Maria Luise Fill and Robert Trevisiol, passionate about fabrics, have spent 25 years building, with expertise and taste, this extraordinary collection of Coptic textiles. The collection comprises over two hundred pieces of Egyptian textiles, dating mainly from between the 2nd and 10th centuries AD. These include fragments of clothing, mainly tunics, and interior fabrics such as cushion covers, bedspreads, curtains and tablecloths. The pieces - 220 in total - enable us to discover the great diversity of techniques and styles, an extraordinary palette of colours and extremely elegant fabrics, decorated with superb motifs, characters and appliqué. Amongst the most remarkable are pieces of purple linen from the Roman period. Often intricate, the fabric designs teem with detail and astound by their subtle colours. The iconographic repertory is extremely rich and varied, with the various types of design intermingling in compositions that are usually rather symmetrical. Wishing to ensure the future of their collection of Coptic textiles and make it accessible to the general public, Maria Luise Fill and Robert Trevisiol decided to donate it to the King Baudouin Foundation. The Foundation has entrusted the collection to the Royal Museum of Mariemont, where a different selection of pieces of fabric will be exhibited every six months, so as to present the whole collection between now and 2019. The collection is also undergoing scientific research led by a team of international experts. Their research will be published and presented in the form of a catalogue raisonné. To mark the donation and its presentation to the Mariemont Museum, and whilst waiting for completion of the catalogue raisonné, the Foundation has published an accompanying book in which collectors and experts talk about the textiles.
