LOT 0408

Late Coptic Panels Decorated with Two Standing Saints

17TH-18TH CENTURY A.D.

25 5/8 x 19 3/4 in. (1.05 kg total, 65.2 x 50 cm).

Two wooden panels showing two standing nimbate figures, probably Saint Daloucham on the right, wearing a red veil, and a bearded figure on the left, probably Saint Pachomius, holding a small cross and prayer beads; mounted on a fabric-covered backing board.

Leclere, Marseille, 20 April 2013, no.99.
Private collection, UK.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12184-221677.

Cf. Atalla, N.S., Coptic Art, Wall Paintings, Peintures Murales, L'Art Copte, Cairo, 1989, fig. p.119 (paintings from the Monastery of Thomas, Achmim); Zibawi, M., L’Arte Copta, L’Egitto Cristiano dalle origini al XVIII secolo, Milano, 2003, figs.289-290.

Stylistically, the icon can be compared to the paintings in the Church of St. Thomas in Achmim, which could also help identify one of the two saints. Especially important in this regard are the parallels between the robes of the saints and those of Saint Thomas in the church’s Doom, with long folds coloured with identical colours; the floral decoration of the sleeves of the inner tunic, and the faces of the Saints, with oval and widened eyes. The influence of Ethiopian paintings of the same period is evident in the Church of Achmim, like in this icon. The painting preserves the distant memory of medieval paintings, through a Coptic cultural humus whose vestiges are still today in Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia. In the Church of Achmim are represented the martyrs of Achmim, i.e. Saint Pachomius and his sister Saint Daloucham. It is not impossible that one of the represented ascetic monks could be Pachomius. It is also probable that the icon was part of a wider group, representing also other important characters of the Coptic Church.