Here's another minor conundrum. The photograph below is from James Graham-Campbell's book The Vikings. It depicts a textile find from Lund that Graham-Campbell refers to as a "gold-embroidered silk, perhaps from Byzantium, found in Lund."
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| From "The Vikings," page 55, No. 22 |
And that's the conundrum. So far as I can tell from the photograph, there is no embroidery on that textile! It looks to me as though it has had gold tablet-woven braids sewn to it. But nothing like modern embroidery (or even Anglo-Saxon embroidery, which was quite common during the period) seems to be present. So I've been wondering: is this the wrong Lund find? Are there traces of embroidery that I simply cannot detect in this particular photograph? Was Graham-Campbell mistaken or misinformed?
This is the only reference I've ever found to the "Lund embroidery." Any additional information (or better photographs) would be greatly appreciated.
EDIT: This textile reminds me a bit of the pieces from Mammen, which are now believed to be the surviving ends of long ribbons used to fasten a cloak. I wonder if the Lund piece might have served similar function.
EDIT: This textile reminds me a bit of the pieces from Mammen, which are now believed to be the surviving ends of long ribbons used to fasten a cloak. I wonder if the Lund piece might have served similar function.
