Late Antique and Early Medieval Textiles and Costume and their Representations in Various Media

Whenever men and women are represented in the pictorial arts especially whenever their official rank or function is emphasized their clothes and accessories are an important part of the portrait. As comparatively few textiles and costumes are preserved from late antique and early medieval centuries, their reproductions in sculpture, paintings and other media may be considered as important documents, allowing us to visualize the richness of a material culture that would otherwise be lost. Not in all periods, however, do the pictorial documents mirror the decorative details of the reality, in which they were created, with the same degree of accuracy. Their testimony must, therefore, be checked against the evidence of surviving costume or textile fragments for a fair account of their credibility. In a brief sketch and more cannot be given here it is not possible to give a detailed account of surviving documents and to follow closely the parallels and contrasts between textiles and their pictorial counterparts. Instead, several examples will be presented that demonstrate greater or lesser correspondence between textiles and their representations, indicating chances and risks of a method that might take the one as evidence for the other. A recent study, published by Prof. Dr. Andreas Schmidt-Colinet, followed in detail the parallels between sculpture and textiles excavated in Palmyra and succeeded in proving that indeed the representations of costume and textiles have their foundation in the fabrics traded and used in the area. The oasis of Palmyra was, from the 2"' century BC until the 3" century AD, an important commercial centre trading silk and wool, spices, glass and ceramics between East and West. Remaining politically independent from Rome as well as from Iran, it entertained economically profitable relationships with both ruling powers and practically controlled the exchange of