New late 3rd early 4th Century tunic

[Cheyenne]

Hullo all,

I thought I'd post a picture of a new tunic made for Mike boyd. He wanted a tunic which would reflect a level of embellishment for a lower ranked Miles of the early 4th century. I took some of the ideas about crossover of tunic types from the 3rd and 4th century mortuary and military contexts and attempted to highlight a crossover in the styles with a design which could have been suitable for a garment in between everyday work wear and the 'sunday best' or parade tunic. I have used some of the Simon James imagery of simple embellishment for the tunic of the Miles at Dura and also some of the more common shapes used in woven clavii and shield designs of the period.

This is a fully hand stitched tunic and hand appliqued and embellished decoration, the blue embroidery thread is dyed with indigo.

[attachment=559]IMGP1806.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=560]IMGP1807.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=561]IMGP1813.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=562]IMGP1814.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=563]IMGP1815.JPG[/attachment]





[attachment=558]IMGP1805.JPG[/attachment]

[Cheyenne]

and the hat...


[attachment=564]IMGP1816.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=565]IMGP1818.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=566]IMGP1819.JPG[/attachment]

[Virilis]

Wow, great work Claire !

[M. Demetrius]

Gorgeous! The linen lining will make that cap more comfortable down here in Texas, where we have already had three days over 90F. I guess summer starts in April this year....

[Antoninus05]

Hi Claire, I know I've told you personally, but publically I just have to say what a fantastic job....so authentic and beautiful. I will be proud to wear it, Thanks again, Mike

[Joze Noriker]

Hi!
Very nice tunic!
Can you tell me, where are the evidences for the embroideries in the form of the hearth? I don't know the Roman's textile evidences very well (i am sorry).
Joze

[Robert Vermaat]

Hi Joze,
Apart from a lot of artistic evidence, 4th c. tunics have been found in Egypt.
I can refer you to the excellent work from our fellow-member Graham Sumner:
Sumner, Graham (2003): Roman Military Clothing 2: AD 200 - 400, Osprey Men-at-Arms 390, (Osprey, Oxford).

[Cheyenne]

Hi,

Sorry for the delay, I have been working long hours this past week and have not had a chance to reply, I used some of the reference work from the Simon James Dura reports which suggest such decorations were most likely used in a re-occuring pattern on 3rd and 4th century tunics along with other textiles for both sexes. In fact the most re-occuring pattern on later Roman textiles is the heart. It is seen in various forms on at least 50% of the fabrics from the collections of Egyptian textiles from Manchester referring to late Roman Egypt. Usually they also have some additional adornment inside the heart shapes and these shapes make up borders in some instances.

There is a very cute little childs tunic in Berlin which has clavii running the full length of the tunic both front and back with a jacquard type pattern of interconnecting hearts.

Grahams book also makes mention of the use of such patterns - I'm personally of the opinion that it is one of the most widely used basic patterns in late roman decoration.