Article · 10 pages
Article by H. A. Elsberg describing two Byzantine or Hither Asian woven silk fabrics used as linings in the bindings of the 9th-century manuscript 'The Four Gospels' (the Lindau or Ashburnham Gospels) in the Pierpont Morgan Library. It analyzes the weft twill technique, with main and supplemental warps and multiple colored wefts, along with the designs (eight-pointed stars, paired griffons, paired birds with ribbons) and their Persian, Sassanian and Byzantine influences. It also covers dating, probable origin, comparisons with other silks, and the manuscript's provenance. Five plates show the silks and the jeweled covers.