Gold thread for Late Roman tunics ? (textile)

[Theodosius the Great]

Avete,

Is it known if Romans used thread of gold in their
tunics ? I'm unaware of any literary or archeological
evidence to suggest that they did.

But I do remember reading about a female Frankish
tunic from the late Merovingian or early Carolingian
period that did have gold thread woven into the cuffs.

Is the practice of using gold thread even known in
antiquity or is it a medieval innovation ?

I ask because I'm not sure whether to use trimming
that has shiny 'gold' thread patterns for my 6th century
Byzantine tunic.

Thanks in advance.

~Theo

[Carlton Bach]

Gold threads were used fopr embroidery a long time before they were used for weaving so it is easilys possible (I'mn working with L. von Wilckens: Die textilen Künste von der Spätantike bis um 1500, Munich 1991 here). Wilckens mentions gold threads excavated in Palmyra that likely date to before the fifth century (Chapter III throughout). Pekridou-Gorecki (Mode im antiken Griechenland, Munich 1989) mentions only gold and silver wire in classical times and notes that most gold was used as applique, not embroidered or woven in.

There is mention of gold in applique patc hes and trim in the liber ponmtioficalis between the 6th and 9th centuries, so it was not an unknown practice in Byzantine times. There is no reference to the technique used in these texts.

Archeological finds suggest that the technique for producing gold thread was developed in Late Antiquity. Wilckens mentions wool-core thread finds from Rome under St Peter's and linen core dating to the 4/5 century AD from Egypt. The shirt I think you're referencing would be that of Queen Balthildis, buried with her in Chelles abbey in 680/81. I can't surrently find any references to the material used, but the gold thread is embroidered onto a linen fabric here.

Generally, I would suggest using it only in a placement where it beimg embroidered is a credible explanation, and sparingly. Of course the relative paucity of find reflects the fact that gold thread is recycleable (burn the fabric, melt out the gold), but even so it appears to mave been uncommon.

By way of practical advice, gold thread of high quality is to be had wherever Greek or Russian Orthodox churches are. Just find out where they shop for theirs.

[Theodosius the Great]

Thanks for the detailed background, Carlton.
It seems the technology was available to produce gold thread
well before gold threaded tunics came into vogue. No doubt the
Persians probably introduced the fashion to the world.

The shirt I think you're referencing would be that of Queen Balthildis, buried with her in Chelles abbey in 680/81.

It seems I was a bit off in my dating.
I just checked again and found that the tunic I saw was that of Queen Arnegunde (died 570 AD).
It was in a book I read called "The Franks" by Edward James (1988).

• Here is a photo of the gold embroidery from her sleeves.
  
• And here is a drawing of her well preserved tunic.

The age of the tunic is perfect for my purposes.

Generally, I would suggest using it only in a placement where it beimg embroidered is a credible explanation, and sparingly. Of course the relative paucity of find reflects the fact that gold thread is recycleable (burn the fabric, melt out the gold), but even so it appears to mave been uncommon.

The trimming I had in mind for my 6th century tunic is shown in the attachment below.
It's quite a lot of gold and probably only suitable for the Emperor.
Maybe I can used them for the cuffs alone and try to pass as an officer.

By way of practical advice, gold thread of high quality is to be had wherever Greek or Russian Orthodox churches are. Just find out where they shop for theirs.

There's an idea ! I'll investigate that next.
BTW, around the year 1000 A.D. there seems to be a lot of gold thread used in both Imperial and Liturgical vestiments based on contemporary artwork.

A laudes point for you
~Theo

[hoplite14gr]

The Buzantines were supposed to be masters of the "gold thread art".
Gold embroideres gramnets sent by Byzantine empersors as diplomatic gifts were sometimes instrumental in the diplomatic process.

The artist were sought after by various courts after the Byzantine colapse.
In 1445 a a royal degrees survises stating that Andronikos amd Alexios Effomatos living in Criplegate Enagland can work as producers of goldthread.

Kind regards

[Barbara]

There are many examples for goldthreads in the early late roman world, for example in Trier: http://www.uni-bamberg.de/iabd/denkmalp ... /reifarth/ (very interesting project, but unfortunately only in german). Nicole Reifarth, who is examinating the sarcophages from St. Maximin in Trier, found in one of the sarcophages a short piece of goldthread that was woven into a fabric.
A interesting article is by Annemarie Stauffer, Goldgewebe aus spätrömischen Bestattungen bei Köln, published in the Archeological Textiles Newsletter, Issue 45, 2007.

A common (or better: good preserved and common to my, 'cause I live in Cologne) form of goldthread-fabric may be the woven gold bands of frankish womens graves as they can be seen in Cologne (Römisch-Germanisches Museum, published in the same issue of ATN)

So heavily embroidered textile like the one of St. Arnegunde is very rare and only found in royal context, as you already said. I don't think it would be suitable for a "normal" officer, even if you do only the cuffs.
Do you want to use real goldthread?
The modern and cheap immitation of goldthread has unfortunately mostly a horrible optic if you compare to the originals...
:|

But a nice idea, nevertheless!

[Theodosius the Great]

There are many examples for goldthreads in the early late roman world, for example in Trier: http://www.uni-bamberg.de/iabd/denkmalp ... /reifarth/ (very interesting project, but unfortunately only in german).

Neat ! I'll have it translated to English using Google. Hopefully I can get the gist of it :wink:

Ah, so gold thread does date to Late Roman times. Thank you for confirming Carlton's input, Barbara.

So heavily embroidered textile like the one of St. Arnegunde is very rare and only found in royal context, as you already said. I don't think it would be suitable for a "normal" officer, even if you do only the cuffs.

Yes, doubts have been growing in my mind about this as well. I will probably choose non-metalic thread.

Do you want to use real goldthread?

I've not yet had the chance to investigate the feasibility of using real goldthread. It sounds awfully expensive and impractical but I may be wrong. If you know something about using real goldthread to make a reconstruction I would welcome any information, Barbara.

Thank you, again.

~Theo