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Textiles and their painted imitations in early medieval Rome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

John Osborne
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Tessuti e le loro imitazioni dipinte nella roma alto medievale

L'articolo esamina il fenomeno dell'imitazione dei tendaggi, o vela, che furono dipinti sui plinti delle mura delle chiese a Roma durante l'alto medioevo. La ricomparsa di questa pratica, che ha precedenti in epoca classica, avvenuta a Roma intorno al 700 d.C., è collegata con la contemporanea diffusione di idee artistiche e liturgiche provenienti da Bisanzio, così come al fiorire di commerci legati ai tessuti che potrebbero essere stati utilizzati come modelli per tali copie dipinte. Vari siti della Roma medievale sono qui analizzati, compresi S. Maria Antiqua, S. Clemente, S. Crisogono, e S. Saba; viene inoltre formulato un modello che tenga conto dei cambiamenti delle forme e dei motivi decorativi dei vela durante l'ottavo, il nono e il decimo secolo.

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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 60 , November 1992 , pp. 309 - 351
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Copyright © British School at Rome 1992

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References

1 Research for this paper was supported over three years by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, for whose generosity I am extremely grateful. I should also like to thank Julian Gardner and Roger Ling, for their prompt responses to queries about bibliography, and Lesley Jessop and Gillian Mackie, who provided valuable research assistance in the initial stages.

2 Davis-Weyer, C. and Emerick, J., ‘The early sixth-century frescoes at S. Martino ai Monti in Rome’, Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 21 (1984), 1–60Google Scholar

3 See Wright, D., ‘Sources of Longobard wall painting: facts and possibilities’, Atti del 6 Congresso Internazionale di Studi sull’ Alto Medioevo (Milan, 1980), 727–39Google Scholar.

4 See Carver, M., ‘S. Maria foris portas at Castel Seprio: a famous church in a new context’, World Archaeology 18 (1986–1987), 312–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Leveto-Jabr, P., ‘Carbon-14 dating of wood from the east apse of Santa Maria at Castel Seprio’, Gesta 26 (1987), 17–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Bertelli, C., ‘Castelseprio e Milano’, Bisanzio, Roma e l'Italia nell' Alto Medioevo (Spoleto, 1988), 869–906Google Scholar.

5 See Lazzarini, L., ‘The discovery of Egyptian blue in a Roman fresco of the medieval period (ninth-century A.D.)’, Studies in Conservation 27 (1982), 84–6Google Scholar; and Arnold, A. et al. , ‘Deterioration and preservation of Carolingian and medieval mural paintings in the Müstair convent (Switzerland)’, in Brommelle, N. S. and Smith, P. (eds) Case Studies in the Conservation of Stone and Wall Paintings (London, 1986), 190–9Google Scholar.

6 See Osborne, J., ‘The painting of the Anastasis in the lower church of San Clemente, Rome: a re-examination of the evidence for the location of the tomb of St. Cyril’, Byzantion 51 (1981), 255–87Google Scholar.

7 The one monument known to me where there may be a significant relationship between the vela of the dado and the figures painted above is the convent of Torba; see Bertelli, C., Gli affreschi nella torre di Torba (Milan, 1988), 33–4Google Scholar.

8 See Terry, A., ‘The Opus Sectile in the Euphrasius Cathedral at Poreč’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 40 (1986), 147–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 For a discussion of a parallel crisis in the production of marble floor pavements, also in the seventh century, see Guidobaldi, F. and Guidobaldi, A. Guiglia, Pavimenti marmorei di Roma dal IV al IX secolo (Vatican City, 1983), 508–14Google Scholar.

10 For example in two seventh-century campaigns of decoration in S. Maria Antiqua: on the triumphal arch, and in the apse of the Oratory of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.

11 See Klesse, B., Seidenstoffe in der Italienischen Malerei des 14. Jahrhunderts (Berne, 1967)Google Scholar.

12 Egeria's Travels, tr. Wilkinson, J. (London, 1971), 127Google Scholar. For other fourth-century texts describing vela see De Rossi, G. B., ‘La basilica profana di Giunio Basso sull ‘Esquilino’, Bullettino di Archeologia Cristiana II ser., 2 (1871), 5–29, 41–64, esp. 59–64Google Scholar.

13 For this industry see Lopez, R. S., ‘Silk industry in the Byzantine empire’, Speculum 20 (1945), 1–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Oikonomides, N., ‘Silk trade and production in Byzantium from the sixth to the ninth century: the seals of the Kommerkiarioi’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 40 (1986), 33–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 See Mango, C., The Art of the Byzantine Empire, 312–1453. Sources and Documents (Englewood Cliffs, 1972), 88–9Google Scholar. For an analysis of Paul's description of the St Sophia textiles see Ierusalimskaya, A., ‘Textiles of St. Sophia in Constantinople (based on Paulus Silentarius's poem)’ [in Russian], Vostochnoe Sredizemnomorye i Kavkaz, IV-XVI vv. (Leningrad, 1988), 8–19Google Scholar. For a survey of other Byzantine texts describing altar coverings, see Speck, P., ‘Die Ένδυτή. Literarische Quellen zur Bekleidung des Altars in der byzantinischen Kirche’, Jahrbuch der Osterreichischen Byzantinischen Gesellschaft 15 (1966), 323–75Google Scholar.

15 The text is published in Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, L. (Paris, 1886–1892) i, cxlvi–viiGoogle Scholar. See also De Rossi, , ‘La basilica profana di Giunio Basso’, 24–5Google Scholar. For Flavius Valila see Martindale, J., The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ii (Cambridge, 1980), 1147Google Scholar.

16 Ibid., i, 230, 232–4, 242–4.

17 Ibid., i, 271, 276, 285. Imperial donations are again recorded in the ninth-century vitae of Benedict III and Nicholas I, ibid., ii, 147–8 and 154.

18 Lopez, 1–3.

19 For the context see Sutherland, J., ‘The mission to Constantinople in 968 and Liudprand of Cremona’, Traditio 31 (1975), 55–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Leyser, K., ‘Ends and means in Liudprand of Cremona’, Byzantinische Forschungen 13 (1988), 119–4Google Scholar.

20 For the royal ergasterion in Palermo see Monneret de Villard, U., ‘La tessitura palermitana sotto i normanni e i suoi rapporti con l'arte bizantina’, Miscellanea Giovanni Mercati iii (Vatican City, 1946),464–89Google Scholar.

21 Liber Pontificalis ii, 195Google Scholar.

22 Carolingian and Ottonian sources dealing with imported textiles are collected and analyzed by Sabbe, E., ‘L' importation des tissus orientaux en Europe occidentale au Haut Moyen Age, IXe et Xe siècles’, Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire 14 (1935), 811–48, 1261–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The author concludes that trade in textiles between the eastern Mediterranean and western Europe was regular throughout this period, thus denying the validity of the famous thesis of Pirenne.

23 See discussion of values by Sabbe, ibid., 1283–5.

24 The Liber Pontificalis records form the basis for all the major discussions of textiles in early medieval Rome. See De Waal, A., ‘Figürliche Darstellungen auf Teppichen und Vorhängen in römischen Kirchen bis zur Mitte des IX. Jahrhunderts nach dem Liber Pontificalis’, Römische Quartalschrift 2 (1888), 313–21Google Scholar; Beissel, S., ‘Gestickte und gewebte Vorhänge der römischen Kirchen in der zweiten Hälfte des VIII. und in der ersten Hälfte des IX. Jahrhunderts’, Zeitschrift für christliche Kunst 7 (1894), 357–74Google Scholar; Croquison, J., ‘L'iconographie chrétienne à Rome d'après le Liber Pontificalis’, Byzantion 34 (1964), 535–606Google Scholar; and Petriaggi, R., ‘Utilizzazione, decorazione e diffusione dei tessuti nei corredi delle basiliche cristiane secondo il Liber Pontificalis (514–795)’, Prospettiva 39 (Oct. 1984), 37–46Google Scholar.

25 Liber Pontificalis i, 500Google Scholar: ‘In ecclesia vero sanctae Dei genetricis ad Praesepe fecit vestes II super altare maiore: una ex auro purissimo atque gemmis, habentem adsumptionem sanctae Dei genetricis, et aliam de stauracim ornatam in circuitu blattin’.

26 Cf. summary of subject matter by Croquison, 581–97.

27 Liber Pontificalis ii, 9Google Scholar.

28 For example Peter and Paul (ibid., ii, 2), Anastasius (ii, 11) or Lawrence (ii, 120).

29 Ibid., ii, 25. For a discussion of the iconography see Croquison, 585–6.

30 For example, vestes presented by Leo III to Susanna, S. and Prisca, S. (Liber Pontificalis ii, 3, 4)Google Scholar.

31 For example the gift of Leo III to S. Erasmo: ‘Item… fecit veste de stauraci cum cruces el gamadias’ (ibid, ii, 9). One can postulate that the gamma-shaped designs were arranged to form a frame for the central image, in a similar manner to those depicted on the altar in the sixth-century mosaic of the Sacrifices of Abel and Melchizedek in S. Vitale, Ravenna.

32 For example, ‘pavones’ (ibid., ii, 55), ‘aquilas’ (ii, 75, 77, 109, 111, 114), ‘cum leonibus’ (ii, 75, 76, 79), ‘cum storia de elefantos’ (ii, 12), ‘crifas’ (ii, 32), ‘cum grifis’ (ii, 79), ‘cum chriphis et unicornibus’ (ii, 75). Numerous early medieval silks with animal or bird designs still survive: cf. for example the discussion of fragments depicting elephants and eagles in Beckwith, J., ‘Byzantine Tissues’, Actes du XIVe Congrès International des Etudes Byzantines (Bucharest, 1974), 343–53, esp. 350–2Google Scholar and figs 25–30; and Muthesius, A., ‘A practical approach to the history of Byzantine silk weaving’, Jahrbuch der Osterreichischen Byzantinistik 34 (1984), 235–54Google Scholar. For silks depicting griffins see Beckwith, figs 31–2.

33 Ibid., ii, 75. It is tempting to think that the mucrones may refer to the stylized ivy leaf forms which would later represent the suit of swords (spades) in modern playing cards. Our text says only that they are ‘per circuitu’, making an interesting parallel to the textile in the Vatican Museum which uses the leaf/spade motif as a border design: cf. Volbach, W. F., ‘Prima relazione sulle nuove stoffe del Museo Sacro Vaticano’, Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia. Rendiconti 10 (1934) [1935] 177–96Google Scholar, esp. 183.

34 Typical references include ‘iuxta ianuas maiores argenteas cortinam’ (ibid. i, 499), ‘cortinam … sub arco maiore’ (i, 499), ‘cortinam ante absidam’ (i, 501), and ‘cortinam… in arcum triumphalem’ (ii, 79).

35 Typical references include ‘vela… inter columnas’ (ibid., i, 383, 432), ‘per diversos arcos… vela’ (i, 499), ‘vela… quae pendent in arcora’ (ii, 2) and ‘vela… pendentes inter columnas maiores’ (ii, 13).

36 Ibid., ii, 13: ‘vela… XCVI, ex quibus duo habentes in medio cruces de chrisoclabo cum orbiculis’ (gift of pope Leo III to St Peter's).

37 Crostarosa, P., ‘Le basiliche cristiane’, Dissertazioni della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia ser. II t. iv (1892), 311–99.Google Scholar

38 Liber Pontificalis entries include ‘velum… habentem periclisin in rotas cum aucellos’ (ii, 2), ‘tetravila … cum astillis et rosis’ (ii, 8), ‘vela… habentes tigris de chrisoclabo’ (ii, 29), ‘velum rubeum cum avicellis diversis’ (ii, 96), ‘vela leonum habentia istorias’ (ii, 109) and ‘vela cum aquilis’ (ii, 121). Figural scenes are rarer but include ‘vela crisoclaba per arcos presbiterii, habentia storia dominicae Passionis atque Resurrectionis domini nostri Iesu Christi, numero XLVI’ (ii, 62), and ‘vela chrisoclaba per arcos presbiterii, habentem storiam de mirabilibus apostolorum…, numero XLVI’ (ii, 54). Both were papal gifts to St Peter's.

39 Ibid., ii, 31–2.

40 Ibid., ii, 154.

41 See discussion of Guillou, A., ‘Rome, centre transit des produits de luxe d'Orient au Haut Moyen Age’, Zograf 10 (1979), 17–21Google Scholar, and idem, ‘Bisanzio, Roma e l'Italia nell'alto medioevo’, Bisanzio, Roma e l'Italia nell' Alto Medioevo (Spoleto, 1988), 919–43, esp. 936–9.

42 MGH Epistolae iii (Berlin, 1957), 514–7 (Codex Carolinus 17)Google Scholar.

43 Alcuin, , The Bishops, Kings and Saints of York, ed. Godman, Peter (Oxford, 1982), line 1268Google Scholar.

44 Croquison, , ‘L'iconographie chrétienne’, 603–4Google Scholar.

45 A glossary explaining the etymology of some of these terms is included by Petriaggi, 43–4.

46 Liber Pontificalis ii, 2Google Scholar and thereafter. It is interesting to note that the adjective ‘alexandrinus’ is restricted to curtains and veils, and seems not to have been used in conjunction with altarcloths (vestes), whereas there are frequent donations of a ‘veste tyrea’. There is a single reference to a ‘pannum alexandrinum’ (ii, 61). For the history of textile production in Alexandria during the Byzantine and Islamic periods see Marzouk, M., History of Textile Industry in Alexandria (Alexandria, 1955)Google Scholar.

47 Ibid., ii, 11: ‘vestes II, una… bizantea cum chrisoclabo’.

48 See for example ibid., ii, 57 (Paschal I), 78 (Gregory IV), 93 (Sergius II), and 194 (Stephen V). For the etymology, see Petriaggi, 43.

49 Liber Pontificalis ii, 30Google Scholar.

50 Ibid., ii, 75, 107, 122, 128, 130, 132.

51 Gesta abbatum Fontanellensium, ed. Loewenfeld, S.. MGH Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum (Hannover, 1886), 53Google Scholar

52 See Carusi, E., ‘Intorno al “Commemoratorium” dell'abbate Teobaldo (a. 1019–22)’, Bullettino dell'Istituto Storico Italiano e Archivio Muratoriano 47 (1932), 173–88, esp. 187Google Scholar

53 For an examination of later medieval silk production in southern Italy, based in part on the evidence of mulberry cultivation, see Guillou, A., ‘La soie du Katépanat d'Italie’, Travaux et Mémoires 6 (1976), 69–84.Google Scholar

54 Liber Pontificalis ii, 57Google Scholar.

55 Ibid., ii, 96.

56 Ibid., ii, 109, 111, 119, 120, 125, 129, 130. The most elaborate of these, an altarcloth presented to St Peter's, depicted the pope offering to Christ a model of the newly constructed ‘Leonine city’. These portraits, none of which survive, are discussed by Ladner, G., I ritratti dei Papi nell' antichità e nel medioevo i (Vatican City, 1941), 150–2Google Scholar.

57 Technical studies of early medieval silks reveal the difficulty and complexity of the task in producing repeats of even simple woven designs. For example, it has been calculated that ‘no less than 1440 manipulations of the figure-harness were required to weave one repeat of the Aachen elephant silk’ (Muthesius, 254).

58 Liber Pontificalis ii, 57Google Scholar: ‘vestem de blatin bizantea, habentem in medio tabulam de chrisoclabo cum storia qualiter angelus beatam Caeciliam seu Valerianum et Tyburtium coronavit’. For the possibility of embroidered scenes being added in Rome, see also the discussion of Beissel, 373.

59 Agnellus, Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis, cap. 80: ‘Iussit ipse endothim bissinam preciosissimam, cui similem nunquam videre potuimus, aculis factam, omnem Salvatoris nostri historiam cuntinentem’. MGH Scriptores Rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum, saec. VI-IX (Hannover, 1878), 332Google Scholar. The passage is translated by Mango, C., The Art of the Byzantine Empire, 312–1453. Sources and Documents (Englewood Cliffs, 1972), 106–7Google Scholar. For a discussion of this and other decorated altarcloths described in this text see Bovini, G., ‘Le “tovaglie d'altare” ricamate ricordate da Andrea Agnellus nel Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis’, Corsi di Cultura sull 'Arte Ravennate e Bizantina 21 (1974), 77–90Google Scholar.

60 Agnellus, cap. 83: ‘Ex quorum [magorum] amore iste beatissimus Agnellus partem endothim bissinam, unde superius fecimus mentionem, quam Maximianus praedecessor iustius non explevit, iste magorum istoriam perfecte ornavit, et sua effigies mechanico opere aculis inserta est’. MGH Scriptores Rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum, 334. See also Mango, Art of the Byzantine Empire, 108.

61 Gesta Episcoporum Neapolitanorum: ‘Supra quod velamen coopervit, in quo martyrium sancti Ianuarii eiusque sociorum acu pictili opere digessit’. MGH Scriptores Rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum, 434.

62 Liber Pontificalis ii, 108Google Scholar: ‘velum acupictile, habentem hominis effigiem sedentis super pavonem I’; and ii, 120: ‘vestes de fundato III, habentes unam quidem tabulam acupictilem interclusam’.

63 See Campanati, R. Farioli, ‘La cultura artistica nelle regioni bizantine d'Italia dal VI all'XI secolo’, I Bizantini in Italia (Milan, 1982), 137–426, esp. 425 and pl. 351.Google Scholar

64 For colour illustrations see Butturini, F., La pittura frescale dell'anno mille nella diocesi di Verona (Verona, 1987), figs 18–21Google Scholar.

65 See Longman, L., ‘Two fragments of an early textile in the Museo Cristiano’, The Art Bulletin 12 (1930), 115–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Volbach, W. F., I tessuti del Museo Sacro Vaticano (Vatican City, 1942), 39–40, nos. 104–5Google Scholar; and The Vatican Collections. The Papacy and Art (New York, 1982), 102–3, no. 39Google Scholar.

66 For the most recent discussion see Martiniani-Reber, M., ‘Nouveau regard sur les soieries de l'Annonciation et de la Nativité du Sancta Sanctorum’, Bulletin de Liaison du Centre International d'Etude des Textiles Anciens 63–4 (1986), 12–9Google Scholar; and M. and D. King, ‘The Annunciation and Nativity silks: a supplementary note’, ibid. 20–1. An earlier attempt to locate their place of manufacture in Syria depended both on an unproven link between the two fragments and a specific passage in the Liber Pontificalis biography of Leo III, and an erroneous translation of the Latin word sirica (which means ‘silken’, not ‘Syrian’): see de Francovich, G., ‘La brocca d'oro del tesoro della chiesa di Saint Maurice d'Agaune nel Vallese e i tessuti di Bisanzio e della Siria nel periodo iconoclastico’, Arte in Europa. Scritti di storia dell 'arte in onore di Edoardo Arslan (Milan, 1966), 133–75, esp. 164Google Scholar.

67 See d'Adamo, L., ‘La couverture en soie de l'Evangéliaire de Santa Maria in via Lata au Vatican: une proposition de datation et attribution’, Bulletin de Liaison du Centre International d'Etude des Textiles Anciens 51–2 (1980), 10–26Google Scholar.

68 The most recent discussions are by de Vos, M., ‘Scavi nuovi sconosciuti (I 9, 13): pitture e pavimenti della Casa di Cerere a Pompeii’, Mededelingen van het Nederlands Instituut te Rome 38 (1976), 37–75, esp. 53Google Scholar; Barbet, A., La Peinture Murale Romaine (Paris, 1985), 27–9Google Scholar; and Laidlaw, A., The First Style in Pompeii: Painting and Architecture (Rome, 1985), 31–2Google Scholar. For the Centuripe house see Libertini, G., Centuripe (Catania, 1926), 58Google Scholar and pl. IV. For the Brescia temple, Gabelmann, H., ‘Das Kapitol in Brescia’, Jahrbuch des Römisch-germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 18 (1971), 124–45Google Scholar; Stella, C., ‘Il tempio repubblicano’, Brescia romana (Brescia, 1979) i, 25–45, esp. 34–7Google Scholar; and eadem, Guida del Museo Romano di Brescia (Brescia, 1987), 17Google Scholar.

69 See for example Maiuri, A. in Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità (1929), 367–8Google Scholar.

70 See De Rossi, , ‘La basilica profana di Giunio Basso’, 54–9Google Scholar; Cagiano de Azevedo, M., ‘La datazione delle tarsie della basilica di Giunio Basso’, Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia Rendiconti 40 (1968), 151–70.Google Scholar

71 Becatti, G., ‘La Basilica di Giunio Basso sull'Esquilino’, in Scavi di Ostia VI: Edificio con ‘Opus Sectile’ fuori Porta Marina (Rome, 1969), 181–215, esp. 191–3Google Scholar.

72 See Rassart-Debergh, M., ‘La décoration picturale du monastère de Saqqara. Essai de reconstitution’, Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 9 (1981), 9–124, esp. 23, 31, and pi. IIIa.Google Scholar

73 Clédat, J., Le Monastère et la Nècropole de Baouît 2 vols (Cairo, 1904–6, 1916)Google Scholar, i, fasc. 1, 64 (chapel 12), and fasc. 2, 160 (chapel 28).

74 Ibid. i, fasc. 1, 24, 53; fasc. 2, 92–3, 106, 119; Rassart-Debergh, figs 17–19, 22.

75 Cf. Restle, M., Die Byzantinische Wandmalereien in Kleinasien (Recklinghausen, 1967), pls 302, 328, 474, 481–2, 498 and 503Google Scholar.

76 The major study, incorporating earlier bibliography, is Sansterre, J.-M., Les moines grecs et orientaux à Rome aux époques byzantine et carolingienne 2 vols (Brussels, 1983)Google Scholar.

77 For a description of the process used to prepare these plates, and for a discussion of their excellent reliability, see Nordhagen, P. J., ‘Working with Wilpert. The illustrations in Die Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien and their source value’, Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historia Pertinentia. Series Altera 5 (1985), 247–57Google Scholar.

78 Cf. the similar ‘rosettes’ at Bawît (chapel 32): Clédat, ii, pl. XI.

79 The attribution to Paul I was first proposed by Wilpert, J., ‘Sancta Maria Antiqua’, L'Arte 13 (1910), 1–20, 81–107, esp. 96–7Google Scholar; RMM, 702. For a summary of the subsequent literature regarding this issue see Vileisis, B., ‘The Genesis Cycle of Santa Maria Antiqua’ (Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton 1979), 141–4Google Scholar. The murals may be assigned to the mid-eighth century on stylistic grounds. Although no donor figure appears in the surviving decorations of the left aisle, it is known that a major redecoration of the church was undertaken in the time of Paul I, whose portrait was placed in the apse. The attribution is thus probable, but cannot be proven.

80 It is interesting to note that in the second quarter of the ninth century exotic animals of this sort begin to appear in the Liber Pontificalis notices of real textiles presented as papal gifts to various Roman churches, for example the ‘vestem de olovero cum chriphis et unicornibus’ given by pope Gregory IV (827–44) to the church of Marco, S. (Liber Pontificalis ii, 75Google Scholar).

81 See Osborne, J., ‘Early medieval painting in San Clemente, Rome: the Madonna and child in the niche’, Gesta 20 (1981), 299–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

82 For a reconstruction of the chapel see Tronzo, W., ‘Setting and structure in two Roman wall decorations of the early Middle Ages’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 41 (1987), 477–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar

83 The painted curtain is not mentioned at all in other discussions of the early medieval murals at this site, cf. di S. Stanislao, P. Germano, La Casa Celimontana dei SS. Martiri Giovanni e Paolo (Rome, 1894), 417–40Google Scholar.

84 Liber Pontificalis i, 510Google Scholar.

85 For SS. Quirico e Giulitta see Giovannoni, G., ‘La chiesa dei Santi Quirico e Giulitta in Roma’, Atti del II Convegno Nazionale di Storia dell'Architettura (Rome, 1939), 229–38Google Scholar; Corbett, S., ‘The church of SS. Quirico e Giulitta in Rome’, Papers of the British School at Rome 28 (1960), 33–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Bosi, M., SS. Quirico e Giulitta (Rome n.d. = Le Chiese di Roma Illustrate vol. 60)Google Scholar.

86 See plan in Corbett, fig. 2.

87 Corbett, pi. XIIIa. I have been unable to obtain access to the underground area of SS. Quirico e Giulitta, and thus have relied on this photograph for the description.

88 Giovannoni, 231, publishes without comment a watercolour copy of the murals in niche B, signed ‘S. Ferrelli’ and dated to the year 1930. This copy also suggests the presence of horizontal stripes across the top of the curtain, and of ‘rosettes’, formed by dots, set in the space above each section of drapery. To my knowledge there are no published photographs, perhaps because, as Corbett puts it (38 n. 22), ‘the apse is too restricted for photography’.

89 The principal bibliography includes Marucchi, O., ‘Scoperte nell'antica chiesa di S. Saba’ Nuovo Bullettino di Archeologia Cristiana 6 (1900), 175–6Google Scholar; Wilpert, J., ‘Le pitture dell'Oratorio di S. Silvia’, Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire 26 (1906), 15–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Styger, P., ‘Die Malereien in der Basilika des hl. Sabas auf dem kl. Aventin in Rom’, Römische Quartalschrift 28 (1914), 49–96Google Scholar; and Testini, P., San Saba (Rome, 1961)Google Scholar.

90 See for example Styger, 78–86, and Testini, 76–9.

91 More or less precisely this same design may be found on the west wall dado of chapel 38 at Bawît (Clédat ii, pl. XVI), although in the Egyptian example there is no suggestion of a curtain. Both monuments presumably reflect a popular textile design.

92 Wilpert, , RMM, 148–53Google Scholar. To his credit, Wilpert notes the difficulty involved in dating the painted curtain so early, but was convinced that the murals must relate to Gregory I's installation of a library in the Lateran palace.

93 It is possible that the velum discovered by Lauer beneath the chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum in the Lateran palace may be earlier, but there is no evidence to support the attribution of these paintings to the pontificate of Gregory I (590–604), as is often suggested (cf. catalogue 8).

94 Cf. Liber Pontificalis i, 385Google Scholar.

95 For a detailed description of the velum in each area see the catalogue la-lc.

96 Nordhagen, P. J., ‘The frescoes of John VII (A.D. 705–707) in S. Maria Antiqua in Rome’, Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 3 (1978), 16.Google Scholar

97 It is interesting to compare the very similar design at Bawît (chapels 30 and 38): cf. Clédat ii, pls II, XVI.

98 For example, two pieces in the textile museum at Lyons: see Martiniani-Reber, M., Lyon, Musée historique des tissus. Soieries sassanides, coptes et byzantines Ve-XIe siècles (Paris, 1986), 74 no. 49, 102–3 no. 86Google Scholar. The author suggests that the ‘spade’ motif may represent a stylized tree or palmette, but it seems more likely that it derives from the ivy-leaf designs popular in classical art.

99 Cf. Wilpert, RMM pls 142, 199.

100 Compare, for example, the vela of the so-called Temple of Romulus attached to the Roman church of SS. Cosma e Damiano (Wilpert, RMM pl. 264). Here the curtains are devoid of decorative patterns, apart from a series of nested V-shaped lines that represent the ultimate stylization of the earlier attempts to convey the impression of real drapery folds. Parallel examples can be found throughout Europe: for example, the painted curtains of the chapter house at Worcester cathedral in England.

101 The most recent study of the patronage is that of Belting, H., ‘Eine Privatkapelle im frühmittelalterlichen Rom’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 41 (1987), 55–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

102 Is this, one wonders, what is meant by the design of ‘cruces de chrisoclabo cum orbiculis’ on two vela presented by pope Leo III to St Peter's? Cf. Liber Pontificalis ii, 13Google Scholar.

103 Cf. Liber Pontificalis i, 432Google Scholar

104 It is worth noting that in the Liber Pontificalis such animals begin to appear in accounts of real textiles in the ninth century, perhaps reflecting the increasing importance of imports from the Islamic world.