The Egyptian textiles included in the MAK collection are not only numerous, but also particularly well-preserved and of high quality. The so-called Coptic textiles date from the third to the eighth centuries. Ornaments, figures or scenes were woven into the linen ground fabric with colored wool. The Coptic textiles were by no means exclusively used by Egyptian Christians (Copts), and not all of the textiles were produced in Egypt. In fact, their regions of origin extend from the Mediterranean all the way to India or China. Today these evidences of textile art from late antiquity give us a vivid impression of the textiles used both for festive occasions and in everyda life and help us to draw conclusions about what home interiors and clothing were like.

Dedicated to Alois Riegl to his 100. day of death.

Curator Angela Völker, MAK Textiles and Carpets Collection

Publication "FRAGILE REMNANTS. Egyptian Textiles of Late Antiquity and Early Islam. Catalogue with a supplement "Technical Analyses"". Ed. by Peter Noever, with contributions by Angela Völker, Regina Hofmann-de Keijzer, Veronika Mader and Anke S. Weidner. Technical Analyses: Regina Knaller and Christine Stührenberg. German/English, 200 pages, with approx. 130 colour illustrations, Hatje Cantz Verlag / MAK 2005, EUR 29,80