Moving from white togas to glittering purple silks, powerful textiles became a singularly effective way of signalling wealth and influence in Late Antiquity (AD 200 – 600). This spring an exhibition in NY offers a unique view of some of the bits and pieces still in existence.

Designing Identity:
The Power of Textiles in Late Antiquity
25.02.2016 – 22.05.2016

This spring, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at the New York University (NYU) has mounted an exhibition on how people in Late Antiquity used sumptuous and powerful textiles to design their identity.

Designing Identity: The Power of Textiles in Late Antiquity, offers intimate glimpses into the lives of those who commissioned and used textiles and more sweeping views across Late Antique society (roughly third to seventh century CE). The exhibition brings together over fifty textiles of diverse materials, techniques, and motifs to explore how clothing and cloth furnishings expressed ideals of self, society, and culture. By their valuable materials and virtuoso execution, the textiles displayed their owners’ wealth and discernment. To modern viewers, the materials and techniques also attest to developments around the Mediterranean world and farther east along the routes of the silk trade. The Late Antique owners, in choosing from a vast repertory of motifs, represented (hopefully more than actually) the prosperity and well-being of their households. The owners represented themselves through the distinctively gendered imagery of manly and womanly virtues in mythological and Christian subjects so that in these textiles, we see distinctly personal manifestations of the religious transformation of the Roman Empire into a Christian Empire.

Designing Identity: The Power of Textiles in Late Antiquity opens to the public on February 25, 2016 and runs through May 22, 2016. It is curated by Thelma K. Thomas, Associate Professor of Fine Arts, Institute of Fine Arts, who is also the editor and a contributor to the show’s accompanying catalogue. The exhibition is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11 to 6 pm with a late closure at 8 pm on Fridays. A free guided tour is offered each Friday starting at 6 pm.

This exhibition has been generously supported by the Selz Foundation, the Coby Foundation, Ltd., the Sarofim Foundation, Agnes Gund, Nellie and Robert Gipson, Frances Marzio, and the Leon Levy Foundation. Additional funding provided by Furthermore, a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, and Sameh and Sylvia Iskander.

READ MORE:

Designing Identity: The Power of Textiles in Late Antiquity
Edited by Thelma K. Thomas
Princeton University Press 2016
ISBN: 9780691169422

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Letter from Roger S. Bagnall, Leon Levy Director, ISAW 7
Acknowledgments, Jennifer Y. Chi, Exhibitions Director and Chief Curator, ISAW 8
Introduction: The Material World of Late Antiquity, Then and Now, Thelma K. Thomas, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University10
Map: The Roman Empire at 400 CE 16
1 TEXTILES FOR CLOTHING AND FURNISHINGS: PUTTING LATE ANTIQUE ROMAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE ON DISPLAY 19
1.1 Material Meaning in Late Antiquity, Thelma K. Thomas 20
1.2 Charms: Protective and Auspicious Motifs, Jennifer L. Ball, Brooklyn College 54
1.3 The Continuity of Late Antique Patterns, Helen C. Evans, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 66
1.4 Making Textiles and Assessing Their Value, Thelma K. Thomas 78
2 LATE ANTIQUE TEXTILES IN MODERN TIMES: COLLECTING AND COLLECTIONS 85
2.1 Late Antique Textiles at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Expanded Vistas, Christine Kondoleon, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 86
2.2 Collecting and Exhibiting Late Antique Textiles at the Brooklyn Museum, Edward Bleiberg, Brooklyn Museum 96
2.3 Minor Art, Major Works: An Overview of Dumbarton Oaks’ Collections of Late Antique and Medieval Textiles, Elizabeth Dospel Williams, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection / George Washington University 104
2.4 Collecting Late Antique Textiles at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brandie Ratliff, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at Hellenic College Holy Cross 116
2.5 A Closer Look at Textiles from the Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Materials and Techniques, Kathrin Colburn, The Metropolitan Museum of Art126

FEATURED PHOTO:

A fragment of a tapestry representing two figures from Egypt, ca. 7th-9th century A.D. Byzantine Collection, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC

SEE MORE:

In Late Antiquity Textiles, a Long-Lasting Fashion Show