Research project P4S/251/FashionNil (Research action P4S)
The collections of the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels, include more than 600 textiles from Egypt, dating from Late Antiquity to the Early Islamic period. The majority of these pieces were acquired through antiquities dealers until the early 20th century, when large quantities of material were unearthed in Egypt and subsequently transported to Europe and beyond. Partially published by Isabella Errera in her seminal 1916 catalogue Collections d’anciennes étoffes égyptiennes, this body of material still requires renewed, comprehensive, and updated study.
Since the 1980s, art-historical research on specific objects, along with technical analyses, has been undertaken. More recently, selected pieces have also been subjected to radiocarbon dating and colour analysis, often in the context of restoration campaigns or multidisciplinary research projects. To date, approximately 80% of the collection has been examined through technical analysis. However, these data—largely unpublished—still call for an overall reassessment and a synthetic study of techniques and fashion trends. This constitutes the primary objective of the FashionNil project, which focuses on clothing and furnishing textiles from Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt. A catalogue raisonné will be produced, alongside a comprehensive update of the museum’s public database.
In its second phase, FashionNil aims to develop a new layout for the Egyptian galleries, including a redesigned display. The objects—both garments and furnishings—will be recontextualised within their original setting, namely the Egyptian domestic environment of Late Antiquity and Early Islam, and presented alongside small domestic artefacts (tableware, accessories, etc.). In this respect, the project aligns with the ongoing reorganisation of the Late Egyptian galleries. FashionNil seeks to highlight both change and continuity in society and everyday life by showcasing textile and non-textile collections from the Egypt, Art of Eastern Christianity, and Arts of the Islamic World sections, through a series of display cases covering the period from the 4th to the 10th century.
