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Details
LOT 0425
Egyptian Coptic Textile Fragment
CIRCA 7TH CENTURY A.D.
12 1/8 in. (103 grams total including package, 31 cm).
Large fragment of tapestry, comprising two segmenta, in red granate wool and coarse linen, on green wool background, S-Z torsion, embroidered with stylised birds, palmettes and other vegetal ornaments, the borders of both segmenta decorated with meanders. [No Reserve]
Provenance
Acquired 1970s-1996.
Property of a North American collector.
London collection, 2016.
Literature
Cf. Каковкин, А.Я. (Kakovkin, A.Ya.), Коптские ткани из фондов Эрмитажа.Каталог выставки (Coptic textiles from the Hermitage collection. Exhibition catalogue, in Russian), Leningrad, 1978, p.34, no.56, for a similar textile.
Footnotes
This fabric was probably part of a wall tapestry or of a large garment. In 7th century A.D., the stylisation was always more evident on the embroidery of the Coptic textiles, especially when the Arab conquest banned the imagery of the Graeco-Roman world. The decoration was mostly concentrated on geometric ornaments or images of stylised animals.
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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 the underground chambers (hypogea). The original papyrus is now held in the Bibliothèque Nationale (1-19), Paris (Papyrus Cadet).
