Ancient Egyptian and
Greek Looms

BY

H. LING ROTH

(Keeper).

WITH 38 LINE BLOCK AND ONE COLLOTYPE ILLUSTRATIONS.

BANKFIELD MUSEUM, HALIFAX
APRIL 1913

CONTENTS

Preface.
I. Egyptian Looms.
II. The Greek Loom.
III. Conclusion.

PREFACE.

Halifax, which is situated in the heart of the great textile trade of Lancashire and Yorkshire, has been a home of the woollen manufacture since the earliest time, and it is only meet, therefore, that its museum should possess specimens of the tools used in the early days of spinning, weaving, and cloth making generally. In spite of the considerable progress made towards that end, many typical specimens are still wanting, and, while we have plenty of material for the study of weaving in various parts of the world, we are lacking in everything relating to the industry in Ancient Egypt and Greece. Failing specimens I have had recourse to illustrations, but the Egyptian ones published by Cailliaud, Rosellini, Sir J. G. Wilkinson and Lepsius, contradict each other in many important points, so that those who study them find them practically useless for an understanding of the art as carried on in the Nile lands. Fortunately, last year, Mr. N. de G. Davies, the well-known Egyptologist, hearing of my difficulty, very generously placed some of his copies of tomb drawings at my disposal, and with this invaluable help I have been enabled to complete the present paper, and to lay before Halifax students some new details of manufacture bearing upon their staple industry.

H. Ling Roth.

Bankfield Museum, Halifax.
April 1913.

I. Egyptian Looms.

HORIZONTAL LOOMS.[A]

IN the tomb of Chnem-hotep, at Beni Hasan, there is a wall painting of a horizontal loom with two weavers, women, squatting on either side, and at the right in the background is drawn the figure of the taskmaster. There are also figures represented in the act of spinning, etc. For the present we are concerned with the weaving only.

Fig. 1.—Horizontal Loom, Tomb of Chnem-hotep, from the illustration in Cailliaud’s Recherches, etc. Same size as published.

Of this illustration, there appear to be six reproductions. We have first of all, Fig. 1, that of Fred. Cailliaud (Recherches sur les Arts et Métiers, etc., Paris, 1831) with illustrations of drawings made by himself in the years 1819 to 1822. His publication was followed by Fig. 2, that of Sir J. G. Wilkinson (Manners and Customs, etc., London, 1837). Mr. John Murray, whose house has published Wilkinson’s work from the first edition to the last, informs me that a few of the drawings were made by George Scharf, afterwards Sir George Scharf, Keeper of the National Portrait Gallery, but that most of them seem to have been made by Joseph Bonomi, the well known Egyptologist. Wilkinson’s woodcut, although clearly and neatly done, is on a very small scale; nevertheless it admits of a fair comparison with those reproduced on a larger scale.

Fig. 2.—Horizontal Loom, Tomb of Chnem-hotep, from Sir J. G. Wilkinson’s Manners and Customs, London, John Murray, 1878, Vol. I., p. 317. Same size as published.

Fig. 3.—Horizontal Loom, Tomb of Chnem-hotep, from the illustration in Rosellini’s Monumenti (Monumenti Civili), Plate XLI. Reduced one-fifth lineal of size published.

Fig. 4.—Horizontal Loom, Tomb of Chnem-hotep, from Lepsius’ Denkmäler. Same size as published.

Fig. 5.—Horizontal Loom, Tomb of Chnem-hotep, from Prof. Percy Newberry’s Beni Hasan, I. Plate 29. Same size as published.

After him, Fig. 3, N. F. J. B. Rosellini began the publication of his great work (I Monumenti dell’ Egitto, Pisa, 1832-1844). The similarity between the comparatively few drawings published by Cailliaud and the very large number published by Rosellini is very great. It is of course quite possible Rosellini may have made use of some of Cailliaud’s drawings. Five years after Rosellini’s publication came that of C. R. Lepsius (Denkmäler, Leipzig, 1849), Fig. 4, his drawings having been made in the years 1842 to 1845. Since the time of Lepsius until quite recent years I can trace no further copying until we get the illustration,