Thread by @PersiaAntigua

Against the wrong view there are no #Sasanian #silk including samite textiles, here are 8 examples!

هشت نمونه از منسوجات ابریشمی از دوره ساسانی

1: The David Collection, 650-750, Inv. no. 9/1996

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Possibly just slightly post-Islamic, though the motif did not reach Arabs from Mars! It existed in Iran for centuries! From Iran or Iraq, "Samitum-woven textile with confronted birds in medallions, silk"

2: 6th–7th C, @metmuseum, Accession Number: 2000.624.1

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Note the motifs on these examples. These should not be called "Central Asian"... whatever that means!

At the very least, these should be called Iranian, or Sasanian-Sogdian

3: Textile Medallion: 6C, Attributed to Iraq or Syria, @metmuseum , Accession #: 90.5.10

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If there is an objection these haven't been excavated, please note there is only 1 plain, non-silk child's kaftan excavated in Sogdiana

4: #Sasanian silk, 241-430 C, @GWTextileMuseum , Accession #: T-1166

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Please again note the motifs, for example this one @metmuseum

"bird wears a pearl-studded crescent on its breast & holds a jeweled necklace in its beak—an emblem of Sasanian royalty."

This is EXACTLY same motif later repeated by #Sogdians, all the way to China!

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It cannot be anything but Iranian, and Sasanian! What some scholars and pseudo-scholars are doing to separate these from Iranian identity is truly damaging to ancient Iran and needs to stop!

also see:



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5: Unfortunately poorly photographed piece @metmuseum , 6-7 C, silk, samite, Iran, Accession Number: 2000.624.4

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6: Another poorly photographed piece @metmuseum

textile fragment, silk, damasee, 6-7 C, Sasanian, Iran, Accession Number: 2000.624.5

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7: Sassanian Iran/Iraq, 5th–6th c.; #: BZ.1939.33.1–2

Weft-faced compound weave (samite) in polychrome silk

@DumbartonOaks

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8: Sassanian Iraq/Iran, 6th–7th c., #: BZ.1972.10

Weft-faced compound weave (samite) in polychrome silk

@DumbartonOaks

Also see:



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Also see: Disproving the hypothesis of "Reorienting Sasanian textiles" once and for all

Also see: textiles in ancient Iran, with post-Islamic, other later examples



And excavated pieces from salt mummies in #Iran: Chehrabad salt mines, Zanjan:

And since we're on the topic of textiles, see the amazing details of this piece, in multiple sources noted as having Iranian/Sasanian influences, including in clothing of riders, also @DumbartonOaks, Eastern Mediterranean, ca. 6th or 7th c.

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"The art of Sasanian weavers is often mentioned in Roman and Byzantine sources, with the clothing of Persian men in one source described as “gleaming with many shimmering colors.” [Ammianus Marcellinus 23.6.84: A. Gonosová, “Exotic Taste: The Lure of Sasanian Persia,”]

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"some woolen but mainly silks, found in the Byzantine graves of Antinoë in Egypt were also assumed to be Sasanian primarily on the basis of their exotic patterns and their similarity to the Taq-i-Bustan reliefs.

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Comparisons of the late antique weaving techniques has confirmed that many of the Antinoë silks belonged to the costume worn by the Sasanians."

"Many of these motifs were imitated in a variety of media outside the Sasanian culture, from floor and wall mosaics to

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architectural sculpture and silver vessels, in the late Roman and Byzantine periods." [A. Gonosová, “Exotic Taste: The Lure of Sasanian Persia,”, Antioch: Lost Ancient City, ed. C. Kondoleon (Princeton, 2000); reprinted in Late Antique and Medieval Art of Mediterranean, 2007]

I should add 2 more:

9: Kaftan fragment, #Alanic, 7th to 9th century CE; woven samite silk, @hermitage_eng

But note the 3-dot, or 3-pearl symbol on neck! Could be Sasanian export or imitation of Sasanian textile, though possibly from 8-9 C

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10: Gorgeous design with similar pieces at 3 museums.

@MuseeLouvre , noted as from Egypt, but from #Sasanian era in Egypt, silk samite, E29212

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Complete piece from Louvre

See those design elements again, 3-dot/pearl symbol and even wings above the birds' heads! Amazing!

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And these similar pieces

1: Lyon, France
2-4: Abegg-Stiftung, Switzerland

Also see paper on it: Reconstruction of a Persian Silk from Antinoë, Flury-Lemberg, 1989