Featured Collection Object
Fragmentary roundel, Egypt, Late Roman Period, 4th century. Wool; tapestry woven. The Textile Museum 71.10. Acquired by George Hewitt Myers in 1927.
Woven in the Mediterranean region during the late Roman Empire, this fragment likely was part of a hanging or set of hangings used to decorate an upper-class home. It depicts a female figure, possibly a personification of the Earth or one of the four seasons, dressed appropriately in a cloak of deep green and wearing a necklace of leaves and petals. In her left hand she holds a sheaf of grain or a basket of fruit, and in her right hand a thyrsus—a staff that is a composite symbol of the forest (a pine cone) and the farm (a fennel). Many early cultures around the world envisioned the Earth as a woman, often shown decked in deep green attire.
On view at The Textile Museum in Green: the Color and the Cause until September 11, 2011.