/internal/media/dispatcher/1087952/resize%25253Aformat%25253DthumbnailFragment of a wall hanging with a servant opening a curtain400-550188 x 93.5 cm (74 x 36 13/16 in.)Linen (undyed) and wool (dyed), tapestry
Charles Potter Kling Fund57.1800Fragment of a wall hanging with a columnar arcade showing a doorkeeper/guard (in Latin, the ostiarius/velarius) drawing a colorful curtain. With his short blond hair, a neck collar with an amulet and an attire of a knee-length green tunic with yellow vertical bands (clavi) and shoulder roundels, jeweled belt, and red leggings with sandals he resembles barbarian guards of the Late Roman and Early Byzantine courts.
The columns of the tall arcade have bases and capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and shafts covered with foliate garlands twisted into rope pattern (guilloche); the arch is festooned with fruits; a small section of an adjoining arch survives on the right. The fragments are surviving decorative tapestry components of what was originally much larger linen wall hanging.
Technique: ground of very fine linen in plain weave; design components (arcade, figure, curtain) in tapestry weave (linen warp and very fine dyed wool and undyed linen weft). Woven with warps perpendicular to the design.
Textiles188.000000000011201701