Padded Armour

[John M McDermott]

Where, I wonder, would we get fabric like that?

[Tarbicus]

I have a piece of 4th/5th C. Egyptian linen cloth, could be from a robe but who knows, and I have to say the weave texture is not too dissimilar to the statue's pteryges. The similarity I'm comparing it to is the old part of the statue, not the new. It could still be linen you know. And if the weave seems too large for linen, that could just be a case of the sculpting being too fine to sculpt.

[John M McDermott]

Thesculpting here seems so exacting that it makes me wonder if it is just "artistic license".

[tlclark]

Thesculpting here seems so exacting that it makes me wonder if it is just "artistic license".

I agree, it seems an odd detail to include if they aren't cloth faced.

The texture is diagonal, which is very similar to what weft-faced cloth looks like.

So who knows?, but i agree with Aitor that the edges may not be woven but sewn, with very tight almost embroidery-like stitches like we see on the primaporta augustus here:



The original and larger image are here:

http://astro.temple.edu/~tlclark/lorica ... primaporta

you can see what looks like a double row of diagonal stitches along all three edges.

[John M McDermott]

There are several other depictions of pteruges that have a face of very large woven or knit cloth on this site.

Is cloth like this produce anywhere today?

[Primvs Pavlvs]

John I have seen some hemp canvas thats woven course like this. I have actually made my loculla (sp) from this type of hemp.

[John M McDermott]

Where did you get the fabric? I emailed Verena a picture of this this morning asking her what she thought it was. It looked not unlike her naalbinding.

[tlclark]

Here's an example of weft-faced heavy fabric up close.

http://handspinners.com/archives/summer ... bach02.jpg

It's very similar in pattern to the pteruges.

It's practically identical to the technique of a navajo rug, which is fairly heavy.

Travis

[John M McDermott]

Very nice, but where?

[tlclark]

Very nice, but where?

Unfortunately I think you need to get a weaver to do it custom. I don't know anywhere that sells weft-faced wool double cloth.

Travis

[John M McDermott]

Here is some tablet weaving from a supplier in the UK.

Is it possible the face was decorative only, consisting of tablet weaving and a design, long lost on the sculpture?

[John M McDermott]

Note the fringes on this one.

[tlclark]

Here is some tablet weaving from a supplier in the UK.

Is it possible the face was decorative only, consisting of tablet weaving and a design, long lost on the sculpture?

Sure. I think the weft-faced material could either be facing or the whole pteruges, depending on how thick it was and as far as decoration goes, It wouldn't surprise me if they were rather gaudy.

Tablet weave is technically warp faced instead of weft-faced, but the effect is the same, a heavy weave where only one part of the weave is visible. There are lots of tablet weavers out there, I wonder if we could get one to make a few test pteruges.

[Dan Howard]

Try these two suppliers.

http://www.diamantweber.de/
http://www.naturtuche.de/index.php?cPath=29_36

[Caballo]

First, many thanks for a fascinating discussion- the best of RAT, with bright informed people working together to move towards what might have happened.
A thought, if I may.
I think that there are both leather and fabric covered pteruges here http://astro.temple.edu/~tlclark/lorica ... primaporta

In the image below, for example, I do not know how you would achieve this effect on fabric- but it is relatively easy with tooled leather.
http://astro.temple.edu/~tlclark/lorica ... itdeta.jpg

Other depictions seem to me a deliberate attempt by the sculptor to say "Look, these pteruges are fabric covered" (see the most recent posts).

Regards

PB