Fragment of a Band

Art Historical Context

This delicate *Fragment of a Band*, dating to the 3rd–4th century, offers a glimpse into the sophisticated textile traditions of late antiquity. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Islamic Art, this narrow wool and linen strip—measuring just 13¼ inches high and 1¾ inches wide—was likely part of a larger garment, furnishing, or ceremonial object from the Near East or Egypt, regions where such woven bands decorated edges and borders. Though the artist remains unknown, its survival as a rare artifact speaks to the enduring craftsmanship of the era, preserved through arid buri...