Antinoe, to life, to fashion. Visions of elegance in solitudes.
| N° d'inventaire | 17606 |
| Format | 23.5 x 30.3 |
| Détails | 438 p., color illustrations, paperback. |
| Publication | Lyon, 2013 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | |
Located in Middle Egypt, the city of Antinoe was the capital of the Thebaid during the Roman and Byzantine eras. The Lyon Chamber of Commerce and Industry was the main financier, in 1898, of the third excavation campaign, which uncovered the late-antique necropolises, and remained a regular partner in subsequent campaigns by the site's archaeologist Albert Gayet (1856-1916) until 1914. The Musée des Tissus benefited from the sending of a considerable amount of archaeological material. This material consists of complete garments (tunics, coats, shirts, veils, accessories, belts) and fragments of clothing. These exceptional pieces reveal, above all, as Gayet understood, the clothing fashions of late Antiquity, the taste of the elegant for luxury fabrics, silks or woolens, the influences, also, of a mythical Orient, Persia, whose clothing typologies or ornamental repertoire were then adopted. These fabrics also show that Antinoe was a center of textile production of prime importance, responding to the demands of a contrasting population, hesitating between a twilight paganism and an increasingly official Christianity. The exhibition, through numerous previously unseen pieces restored for the occasion, preserved at the Musée des Tissus and the Louvre, will allow an original confrontation with contemporary evocations of the costumes exhumed from the Antinoite necropolises. It is also an opportunity to recall the enthusiasm generated by the excavations of Antinoé at the beginning of the 20th century, orchestrated by Albert Gayet and Émile Guimet, and the discredit into which the literary and fanciful nature of Gayet's publications plunged his scientific work. Today, in light of these discoveries, it is possible to reassess the relevance of the remarks of the archaeologist, who exploited the site for nearly twenty years.
Located in Middle Egypt, the city of Antinoe was the capital of the Thebaid during the Roman and Byzantine eras. The Lyon Chamber of Commerce and Industry was the main financier, in 1898, of the third excavation campaign, which uncovered the late-antique necropolises, and remained a regular partner in subsequent campaigns by the site's archaeologist Albert Gayet (1856-1916) until 1914. The Musée des Tissus benefited from the sending of a considerable amount of archaeological material. This material consists of complete garments (tunics, coats, shirts, veils, accessories, belts) and fragments of clothing. These exceptional pieces reveal, above all, as Gayet understood, the clothing fashions of late Antiquity, the taste of the elegant for luxury fabrics, silks or woolens, the influences, also, of a mythical Orient, Persia, whose clothing typologies or ornamental repertoire were then adopted. These fabrics also show that Antinoe was a center of textile production of prime importance, responding to the demands of a contrasting population, hesitating between a twilight paganism and an increasingly official Christianity. The exhibition, through numerous previously unseen pieces restored for the occasion, preserved at the Musée des Tissus and the Louvre, will allow an original confrontation with contemporary evocations of the costumes exhumed from the Antinoite necropolises. It is also an opportunity to recall the enthusiasm generated by the excavations of Antinoé at the beginning of the 20th century, orchestrated by Albert Gayet and Émile Guimet, and the discredit into which the literary and fanciful nature of Gayet's publications plunged his scientific work. Today, in light of these discoveries, it is possible to reassess the relevance of the remarks of the archaeologist, who exploited the site for nearly twenty years.