Historiated legging
Date:
530–640
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Egypt
Medium:
Wool
Dimensions:
73 × 55 cm
Description:
This fragment of a historiated legging was excavated from a tomb at Antinoöpolis (also called Antinoe) in Egypt, but it imitates the style of Sasanian textiles. An enthroned Sasanian shahanshah, driving a large sword into the ground, observes the scenes of combat unfolding above him. The other legging that accompanies this one (now in the Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs in Lyon) helps to reconstruct some of the scenes in this more fragmentary legging at the Louvre. A horseman shoots an arrow behind him—a popular iconographic type sometimes called a Parthian shot—and another horseman blows a horn while dragging a black man by a rope. The captured man's neckband and headband are signs of his enslavement.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
3
Repository and Online Resources:
• Read more about this piece on the website of the Louvre.
• The other legging is at the Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs in Lyon, France.
Image Credits:
Linda Safran
