Byzantine iconography, art iconography - museum europe - famous french museum

This textiles collection is a source of inspiration for contemporary creations in France. East and West are the two poles of the French Museum collections. Coptic tapestries, Sassanid Persian textiles, Byzantine iconography and Muslim fabrics, Asia Minor carpets reflect the very essence of the history of Oriental civilisations. Sicily and the Italian Republics played a major role in the origin of silk weaving in Europe, soon followed by the quick development of the French silk production. Lyons production is given pride of place with ornamentists such as Pillement, Philippe de Lasalle or Dugourc. In the nineteenth century, important Imperial and Royal commissions helped revive silk industry in Lyons. The high level of craftsmanship goes on well into the nineteenth century with the collaboration of talented designers such as Raoul Dufy and Sonia Delaunay.

Usually composed of linen thread, wool, hemp, very rarely of silk, evoke the first century of our era and a civilization which bloomed in Egypt. The fabrics, found in tombs, were used for clothings and furniture by Egyptians, between the end of the second and the twelfth century AD.
The name “Coptic” is the deformation of the word “Egyptian” reduced to its consonants in the written language of the Arab conquerors.

This art iconography, covering a period of ten centuries, was rediscovered at the end of the nineteenth century as a result of excavations made in Egypt on the site of Antinoê, thanks to the generosity of Emile Guimet who sponsored them. The majority of Coptic tapestries consists of fragments of clothings used by the laity. They mainly refer to Greco-Roman mythology for their iconographic inspiration. The symbolic material of Antiquity (Dionysus, the Nereids) gradually became christianised. An evolution can be observed in the rendering of relief which, towards the third century, favoured massive forms and played on the contrast of coloured surfaces. Most of the Coptic textiles used the technique of tapestry. They enhanced the general effect thanks to the lustre of the threads of warp and weft creating a relief of crests and hollows. rising out of the regular pattern. Copts were experts at using dyes and the well-preserved dazzling colours of coptic items are evidence of their skill.

If you visit the decorative arts museum of Lyon in France, you will discover, coptic history, ancient textil, art iconography and  byzantine iconography , old tapestries but you will also learn the textile history.

The Textile Museum in Lyon, french museum about textile history and textile industry :
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