Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 27. (Budapest, 2009)
Katalin E. NAGY - Ádám BÍRÓ - Ádám BOLLÓK - László KÖLTŐ Péter LANGÓ - Attila Antal TÜRK: Byzantine Silk Fragments from a Tenth-century Grave at Fonyód
nants. This type of find has special significance in view of the fact that in recent decades scholars have warned against the cumbersome and uncertain reconstructions of dress patterns made on the basis of metal finds. 1 5 Though such reconstructions have also been published since then, 1 6 the uncertainty remains. With the help of the studied find, an important component of the garment can be documented. The Fonyód silk pieces have preserved the part of the garment where a dress begins to widen downwards from the point where the two pieces of cloth - the front and rear parts - were sewn together. Unfortunately, the small size of the fragment does not allow us to guess the exact length and type of the garment. The presence of the insert around or above the waist (below vertebrae L2-L5) suggests that the garment reached down to mid-thigh at least, or longer. That required letting out of an outer garment in the observed manner, so that the wearer could move more freely. Such inserts are found in surviving caftans (fig. 8.1) and early medieval caftan representations (e.g. stone carvings, fig. 8.2) alike. One should not, perhaps, ignore the possibility whether these inserts did not always belong to the lower, "skirt" part of the garment. Possibly, they might have been the inserts at the start of the sleeve (figs 8.3-4). However, knowledge of the pattern of surviving garments - true, mainly early medieval remains from the Caucasus - does not substantiate this assumption. The inserts in the sleeves at the armpit join the front and back with a pointed tip in the known cases. The trapezoid insert (as suggested by the Fonyód find no. 2) is a shape normally typical of the lower "skirt" part of the caftans 1" (fig. 8.3). The type of garment cannot be verified conclusively for the small size of the textile fragments and the lack of adequate metal finds. It would be easy to presume that the Fonyód man was buried in a kind of caftan. In that case, however, "caftan" would have to be defined. However, as it has been pointed out in an earlier writing, 1 8 there is no consensus among the experts with regard to the definition of the caftan. It is worth recalling the main questions to clarify the problems of categorising the Fonyód garment. In both colloquial language and in the majority of research works the caftan is regarded as a par excellence oriental garment. There is rarely a more exact definition, most authors taking the meaning for granted: as far as the literature at our disposal is concerned, an overgarment partly or wholly open in front is understood by caftan. A rarer type of the garment is known in Russian literature by the name of "Sogdian caftan" with more specific characteristics. This garment, held together with a few buttons only (the uppermost button usually on the inside of the cloth), reaches below the knees and is open at the front 1 9 (figs 9. 1-2). The small number and highly schematic nature of available representations make it hard to infer more precise definitions as to caftans similar to that of the "Sogdian caftan". The strict caftan definition - reminiscent of the "Sogdian caftan" of Russian literature proposed by Gilian Vogelsang-Eastwood 2 0 in her analysis of Sassanian outer wear (tunic, coat, caftan) appears only feasible in cases where sources allow for the description of different pieces of clothing with such accuracy. There is, however, usually insufficient information as to garments worn in any culture that is only known from its archaeological heritage. For these considerations we do not wish to enter into the dispute on terminology 26
