The Silk Lampas in the Binding of the Great Meteoro Codex 301: Material Evidence on Late Byzantine Textile Culture

In the library of the Monastery of the Transfiguration (Great Meteoro) is a Byzantine manuscript, the binding of which is decorated with a patterned silk fabric. By contextualising this late medieval remnant, this article aims to address the issue of late Byzantine weaving beyond the mainstream narrative of decline. This is because its weaving structure and association with Palaiologan and Serbian ornament perhaps points to a local workshop in tune with the wider artistic context of its time. Although a relatively modest finding, the Great Meteoro fabric raises important questions regarding the prevailing views on late Byzantine textile culture.