Mantle of Roger II
Date:
1133/4
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Italy
Dimensions:
1.46 × 3.45 m
Description:
A large mantle made of Byzantine samite silk embroidered with gold, silk, and gems shows lions subduing camels on each side of a central palm tree. Along the hem is a rhyming Arabic text that credits the work to the tiraz of the Norman court in Palermo. The inscription reads,
Of what was made in the treasury, inhabited by happiness and glory, good fortune and perfection, and long (life) and merits, and welcome and prosperity, and generosity and splendor, and glory and beauty, and realization of desires(?) and hopes, and delights of days and nights, without end and without modification, with might and care, and sponsorship and protection, and happiness and well-being, and triumph and sufficiency. In the city of Sicily, in the year 528.This hijra year corresponds to 1133/4, so the mantle was produced too late for the coronation of King Roger II (r. 1130–54), but it may have been used by his descendants. It shows little wear and was rarely worn, not least because it weighs over 50 kilos.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
7
Repository and Online Resources:
• The mantle is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Schatzkammer, WS XIII 14.
Image Credits:
Flickr, Brad Hostetler
