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LOT 0449
Egyptian Mounted Coptic Textile with Running Hounds
CIRCA 6TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.
23 1/4 x 9 5/8 in. (163 grams, 59 x 24.5 cm).
Comprising a large fragment with a vertical band (clavus) from a garment, woven in linen and green, blue, yellow and red wool, embroidered with circular patterns filled with vegetal figures and arabesques, alternating with two parallel rows of running animals (hounds?), edged by a red border, a further band of foliage decoration. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceAcquired 1970s-1996.
Property of a North American collector.
London collection, 2016.
Cf. Wulff, O. & W.F. Volbach, Spätantike und koptische Stoffe aus ägyptischen Grabfunden in den Staatlichen Museen Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum / Ägyptisches Museum Schliemann-Sammlung, Berlin, 1926, no.9676, p.96, for similar textile.
FootnotesTapestry technique on natural linen. It is highly probable that this tapestry was part of a long decorated tunic, a clavus running vertically on the breast and on the back of it, and having a parallel clavus on the other side. Tunic decoration conformed to a specific layout with the back mirroring the front. Matching bands called clavi ran on either side of the neck. They could be full length, like our specimen, or stop above the waistline.
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AUCTIONS:
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Large Egyptian Composition Shabti for Pa-di-Osiris
Late Period, 26th-30th Dynasty, 664-343 B.C.Estimate: £8,000 - 10,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £4,000
Of mummiform type and decorated with a blue-green glaze; inscribed for a priest named Pa-di-Osiris, whose mother’s name is Sed-irt-binut; the shabti wearing a striated tripartite wig and long plaited divine beard; holding a pick in the left hand, the right hand holding a hoe and the cord of a seed bag hanging over his left shoulder; the face expertly modelled with carefully rendered cosmetic lines around the eyes, narrow eyebrows, and slightly smiling lips giving it a serene expression characteristic of the finest ushabtis of the period; standing on an integral plinth from which a plain back pillar terminating at the base of the wig extends; twelve horizontal rows of hieroglyphic inscription, the Sixth Chapter of the Book of the Dead; accompanied by a custom-made display base. 248 grams, 19.5 cm high (410 grams total, 23.5 cm high including stand)
Acquired on the Geneva art market, 1980. Swiss collection, early 1980s until 2000. UK private collection, 2000. Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11802-206400.
The epithet 'true of voice' following the mother’s name, but not that of the owner, is a rather infrequent arrangement in shabti/ushabti inscriptions but can be found on other fine examples from this period. Pa-di-Osiris’s title is unusual, but may belong to the cult of the god Shu whose name is sometimes followed by the epithet, 'he who supports heaven'. The text contains Schneider’s version VIIA of The Book of the Dead Chapter 6. -
Egyptian Alabaster Alabastron
Third Intermediate Period-Late Period, 1069-332 B.C.Estimate: £400 - 600 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £200
The piriform vessel with rounded base, two integral lug handles to the neck; fractured above the neck. 139 grams, 97 mm high
Acquired in Europe before 1992. -
Egyptian Large Portion of Coptic Tunic
Circa 5th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
The upper frontal part of a child's garment, decorated on both sides with purple wool and linen stripes (clavi), running vertically on both sides of the tunic, and ornamented with running animals (hares), the edges of each clavus with crenellated border; selvedged on the upper part of the tunic and with a fringed lower border. 750 grams, 70 x 79 cm
Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016.
Tunic decoration conformed to a specific layout with the back mirroring the front. Matching bands called clavi ran on either side of the neck. They could be full length, like in our specimen, or stop above the waistline.
