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LOT 0463
Egyptian Coptic Textile Fragment Group
CIRCA 5TH CENTURY A.D.
1 3/8 - 2 3/4 in. (10 grams total including package, 34-71 mm).
Comprising: fragment of an orbiculus in brown and yellow coarse linen and wool, S torsion, embroidered with a running animal (lion?); fragment of a tablion with representations of fishes, white and green wool on linen. [2, No Reserve]
ProvenanceAcquired 1970s-1996.
Property of a North American collector.
London collection, 2016.
Cf. Del Francia Barocas, L., Antinoe, Cent’anni dopo, catalogo della mostra, Firenze, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, 10 Luglio – 1 novembre 1998, p.87, for similar textiles.
FootnotesParticularly interesting is the presence of fish, which are part of depictions of marine life, in keeping with the classical Graeco-Roman tradition. Stylistically, Hellenistic naturalism is evident in these compositions in the rounded shapes of fish and marine animals, which create an effect of movement.
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AUCTIONS:
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Egyptian Faience Mummy Bead Mask
Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £286
A restrung beadwork panel of small glazed composition beads in various colours representing a mummy face mask with false beard. 43.3 grams, 13.2 cm wide
Ex London gallery, 1990s. -
Very Large Egyptian Expedition Lithograph of the Hypogees Papyrus Manuscript from Thebes
Early 19th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Proof etching on laid paper of plate 67 from Vol.II of Description de l'Égypte : ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'expédition de l'armée française. entitled Thèbes. Hypogées. Manuscrit sur papyrus. 233 grams, 110 x 67 cm
From the collection of a North American priest. Acquired between 1981-1996. Property of a North American collector.
Produced between February 1802 and 1830 on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte; published between 1809 and 1828. Just 1,000 copies were distributed to various institutions, printed on laid paper with an 'Égypte ancienne et moderne' watermark. The book is subtitled Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expédition de l’Armée française, publié par les ordres de Sa Majesté l’Empereur Napoléon le Grand (Gathering of observations and discoveries which were made in Egypt during the expedition of the French army, published on the orders of His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon the Great). It was the world's first encyclopedia devoted exclusively to the remains of ancient Egypt. The plates of this book are the first to present the archaeological sites of Thebes (Luxor). The papyrus manuscript was recovered from an underground tomb chamber (hypogeum). The vignette in this scene depicts the weighing of the deceased's heart on scales before Osiris's tribunal. If the heart (on the left) did not balance with Maat (on the right), it would be devoured by Ammut, the fearsome creature seated on a shrine before Osiris. -
Egyptian Mummy Glass Eye
1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,300
Comprising a blue glass frame with extended tear duct, inset with a white sclera and a large black pupil. 8.02 grams, 62 mm
Acquired in London or Japan, early 1980s. Property of a London, UK, gentleman.
