalwork were removed for conservation.18 Apparently dating from the time of the Pope’s interment, the tomb contained a silk veil woven with a mirrored kufic inscription ‘Blessing for Allah’.19 Other garments accompanying the body were a cope, chasuble, dalmatic, buskins, cingulum, stole, gloves, and some other fragments. The
vestments were exhibited in Munich in 1955 and are now housed in the Diocesan Museum in Bamberg.
The shrine of Hildesheim Cathedral provides an example of a modern reliquary opening connected with silk. In 1997 the bishop and chapter decided to commemorate the 1500th
12 Paravicini Bagliani 2000, 136-139.
13 Grimaldi, 38-39.
14 Cahier and Martin 1851, 233-263.
15 Bock and Willemsen 1872; Stein 1882, 22.
16 Chartraire 1897; also see Muthesius 1989b, 345 n. 9.
17 See Flanagan 1956, Granger-Taylor 1989.
18 Müller, Steingräber, et al. 1955.
19 Müller-Christensen 1960.
anniversary of Saint Epiphanius, a patron saint of the Cathedral.20 His remains, along with those of several other saints and martyrs, were stored in a large reliquary. When the shrine was opened, the inner wrapping of the relic bundle was found to contain a one metre square silk patterned with birds in pearled roundels. The shape of the fragment indicates that it was cut and stitched for another purpose before being used as a wrapping.21
Given the historical and religious values associated with silks recovered from church tombs, most fragments were retained by religious institutions. An early exception comes from the 1781 opening of the tombs of Roger I, Henry VI, and Frederick II in Palermo.22 Some of the rich textiles from these tombs eventually came into museums in Vienna, London,
Dusseldorf, and elsewhere.23
Not all textiles found in tombs survived the circumstances of their recovery. Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century accounts for St. Peter’s in Rome document the destruction of cloths found in tombs to recover gold. For example, the chronicle of Nicolò della Tuccia of Viterbo relayed an account of textiles in imperial burials being melted down for gold.24 In 1458 graves were discovered in the chapel of St. Petronilla. The tombs were said to contain the bodies of
‘Constantine’ and his son wrapped in a golden cloth. When melted, the cloth yielded sixteen pounds of gold, which Pope Callixtus III (1455-1458) sent to the mint.25
20 Schorta 2000, 45.
21 Schorta 2000, 47.
22 Daniele 1784, 22-23, 43-46; 64, 102-106.
23 Otavsky 1995, 13.
24 Tuccia, 256; tr. from Lanciani 1896, 202.
25 For the identity of the burial as Galla Placidia (d. 450) and her son, Theodosius III, see Johnson 2009, 171-172.