Iranica Antiqua, vol. XLI, 2006 doi: 10.2143/IA.41.0.2004769 RADIO-CARBON DATED SILK ROAD SAMITES IN THE COLLECTION OF KATOEN NATIE, ANTWERP BY Chris VERHECKEN-LAMMENS*, Antoine DE MOOR** & Bruno OVERLAET*** * Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels & Katoen Natie, Antwerp: textile technology & dyes. ** Ghent University: 14C dating. *** Ghent University & Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels: cultural setting Like most traditional “Naties” in the old port of Antwerp (Belgium), “Katoen Natie”, was one of the many specialised Antwerp firms which used to deal with a specific kind of goods or with goods of a specific origin that arrived in the port of Antwerp. Katoen Natie was founded in 1855 and the handling of cotton (“katoen” in Dutch) was its primary occupation. In time, the Antwerp “nations” had to diver- sify and Katoen Natie N.V. became one of the major international enterprises which have Antwerp as their home base. Katoen Natie N.V. kept, however, an interest in textiles and over the years brought together a unique collection, part of which is since 2004 on show in their Antwerp “HeadquARTers”. The present paper presents a group of 12 fragmentary silk samites of “Central Asian” origin. Some of these have small fragments of other textiles attached to them. Without a known provenience, however, one can only place such textiles in their proper cultural and historic context by comparing them with other finds from the vast territory along the Silk Road. This is a difficult and often speculative approach as textiles, weaving patterns and techniques moved freely across this vast territory. It is therefore essential that art historical arguments are supported or backed by data provided by the exact sciences. The approach at Katoen Natie is exactly so. The extensive series of 14C and dye analyses, the technical and iconographical studies, provide together a unique set of data. 234 C. VERHECKEN-LAMMENS, A. DE MOOR & B. OVERLAET The twelve silks are all so-called “parniyan” textiles, polychrome silks with subjects placed in roundels (Melikian Shirvani 1991). This pattern originated in Sasanian Iran and as it belonged to the Sasanian regalia, it was not only imitated but was also an inspiration for weavers in the Byzantine Empire and along the Silk Road as far as China and Japan. The available information on the Sasanian decorated textiles remains limited, however. There are the representations of embroidered and woven patterns at Taq-i Bustan, but for other representations and actual textiles, one has to look outside present day Iran. Textiles with pearled roundels encircling a single animal or an animal head, for example, were excavated at Astana in tombs dating from the 6th. and 7th. century A.D. This simple scheme is widely found, however, and also occurs on Sogdian murals of 7th. and 8th. century date. Wall paintings at Afrasiab, dating from the mid-7th. century, i.e. the very end of the Sasanian empire, illustrate the extensive use of Sasanian style textiles outside the Sasanian empire. Some of these textiles are Sasanian in every detail and are in fact regarded as Sasanian imports (Mode 1993, p. 59-62), others are local Sogdian or Chinese products. The Sogdian silk production imitated and adapted the Sasanian iconography and only technical data may eventually allow a differentiation between various Persian and Sogdian production centres. Before the individual textile fragments are discussed, it may be useful to comment on the general aspects of the weaving techniques which have been used, the colouring of the material and the original use of such textiles. Weave Technology Pattern The creation of a pattern is the work of skilled designers who had to follow some technical rules necessary for its construction on a loom (Sunday 1987, p. 57-72). The pattern is composed of pattern units that can be repeated in the warp in two ways: a straight repeat or reverse repeat. Of the 15 analysed samite fragments, two pieces have a straight warp repeat: inv. 851 showing a single elephant within a circular frame and inv. 1022-01, a duck within a roundel. Eleven pieces have a pattern of SILK ROAD SAMITES 235 confronted animals within a roundel in which a reverse warp repeat creates a mirror image. Two pieces are too small to see the pattern repeat. The type of warp repeat is an important factor for setting up the figure harness of the loom. The degree of detail of the pattern depends on the warp and weft density and the value of the warp and the weft step. Table 1. Capacity and patterns of the samites. Inv. nr. Pattern capacity 594 pheasants/ roundel reverse warp repeat, single points: 100/ \ 98 steps 739 pheasants/ roundel reverse warp repeat with single point (roundel), double point (pheasants): 81 / \ 80 steps 759 zebus/ roundel reverse repeat, single points: 82 / \ 80 steps 815 pheasants/ roundel reverse warp repeat with double point (roundel), second point missing: appr. 150 steps 851 1 elephant/ roundel straight warp repeat. Pattern not complete 852 pheasants/ roundel reverse warp repeat, single point (roundel), double point (pheasants): 167 / \ 166 steps 942-01a,b pheasants/ roundel reverse warp repeat, single points of 3 warp units: 96 / \ 94 steps 942-02 pheasants/ roundel reverse warp repeat with single point between pheas- ants. Pattern not complete 1021 stags/ roundel reverse warp repeat, single point (roundel), double point (stags): 160 / \ 159 steps 1022-01a,b one duck/ roundel straight warp repeat, single points: +/- 160 steps 1022-02(I) pheasants roundel reverse warp repeat, single points: 142 / \ 140 steps 1022-02(II) fragment too small 1022-02(III) fragment too small 1022-03(I) pheasants / roundel reverse warp repeat, single point (roundel), double point (birds): 174 / \ 173 steps 1022-03(II) confronted birds reverse warp repeat, single point: 51 warp steps Weave The twelve radiocarbon dated silks and three fragments which are sewn on two of these pieces have a weft-faced compound twill weave, also known 236 C. VERHECKEN-LAMMENS, A. DE MOOR & B. OVERLAET as “samite” (Schorta 1998, p. 43). On 14 of these, the twill diagonal runs from the lower right to upper left, S-direction (\). Inv. 852 is the only exception and has a Z-direction (/). This type of weave has a main warp and a binding warp, and two or more complementary wefts of different colours as needed for the pattern. The action of the main warp, com- manded by the figure harness of the loom decides which colour of the weft will appear at the face, holding the other colours at the reverse side. The ends of the binding warp bind the complementary wefts per group of different colours used to complete one line of the pattern in weft-faced 1/2 twill weave. One binding shed forms a pass. The entire surface is covered by weft floats hiding the ends of the main warp. Warps Of eight pieces (inv. 594, 739, 815, 851, 852, 1021, 1022-03(I) and 1022- 03(II)), the main warp and binding warp have brown to red-brown Z-spun silk threads which do not differ in thickness and quality. The binding warp of inv. 852 and 1022-03(I) has a darker shade. These brown or red-brown warp threads are dyed with madder, tannin and some of them also have indigoid dyestuff. Of six pieces (inv. 759, 942-01, 942-02, 1022-02(I), 1022-02(II) and 1022-03) the main warp and binding warp have tan Z-twisted threads of equal thickness and quality. Only inv. 1022-01 has a dark brown main warp but a thinner tan coloured binding warp. According to Shepherd (Shepherd 1959, p. 28) the differences of thickness between main warp and binding warp is one of the characteristics of the “Zandaniji I” group. The proportion of main warp ends to binding warp ends varied from two to one in 7 pieces (inv. 594, 739, 851, 852, 942-01, 1022-02(II), 1022- 03(II)), and from three to one in 6 pieces (inv. 815, 942-02, 1021, 1022-01, 1022-02(I) 1022-02(III)). Two pieces have an irregular rhythm: inv. 1022- 03(I) has two or three to one and inv. 759 has two, three or four main warp ends to one binding warp end. The warp step varied from one group of main warp ends between 2 binding warp ends (6 pieces: inv. 815, 852, 942-02, 1021, 1022-02(I), 1022-03(I)) to two groups of main warp ends (8 pieces: inv. 594, 739, 851, 942-01, 1022-01, 1022-02(II), 1022-02(III), 1022-03(II)). Inv. 759 is again an exception. It has an irregular warp step of 3 to 4 groups of main warp ends. SILK ROAD SAMITES 237 Table 2. Survey of the relation between main warp and binding warp. Inv. nr. Main warp Binding warp Main warp / Warp step Warp Binding warp Units/cm. 594 red-brown silk, Z- red-brown silk, Z- 2/1 2 ≈ 2 Mw 21 739 red-brown silk, Z- red-brown silk, Z- 2/1 2 ≈ 2 Mw 15-21 3-4 groups 759 tan silk, Z- tan silk, Z- 2-3-4/1 14-18 of Mw 815 brown silk, Z- brown silk, Z- 3/1 3 Mw 15-17 851 red-brown silk, Z- red-brown silk, Z- 2/1 2 ≈ 2 Mw 17 852 brown silk, Z- dark brown silk, Z- 2/1 2 Mw 13-21 942-01a,b tan silk, Z- tan silk, Z- 2/1 2 ≈ 2 Mw 18 942-02 tan silk, Z- tan silk, Z- 3/1 3 Mw 19 1021 dark brown silk, Z- dark brown silk, Z- 3/1 3 Mw 15-19 1022-01a,b dark brown silk, Z- tan silk, Z- 3/1 2 ≈ 3 Mw 15-17 1022-02(I) tan silk, Z- tan silk, Z- 3/1 3 Mw 14-17 1022-02(II) tan silk, Z- tan silk, Z- 2/1 2 ≈ 2 Mw 16 1022-02(III) tan silk, Z- tan silk, Z- 3/1 2 ≈ 3 Mw 21 1022-03(I) brown silk, Z- dark brown silk, Z- 2/1 or 3/1 2 or 3 Mw 14-22 2 ≈ 2 Mw or 1022-03(II) brown silk, Z- brown silk, Z- 2/1 22 3 ≈ 2 Mw Inv.