Fragment of textile, 20th c.

Fragment of textile, unfinished, 1st half of the 20th century, I-Sant’Antioco. Private property (MS Inventory 54).

Sea silk on a light background, technique unclear: a pelliccia? or a pibionis? Could it be for a child’s cap?

Or could it be the pattern that Italo Diana mentioned in his list for the 1939 exhibition in Sassari: “un campione di tessuto di bisso, lavorato come l’orbace, che le antiche spose del Sulcis usavano per farsi il grembiale del costume di gala”? (in English: a sample of byssus fabric, worked like orbace, which the ancient brides of Sulcis used to make the apron of their gala costume’?) Orbace is a thick, felt-like wool fabric from Sardinia, which was used for shepherds’ coats and, under fascism, for soldiers’ coats. Grembiale means apron – the context is difficult to understand.

This textile fragment was first shown at the exhibition on Italo Diana in May 2019.