Textile with elephants, senmurv and winged horses

This silk textile is the largest of the seven known fragments of the same piece. The reconstitution that can be made using the fragments seems to indicate that the original fabric was used to make an ecclesiastical garment before it was cut up.

It was ornamented with real and mythical animals in pearl-bordered medallions. There are six medallions on the New York fragment, spread out symmetrically in pairs. Elephants are shown in the first pair. In the second are senmurv, composite winged creatures with a dog head and peacock tail. The last two medallions show winged horses. To complete the pattern between the medallions, stylised plant motifs weave round a circle decorated with hearts.

Taking the other fragments into consideration, the design of the entire piece of fabric can be reconstituted. It appears that only these three types of animals were illustrated, repeated regularly. The pairs of similar figures alternate so that they appear in turn in the same row either back to back or face to face.

Although much of the ornamental design comprising medallions originates with the Sassanids, it may well stem from the late Roman and proto-Byzantine worlds[1]. Nevertheless the contribution of the Iranian culture is undeniable: the motifs of fantastical animals are related to those the Sassanid tradition, which used them as symbols of protection or to represent royalty. Their reproduction continued after the Islamic conquest, and it is thus plausible that they contributed to the repertory of Byzantine motifs.

Fabrics decorated with such motifs spread throughout the Mediterranean Basin, in both Christian and Islamic civilisations. Hence is it often not easy to locate their precise origin. This is the case of this particular fabric, dated to the eleventh or twelfth century: it has been attributed to Byzantium, to near Eastern civilisations, and sometimes to the Muslims of Spain. It thus reflects a taste that was widespread throughout the Mediterranean region and the Near East, and so cannot be categorically attributed to one or another of these cultures. More surprisingly, the same type of pattern is found on silks right to the Far East, testifying to its popularity.

While in the West such fabrics were most frequently used for ecclesiastical garments or to wrap relics, in Byzantium, where they were far more widespread, they were also used as luxurious curtains, for example. They were even given as presents by diplomats, which contributed to their dissemination.

In Byzantium, these fabrics continued to be intensively produced until the twelfth century, after which the liking for the motifs seemed to lessen and the Byzantine silk industry declined.