Cloth (Palmyra)

 

Cloth goods represented a considerable part of the merchandise that passed through Palmyra. The foremost of these goods was silk, made by a technique known only to the Chinese, who jealously guarded the secret for centuries. Palmyra was an important stopover along the Silk Road, just before the route reached the Mediterranean. By examining the silk cloth in which certain rich Palmyrene citizens had themselves buried, specialists have been able to ascertain that some of these pieces came from fabric imported directly from China, while others had been made and dyed locally, in Syria itself, using imported raw silk or silk thread. Dye was obtained from a plant called madder, which was also imported from India. 

Provenance: Palmyra (Tomb 40). 

Substance: Chinese silk.

Dimensions: 40 x 30 cm. 

Era: 100 CE.

Text: Michel Fortin (p. 211, translated by Jane Macaulay).

Photo: Jacques Lessard. 

Collection of the National Museum of Damascus. 

 

Michel Fortin, Syria, Land of Civilization. Les Éditions de l'Homme, Musée de la Civilisation de Québec 1999.