LAMPAS FRAGMENT WITH WINGED LIONS, SAMITE SILK, CENTRAL ASIA - Lot 45

LAMPAS FRAGMENT WITH WINGED LIONS, SAMITE SILK, CENTRAL ASIA, CIRCA 7th CENTURY. Winged lions walking proudly, tails turned upwards, in horizontal rows, in a direction reversing row after row. 67 x 43 cm. Provenance: Private collection, Paris. Acquired from: Francesca Galloway, London, 2019. Another similar fragment with rows of passing lions in the same arrangement is in the collection of the Abegg Stiftung (4865). This fragment is distinguished by the free arrangement of the animal motifs, usually set in medallions. Other fragments featuring this type of arrangement are preserved in Berlin and at the Musée des Tissues in Lyon (O.von Falke, Kunstgeschichte der Seidenweberei, Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin, 1913: fig.48. M.Martiniani-Reber, Soieries Sassanides, Coptes et Byzantines, Musée Historique des Tissus, Lyon, 1986, no. 11). Concerning the technique, according to the Francesca Galloway Gallery where this fragment was acquired, it comes from a sleeveless jacket with collar and diagonal overlaps, originally lined with plain tabby silk, probably originally cream, yarn without twist. This silk is woven using the "latte" technique, i.e. additional colors are used in a restricted weft band, in this case blue and yellow, limited to the upper mane and lion's eyes. Warp yarn, Z-twist, binding warp in cream, main warp in tobacco brown, in pairs. The weft, untwisted, in two colors and two additional colors: white (pattern), light blue and yellow, used for the upper mane and eyes. The "latte" technique is generally associated with relatively early silks, in the Sassanid tradition, dating from around the 7th century CE. In this case, the restricted range of colors may have been chosen to produce a lighter fabric."