Coptic textile

Fragment of a band in very dark red, beige and bone white, embellished in the centre with floral and geometric motifs and two highly schematic bone-white human figures inside a dark brown rectangle, view from the front with arms by their sides. The sides are decorated with a crenelated pattern of stylised flowers, and the untorn end is adorned with beige and dark brown fringe.
From the beginning, Coptic art incorporated representations of still or moving human figures, often highly schematic; at their height, Coptic textile decorations were covered with many such figures.
The piece was part of the collection of Juan José Álvarez, who sold it to the Spanish government in 1992, after which it was sent to the museum.