4th c. gold and purple shroud goes on display

The large gold and purple textile discovered in a tomb of the early Christian church of Saint-Pierre-l’Estrier in Autun, France, in 2020 has been fully excavated and is on display for the first time.

The excavation of the paleochristian necropolis unearthed more than 230 burials dating from the beginning of the 3rd century to the end of the 5th century A.D. The earliest of the burials must have included some of the first Christians of Autun, converted in the late 2nd century. According to ancient sources, the first bishops of Autun were buried in the necropolis, but it wasn’t exclusively Christian. Several of the burials belonged to the city’s elite and contained objects of high prestige, include a set of 4th century amber pins that is the only of its kind ever found and an extraordinary diatretic glass that is one of only 10 known in the world and the only one found in France.

Fragments of textiles woven with gold threads were found in six of the tombs, five of them lead coffin burials and one wooden coffin burial. The lead coffin in Grave 47 contained the largest textile remains. The bones had decomposed in the six inches of soil in the coffin, but the remains of a textile woven with gold metal threads and purple fabric covered the entire length of the coffin, minus where the head would have been. It was removed in four clods of soil about 10×10 inches in dimension for excavation in a conservation laboratory.

The clods were refrigerated to keep mold from forming and the fibers from degrading. They were CT scanned to give archaeologists a map of what they would be excavating in the soil. They were then dried gradually for a year to make it possible to remove the fabric. It took another year of painstaking excavation with tweezers just to extract the textile fragments from the first of the four clods.

All four clods have now been excavated, giving archaeologists a clearer picture of the fabric in Grave 47, enough to make a reconstruction. It was either a tunic or a shroud, probably 5×10 feet, and must have completely wrapped the deceased.

The gold cloth is probably one of the largest antique pieces found to date. It is made using threads made up of a textile core around which gold strips are wound. Severely degraded by repeated infiltrations inside the coffin, it now has almost no organic material and only the gold threads are preserved. Some samples are extremely fine with 100 threads per centimeter (i.e. a diameter of 100 microns per thread) and gold strips approximately 300 microns wide). These gold threads are evidence of a luxurious fabric made with precision and meticulousness. The presence of curvilinear patterns indicates the use of the tapestry technique, the strips of gold thread fabric being incorporated into a purple-dyed fabric. They draw geometric and curved elements probably corresponding to a plant and floral theme.

The gold fabric of Autun has gone on display in its entirety for the first time at the Musée du Quai Branly. The By the Thread of Gold: The Art of Dressing from the Orient to the Rising Sun exhibit runs through July 6, 2025.