Fragment of tapestry representing a hunter on horseback

The upper section of this fragment of tapestry, with its red ground and vegetal designs, has the very familiar motif of a mounted hunter with a tame leopard riding on the horse’s hindquarters.

Created in Egypt, it was probably made by Coptic craftsmen, who, since the Islamic conquest of AD 639, were the main experts in this craft. Christianity appeared in Egypt at the end of the second century AD and from this period Coptic civilization flourished there. From Roman times, the tapestries made up an important part of the tombs, in the form of ornaments applied to tunics. This use continued during the Byzantine and Islamic periods. In the Islamic era, the Coptic artisans were often employed by the caliphs to make many textile objects in the tirāz workshops, the caliphate administration for textile manufacture that was renowned for its objects with inscribed bands. The Egyptian climate has helped to preserve many of these pieces.

In the Coptic tradition, the warp is linen, a material cultivated in the country from the Pharaonic era. The weft is wool, whose use was introduced in the Ptolemaic period (fourth century BC), which was appreciated for the bright colours that can be obtained through dyeing[1]. The twisting of the weft threads in S and the warp threads in Z are typical of Egyptian workshops since Roman times; they render the surfaces very lively. This technical mastery was probably due to the fact that this craftsmanship had been practised in Egypt since the Pharaonic era[2].

The red ground colours, on which the decorations are arranged, were common on eighth-century Egyptian tapestries. The colour accentuates the decorative nature of the scenes represented, in contrast with older pieces where the grounds were lighter in tone and  occasionally naturalistic in style[3]. The leaves above the horse’s ear are filling motifs that were common on many tapestries from that era. The decorative ground was also a constant in Islamic decorative arts, and its appearance in Egypt led the weavers to adopt an accentuated stylization of the motifs. For example, the filling of the surfaces with vegetal motifs is characteristic of Fatimid ceramics[4].

The rider on his mount accompanied by a leopard trained for hunting, which is Chinese in origin, is a recurrent theme in Islamic iconography. The influence of neighbouring Persia can also be clearly seen, probably after the Sassanid occupation of the country between 619 and 629 AD. The ribbon flying above the horse’s mane, the rider’s hair, and the collar of the feline are directly borrowed from Sassanid iconography[5]. They can be likened to the princely theme of royal hunts, widely practised by kings, whose art is related in eighth-century treatises on hunting. Islamic art reused this theme that belonged to princely pleasures[6]. The treatment of the leopard’s fur is similar to the fur with ocelli of the Fatimid animals in rock crystal[7].

The silhouettes are outlined with a thick black line, a convention already observed in Roman floor mosaics as well as in Umayyad art[8]. The large eyes echo the Fayyum portraits (third to fourth centuries). Faces were constantly represented in Coptic and Islamic Egypt. A bowl in Fatimid lustred ceramics[9] represents a Coptic priest or monk whose treatment is very similar to that of this horseman.

[2] Funerary paintings of the New Empire (1500–1100 BC) portray scenes of vertical weaving crafts.

[3] Tapestry with fish, Antinoe, second to third centuries, wool, musée des Tissus (textiles museum), Lyon, inv. 28927.

[4] Bowl with winged lion, Egypt, the eleventh century, ceramics with lustred decorations, the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, inv. 14928.

[5] Winged horses, Iran, seventh century, worked and silk samite, discovered in a funerary context in Antinoe, Egypt, musée des Tissus (textiles museum), Lyon, inv. 26812/11.

[6] Pyxis of al-Mughīra, Spain, Madīnat al-Zahrā’, 968, ivory, the Louvre Museum, Paris, inv. OA 4068.

[7] Ewer bearing the name of al-‘Azīz, Egypt, 975–996, rock crystal and European mounting from the sixteenth century, Treasury of St Mark’s, Venice, inv.80.

[8] Paintings of Qusayr Amra, Jordan, 700–715; stone floor mosaics of Khirbat al-Mafjar, Palestine, second quarter of the eighth century with representations of gazelles being attacked by lions.

[9] Priest’s bowl, Egypt, second half of the eleventh century, ceramics with lustred decorations, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inv. C 49-1952.