A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1948-1956 (Debrecen, 1957)

Kádár Zoltán dr.: Kopt textilek a debreceni Déri Múzeumban

Coptic textiles in the Déri Museum Zoltán Kádár The Coptic textiles of the Déri Museum have come from the collection of Theodor Graf who acquired them at the Egyptian excavations initiated by Prof. Joseph Karabacek. One of the textiles in question has ornament decoration while the three others are decorated with figures. These served for trimming garments and were sewn to them and not wowen into their stuff. The plainest and earliest of the pieces is a polygonal garment trim of purple colour, made of linen. In the middle of it there is a rosettelike leaflet framed in a circle which is surrounded by eight similar lobed and tiny-toothed leaflets. Analogies (among others a piece possessed by the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest) show that the age of such type of textiles goes back to the 4 —5 th centuries. The three textiles with figures are of a later period, their technic js of a different nature, and they are wowen of wool. It is only the left pari which has been left from the square, broken inset. An aureoled figure in streaked robe, face turned to the left is portrayed in it framed in a double circle, and undecipherable characters in the background. The aureole and the body are of ochre colour, the hair, eyes and robe are dark blue. A similar figure is to be seen, among others, in a textile inset made in Achmim-Panopolis and guarded in Berlin, portraying the Virgin Mary in the scene of Christ's birth. On this analogy we may put the age of our piece at the 6th or 7th century (Pl. B). The other two textiles, portraying figures and coming from the Déri Collection, are in much better condition. In one of them four figures are to be seen in a double framing on a claret-coloured wowen ground. The figures wear dark blue garments and their hair, eyes and faces are of natural colour. The figure sitting behind the ochre table or couch has an aureole, left to it is portrayed a woman on her knees, to the right a departing figure is to be seen whose flapping chlamys is of light green colour. (PL A.) In the lower part of the field a figure is portrayed in reclining position raising up the left hand and throwing back the right foot, holding a short stick in the right hand. The strange composition, reminding of the ancient Egyiptian style, was considered portraying Christ and the Disciples of Emmaus. At a closer examination, however, an other interpretation may seem тэге probable; the portrayed figures are Mary Magdalen, Martha and Lazarus. — In the third of the figurative textiles (lost in 1944) there are two bearded figures, the apostles Peter and Paul or some other Saints (fig...). The two latter relics show the style of the later Coptic textile art and, inspite of some Hellenistic elements, their stiffness in the composition witnesses to a later period, probably the 6th or 7th century. 102