Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece

How was this made?

By Finley Cassidy '22

 

 Due to the fact that there is little to no surviving material, it is hard to know precisely how this wet-faced compound twill (samite) on Polychrome silk was produced. In order to get an idea, historians have to look at the object itself. Roundel with Amazons on horseback was made using color silk which suggests the use of a loom in which the image is repeated and then cut in half and reproduced. This "cut" begins directly at the figure and suggests a thick repeat due to the loom and fabric size. Weaving is done on fly shuttle pit looms. In which the weaver interlaces the silk threads of weft and warp. The shuttle then passes through the openings formed when the pedal is operated to interlock warp and weft threads. Once the shuttle is passed, the suspended sley is pulled to form the weave. Wet-faced silk is created by crosswise threads rather than length-wise yarns.

Here is a video showing how a weft-faced textile like this was made: 


 

This medallion can be compared to the textile Man Subduing a Lion. Both of these textiles display the weaving technique; however, the image of Samson is much more prestigious because of the use of multiple colors. Man subduing a lion displays the Jin Silk variation of the Chinese five-color scheme. These colors include red, dark blue, dark green, dark yellow, and tan, while Roundel with Amazons on Horseback only contains two colors, beige on a blue-purple ground. 

 

It is important to note that these are purely estimations of production, and there is no concrete way to connect this polychrome silk to a particular loom tradition or location. There is always the factor of different levels of production for different consumers in different markets across the world. 

 

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