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Collection of five written and sixteen engraved funerary markers, in Greek, Demotic and Coptic, manuscripts and inscriptions on wood [Egypt, second to sixth century AD.]
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
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Description
- wood
21 wooden pieces, including: (a) the coffin marker of Dioskoros, in Demotic, 100mm. by 50mm., 5 lines in cursive hand in black ink on front and 6 on reverse, collection label ‘1’ on reverse, faded and with small scratches, second century AD.; (b) coffin inscription in Demotic, 100mm. by 30mm., 2 lines in cursive hand in black ink, rubbed in centre of panel, collection label ‘2’ on reverse, second century AD.; (c) coffin label, probably in Greek, 110mm. by 20mm., 2 lines in cursive hand in black ink, faded in places, collection label ‘3’ on reverse, second or third century AD.; (d) large coffin inscription of Hesyschius produced for his father, Chies, 110mm. by 50mm., 4 lines in half-uncial script, in notably good and legible condition, collection label ‘4’ on reverse, second century AD.; plus another cruder manuscript and sixteen carved funerary inscriptions, the largest 210mm. by 130mm., the smallest 100mm. by 50mm., all with scratches and flaws concomitant with age, all in shelves in fitted cloth case
Catalogue Note
From the collection of Martin Bodmer (1899-1971) of Geneva and acquired from him by H.P. Kraus. Thence to the Schøyen Collection (MS.196), and sold privately in 2010.
These are labels which were attached to mummified bodies by a cord, and identify the deceased (often also giving information on his or her relatives, their age at time of death and the place they lived) while the corpse was being transported to the necropolis. The larger examples here were most probably also intended to function as funerary steles. About 2500 examples are recorded, and they are a valuable resource as a form of accidental census of the inhabitants of Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt. They have recently been the subject of a great deal of scholarly interest and a mummy label database is being set up by the Oriental Institute of Chicago University and CSIC, University of Madrid.