Coptic Art (Medieval Studies)

Introduction

Christianity must have come to Egypt in the 1st century CE, probably through converts in the Jewish community of Alexandria, at that time still an international center of culture and science, where philosophical and religious movements from the entire Mediterranean were received with interest. Christian theology could develop here, inspired by Platonism and the Jewish philosopher Philo, whose writings were at the basis of the Christian concept of Christ being the Logos (the Word of God, both in the creation and in incarnation of God the Son). Clement and Origen, leaders of the Alexandrian catechetical school, stood at the cradle of Christian theology, but in spite of their enormous immaterial contribution, nothing tangible has remained of early Christian culture in Egypt. This is not surprising: strong eschatological beliefs and the necessity to keep a low profile in the face of periodic persecutions must have played a role in this. Only after the Edict of Milan (313 CE) did the young religion step out of the shade and were the first official churches built. After the edict of Theodosius of 391, which forbade pagan cults and made Christianity the official state religion, Christian culture became a dominant factor in Roman culture and also in Egypt. But the introduction of a new religion did not mean a total transformation of culture, merely a combination of continuity and modification in certain cases—for instance, in funerary customs. Until 451, Christian Egypt was part of the catholic church (“catholic” in the meaning of general, undivided). Then, a decade-old dispute over the human and divine natures of Christ came to a climax at the Council of Chalcedon. The result was a schism between Alexandria and Constantinople that put the majority of the Egyptian Christians into an isolated position, since they refused to give up support for their excommunicated patriarch. The patriarchate of Alexandria was now in open conflict with Constantinople, which led to the emergence of a national (Coptic) church in the course of the 6th century. The Coptic Church has been considered monophysite by the pro-Chalcedonian churches, a not entirely correctly used term, based on the supposition that it accepted only the divine nature of Christ. This position of Egypt as a breakaway province of the Byzantine Empire lasted until 618, when Egypt was overrun by the Sassanids. After the country was liberated by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius in 629, a new confrontation between the Coptic Church and Constantinople seemed inevitable. The Arab conquest of Egypt in 640 meant a real change in culture. For the following centuries it would be under Muslim rule, which meant a gradual reduction of Christianity to a minority position, while the Egyptian language, known as Coptic in its last phase, and Greek were replaced by Arabic. The Coptic Church, in other words, has never been under patronage of the state, and as a result its art is of a more modest and simple character than Byzantine art.

Defining Coptic Art

The term “Coptic art” needs some further explanation, both for the adjective and the substantive. When dealing with a bibliography we will use it as a synonym for “material culture from Christian Egypt.” The use of the term “Coptic,” however, can be misleading. It has been derived from the Arabic qubṭ, qibṭ قبط, which was used after the Arab invasion of Egypt (640 CE) to designate the indigenous population, which was in majority Christian. The term was a corruption of the Greek Αἰγύπτιος (Aiguptios, Egyptian), which, in turn, was a corruption of ḥwt-k3-ptḥ (“Hut-ka-Ptah”), literally “Estate (or House) of the Spirit of Ptah,” a name for the capital, Memphis. Although the Arabic term literally means no more and no less than “Egyptian,” it was also used to contrast the Christian population to the Muslims, and as such it has received its religious connotation. The fact, however, that the adjective “Coptic” did not exist before 640 makes it, strictly speaking, confusing to use for the Christian culture of Egypt of earlier times. Nevertheless, it is used for the combination script and language as it was used in Egypt from the end of the 3rd century, the language being the last phase of what was spoken under the pharaohs but now is written with the Greek alphabet. When it comes to church history, the word Coptic is used only for the national Egyptian church that started developing its own hierarchy and traditions in the course of the 6th century, after the schism that resulted from the Council of Chalcedon (451 CE). Christianity is detectable in religious architecture, in its decoration and furnishings, and in funerary contexts. In profane applied arts it is very often impossible to decide whether the maker or owner/user was a Christian or not. For just a short period, Christianity has had a cultural monopoly in Egypt (between 391, the edict of Theodosius, and the Arab conquest in 640), and part of this period has seen the confrontation of Chalcedonian and anti-Chalcedonian (Coptic) Christians. Strictly speaking, therefore, it is hardly defendable to apply the term “Coptic” to secular arts and crafts, unless a clear connection with the anti-Chalcedonian church can be made. The term “Coptic art” has been used for over a century, and only recently have certain authors started avoiding it in favor of terms such as “Christian art from Egypt.” Although Coptic culture continues to the present day, within the framework of this article we will concentrate on the period before 1250 CE, which marks the start of the Mamluk period and its repression of Christian culture. The last monumental achievements, especially in mural painting, date from the 13th century. See Zaloscer 1991.

Zaloscer, Hilde. Zur Genese der koptischen Kunst: Ikonographische Beiträge. Stichwort Kunstgeschichte. Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 1991.
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In this concise volume, containing a number of essays concerning various aspects of what is generally called Coptic art, the author discusses questions concerning the transition of Late Antique to Christian art in Egypt and whether we can speak of Coptic art at all.
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Reference Works

No specific reference works concerning Coptic art exist so far. Atiya 1991 covers the total field of history and culture, and most of the entries on art and architecture have been written by authorities in the field.

Atiya, Aziz S., ed. The Coptic Encyclopedia. 8 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1991.
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A general reference work that covers Coptic history, culture, art, and architecture, written both by foreign and Egyptian (Coptic) scholars as well as Coptic clergymen. In a number of cases this has resulted in entries that clearly reflect opinions and views of the Coptic Church. This point has been criticized as a form of bias by some. An online edition of the Coptic Encyclopedia is accessible online. This web-based edition is currently being updated and expanded.
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General Handbooks

A good general handbook on Coptic art is difficult to find, both in the sense that all the titles given here are out of print, and that none of these books give an up-to-date state of the art. Badawy 1978 is to be preferred, in combination with Effenberger 1976 for those who read German. Du Bourguet 1968 and Wessel 1963 could still be used as a first introduction but are of historiographical rather than art-historical value.

Badawy, Alexander. Coptic Art and Archaeology: The Art of the Christian Egyptians from the Late Antique to the Middle Ages. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1978.
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Badawy offers a wide scope of Coptic material culture: both religious and civic architecture (where he even discusses military architecture from the Roman period), sculpture, and graphic and minor arts, from the 3rd to the 13th centuries. Both text and illustrations offer a representative cross section of Coptic culture.
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Du Bourguet, Pierre. L’art copte. Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 1968.
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In this introductive book the author deals with architecture and decorative and applied arts of the Christian era until the 12th century. Useful as a first acquaintance with the field but outdated in its details. Translated into English as The Art of the Copts (New York: Crown, 1971).
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Effenberger, Arne. Koptische Kunst: Ägypten in spätantiker, byzantinischer und frühislamischer Zeit. Vienna: Tusch, 1976.
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Effenberger offers a thorough overview of sculpture and applied arts (architecture is discussed only sideways) and also provides a useful historiographical introduction and a historical framework. Mural painting receives little attention.
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Wessel, Klaus. Koptische Kunst: Die Spätantike in Ägypten. Recklinghausen, West Germany: Aurel Bongers, 1963.
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A general introduction in the material culture of Christian Egypt until approximately the 7th century. The author deals with painting, sculpture, and textiles. In some respects the book is outdated or incomplete—for instance, when it comes to archaeological discoveries made in more-recent times.
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Exhibition and Museum Catalogues

Apart from the above-mentioned general handbooks, exhibition catalogues can be useful for the student, since they have been made for a general but interested public and offer introductions, short articles and often good and updated bibliographies. Buschhausen, et al. 1995; Delpont 2000; and Falck 1996 are good examples of this. Catalogues of the permanent collections of museums tend to be of a more specialist level. An exception is the catalogue of Berlin in Effenberger and Severin 1992, which is highly readable as an introduction to early Christian art and contains some important Coptic material. The most important collection of Coptic art, at the Coptic Museum in Cairo, still does not have a complete, up-to-date catalogue, and the volumes published so far (the collection of metal objects in Bénazeth 2001, cited under Metalwork; the collection of icons in Van Moorsel 1991, cited under Icons) are aimed at the specialist. Gabra and Eaton-Krauss 2006 gives a good cross section through the collection and can be read as an introduction to Coptic art in general. Du Bourguet 1964, Nauerth 1989, and Renner 1982 are examples of catalogues of important textile collections that can also serve as an introduction to the specialism of textiles.

Buschhausen, Helmut, Ulrike Horak, and Hermann Harrauer. Der Lebenskreis der Kopten: Dokumente, Textilien, Funde, Ausgrabungen. Mitteilungen aus der Papyrussammlung der Nationalbibliothek in Wien 25. Vienna: Hollinek in Kommission, 1995.
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Catalogue of an exhibition in the Austrian National Library held from 12 May to 26 October 1995. An important part of the exhibition was dedicated to papyri and ostraca, apart from textiles and a section dedicated to the Austrian excavations at Deir Abu Fana.
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Delpont, Éric, ed. L’art copte en Égypte: 2000 ans de christianisme; Exposition présentée à l’Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, du 15 mai au 3 septembre 2000 et au Musée de l’Ephèbe au Cap d’Agde, du 30 septembre 2000 au 7 janvier 2001. Paris: Institut du Monde Arabe, 2000.
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Exhibition catalogue from the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. A wide range of objects, arranged according to theme and introduced and described by a number of renowned scholars in the field. Useful as a general introduction to Coptic art.
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Du Bourguet, Pierre. Catalogue des étoffes coptes: Musée National du Louvre. Paris: Éditions des Musées Nationaux, 1964.
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Catalogue of the collection of Coptic textiles in the Louvre, one of the major collections in the world, by one of the leading French Coptologists. The datings in this catalogue have long been used as guidelines for other collections. The publication of De Moor and Fluck 2007, on dating methods (see under Textile and Costume), has provided material for reopening a discussion on dating textiles.
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Effenberger, Arne, and Hans-Georg Severin. Das Museum für spätantike und byzantinische Kunst. Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1992.
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Catalogue of the Early Christian and Byzantine collection of the Staatliche Museen in Berlin, containing a number of important Coptic objects, such as the icon of bishop Abraham and the so-called tombstone of Shenoute.
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Falck, Martin von, ed. Ägypten, Schätze aus dem Wüstensand: Kunst und Kultur der Christen am Nil; Katalog zur Ausstellung. Wiesbaden, Germany: Reichert, 1996.
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Important exhibition catalogue with major pieces from a large number of European collections (among which are Staatliche Museen, Berlin; Louvre, Paris; British Museum, London; Royal Museums, Brussels); elaborate bibliography.
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Gabra, Gawdat, and Marianne Eaton-Krauss. The Treasures of Coptic Art in the Coptic Museum and Churches of Old Cairo. Cairo and New York: American University in Cairo Press, 2006.
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A folio-sized volume by the former director of the museum (Gabra) that has its value as a pictorial supplement to the scholarly publications on objects from the museum that are often illustrated in black-and-white only. Good introduction to Coptic culture; includes a useful bibliography.
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Nauerth, Claudia. Die koptische Textilien der Sammlung Wilhelm Rautenstrauch im Städtischen Museum Simeonstift Trier: Katalog. Trier, West Germany: Städtisches Museum Simeonstift, 1989.
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Catalogue of the important collection of textiles in the Simeonstift Museum, Trier, Germany, formerly the private collection of Wilhelm Rautenstrauch.
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Renner, Dorothee. Die koptischen Textilien in den Vatikanischen Museen. Pinacoteca Vaticana Kataloge 2. Wiesbaden, West Germany: Steiner, 1982.
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Dorothee Renner is one of the leading scholars in the field of Late Antique textiles from Egypt and is responsible for the catalogues of a number of important collections. The collection of the Vatican Museum is one of these and gives a representative cross section through the variety of so-called Coptic textiles.
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Painting

So far, no publications are available that cover the field of Coptic painting in general. This is understandable, since new discoveries of mural paintings are being made regularly, and the study of Coptic icons is still in an early stage. Rassart-Debergh 1981 takes a first step in sketching a general image of Coptic painting, but, not without reason, the author calls her article “an approach.” Pasi 2008 seems to be more ambitious, but the first volume touches only marginally on icons and other kinds of painting and concentrates on mural painting.

Pasi, Silvia. La pittura cristiana in Egitto. Vol. 1, Dalle origini alla conquista araba. Girasole Arte. Ravenna, Italy: Edizioni del Girasole, 2008.
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The author gives a short introduction to the roots of Christian painting in Egypt and in the following chapters gives a detailed account of the earliest-known mural paintings, the necropolis of el-Bagawat, and the monastic sites of Saqqara and Bawit. A valuable contribution to the history of Christian painting, unfortunately available only in Italian.
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Rassart-Debergh, Marguerite. “La peinture copte avant le XIIe siècle: Une approche.” In Miscellanea coptica. Edited by Hjalmar Torp, J. Rasmus Brandt, and Leif Holm Monssen, 221–285. Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 9. Rome: Giorgio Bretschneider, 1981.
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A concise but useful introduction to Coptic mural painting from before the 12th century, including paragraphs on icons and book illustration.
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Mural Painting

Most of the Christian mural paintings in Egypt are to be found in a monastic context: churches of monasteries and prayer niches in monks’ cells. Many of these paintings have been published and discussed in a wider context, such as in the excavation reports by Jean Clédat, Jean Maspero, and Etienne Drioton of the monastic site of Bawit. For these publications, see Clédat 1999 and Maspero and Drioton 1931–1943, both cited under Monastic Culture. The paintings excavated by James Quibell in Saqqara and only summarily discussed in his report (see Quibell 1912, cited under Monastic Culture) are studied more methodically in Rassart-Debergh 1981, even where many of them did not survive, as was the fate of so many archaeological remains excavated in the early 20th century. A serious interest in Coptic mural painting emerged only in the second half of the 20th century, and Jules Leroy was the first to start a documentation project of Coptic wall paintings. His two volumes in the series La peinture murale chez les coptes (see Leroy 1975) give detailed descriptions and photographic documentation. He was succeeded by Paul van Moorsel, who published Volumes 3 and 4 in the series (see Van Moorsel 1995). The value of Van Moorsel’s contribution to the study of Coptic mural painting lies in his iconographical approach, based on thorough theological and patristic knowledge. A volume of collected studies by him (Van Moorsel 2000) is almost indispensible for a better understanding of Coptic iconography. Van Loon, one of his students, has taken over this approach (Van Loon 1999). Her study of the iconography of mural paintings in the sanctuary is thorough and important. Since the 1990s, several new discoveries have been made of mural paintings in churches, hidden under younger layers, which give us new insights into the history of Coptic painting. The cleaning and restoration of the paintings in St. Antony’s monastery yielded a number of older paintings, and Bolman 2002 gives important additional information to the publication by Van Moorsel of the same paintings. Similarly, in the church of Deir al-Surian, as reported in the second volume of Leroy’s three-volume set, published in 1982 (see Leroy 1975), a stratification of four layers of mural paintings, hitherto unknown, was discovered, adding important information to our knowledge (Innemée, et al. 1998).

Bolman, Elizabeth S., ed. Monastic Visions: Wall Paintings in the Monastery of St. Antony at the Red Sea. Cairo: American Research Center in Egypt, 2002.
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During the 1990s the paintings of this monastery were cleaned and restored, revealing details hitherto unknown, as well as evidence for an earlier layer of paintings in the oldest part of the church. This volume contains contributions relating to the paintings, by several authors.
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Innemée, Karel C., Peter Grossmann, Konrad D. Jenner, and Luk Van Rompay. “New Discoveries in the al-Adrâ Church of Dayr as-Suryân in the Wâdî al-Natrûn.” Mitteilungen zur christlichen Archäologie 4 (1998): 79–103.
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In 1991 an 8th-century painting of the Annunciation was discovered in Deir al-Surian. This was the first of a number of paintings, found on three subsequent layers and ranging in date from the 7th to 13th centuries, to be brought to light. The article gives a preliminary report of this surprising discovery.
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Leroy, Jules. La peinture murale chez les Coptes. Vol. 1, Les peintures des couvents du désert d’Esna. Mémoires Publiés par les Membres de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire 94). Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire, 1975.
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Continued in Vol. 2, Les peintures des couvents du Ouadi Natroun (Cairo : Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire, 1982). The first two volumes of a series that intended to describe in detail the most important mural paintings in Coptic Egypt. Detailed documentation and elaborate photographs and copies in watercolors. Series continued in Van Moorsel 1995.
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Rassart-Debergh, Marguerite. “La décoration picturale du monastère de Saqqara: Essai de reconstitution.” In Miscellanea Coptica. Edited by Hjalmar Torp, J. Rasmus Brandt, and Leif Holm Monssen, 9–124. Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 9. Rome: Giorgio Bretschneider, 1981.
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Many of the paintings excavated in Saqqara by Quibell (see Quibell 1912, cited under Monastic Culture) were left there and were gradually lost. The article gives a reconstruction of the painted decoration on the basis of Quibell’s documentation.
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Van Loon, Gertrud J. M. The Gate of Heaven: Wall Paintings with Old Testament Scenes in the Altar Room and the Hurus of Coptic Churches. Uitgaven van het Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul 85. Leiden, The Netherlands: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1999.
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A thorough iconological study of Old Testament themes in their context and their symbolical meaning in the liturgy. The author analyzes a number of themes such as the sacrifices of Abraham and Jephtah as prefigurations for the death of Christ and therefore as symbolic images of the Eucharist. A crucial study for the understanding of painting as an integrated part of religious architecture.
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Van Moorsel, Paul. La peinture murale chez les Coptes. Vol. 3, Les peintures du Monastère de Saint-Antoine près de la Mer Rouge. Mémoires Publiés par les Membres de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire 112. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire, 1995.
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Continued in Vol. 4, Les peintures du Monastère de Saint-Paul près de la Mer Rouge (Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire, 2002). Van Moorsel continued the series started by Leroy, with the paintings of St. Antony’s monastery, a remarkably well-preserved iconographical program from the 13th century. A thorough iconographical analysis. The fourth volume, dedicated to the 13th- through 18th-century mural paintings of St. Paul’s monastery, was published posthumously.
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Van Moorsel, Paul. Called to Egypt: Collected Studies on Painting in Christian Egypt. Publication of the De Goeje Fund 30. Leiden, The Netherlands: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 2000.
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A republication of articles—some in English, some in French—from various journals, in which the meaning and the iconography of Coptic apse compositions is a recurring theme. Van Moorsel was one of the specialists on Coptic iconography, but some of his articles appeared in less current journals. This volume makes them well accessible.
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Icons

Surprisingly little has been written about Coptic icons. This may have to do with the fact that only a handful of icons and related objects from the early period (5th to 7th centuries) survive, and that the vast majority dates back to the 18th century and later, leaving a mysterious gap of several centuries. Marie-Hélène Rutschowscaya (Rutschowscaya 1992, Rutschowscaya 1998) published a number of icons from the Louvre collection, and comparable icons were published in catalogues such as Effenberger and Severin 1992 (see under Exhibition and Museum Catalogues). The late icons were long considered too late by archaeologists and too provincial by art historians. A pioneer in the field of research and conservation of Coptic icons is Zuzana Skalova, who published a general introduction that is indispensable to anyone interested in the field (Skalova and Gabra 2006). Only fifteen years earlier, Van Moorsel 1991 was published, consisting of the author’s catalogue of icons in the Coptic Museum, which is equally useful but has been out of print for many years. Guirguis 2008 shows how in more-recent years a serious interest has grown for a long-neglected subject.

Guirguis, Magdi. An Armenian Artist in Ottoman Cairo: Yuhanna al-Armani and His Coptic Icons. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2008.
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An in-depth monograph on the life and work of an Armenian icon painter, placing his work in the context of Coptic art and the Armenian community in Cairo.
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Rutschowscaya, Marie-Hélène. La peinture copte. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1992.
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A concise guide to the collection of icons and other specimens of Late Antique and early Christian painting (paintings on wood and textile as well as fragments of mural painting) in the Louvre. A good introduction to Christian painting from Egypt, for a general public.
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Rutschowscaya, Marie-Hélène. Le Christ et l’abbé Ména. Solo 11. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1998.
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A concise monography on one of the best-known early Coptic icons, representing Christ and abbot Menas. From the 6th and 7th centuries only a handful of Christian icons have survived, and among them are several Coptic ones. This icon is probably the most famous of these.
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Skalova, Zuzana, and Gawdat Gabra. Icons of the Nile Valley. 2d ed. Cairo: Egyptian International Publishing, 2006.
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A useful study by one of the few experts (Skalova) on Coptic icons. Includes a catalogue of selected icons and a good bibliography. Zuzana Skalova has been working in Egypt as an icon restorer, and this, combined with her art-historical background, allows her to analyze icons both from a technical and an iconographical point of view. The only real handbook on Coptic icons so far.
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Van Moorsel, Paul, ed. Catalogue général du musée copte: The Icons. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities, Leiden University, 1991.
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First part of the general catalogue of the Coptic Museum in Cairo, dealing with its collection of icons. A useful reference work (in English, in spite of the bilingual title) with illustrations of unfortunately poor quality.
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Book Illustration

Although countless Coptic manuscripts survive, little has been written about the illustrations in them. The majority has no illustrations, and a small percentage has marginal embellishments such as accentuated capitals at the beginning of chapters or paragraphs. Jansma 1973 provides a study on such ornaments, specifically in manuscripts from the White Monastery. Cramer 1964 offers a less specialist but more readable introduction to Coptic book illustration. Leroy 1974 chooses a different approach, presenting a selection of more or less well-known illustrated manuscripts and giving an iconographical analysis. A more up-to-date study would be welcome, but in more-recent years only Atalla 2000 has appeared, worth mentioning only for its good-quality color illustrations.

Atalla, Nabil Selim. Illustrations from Coptic Manuscripts. Cairo: Lehnert & Landrock, 2000.
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An album that deserves attention mainly for the several hundred useful illustrations (in color) of illuminations from Coptic manuscripts, unpublished in most cases, from the collections of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, the Coptic Museum, and several churches and monasteries throughout Egypt. The codicological information is limited and the art-historical commentary is poor.
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Cramer, Maria. Koptische Buchmalerei: Illuminationen in Manuskripten des christlich-koptischen Ägypten vom 4. bis 19. Jahrhundert. Beiträge zur Kunst des Christlichen Ostens 2. Recklinghausen, West Germany: Bongers, 1964.
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A general introduction into Coptic book illustration, with chapters on geometrical ornaments, decorative animal motifs, and figurative illumination, as well as on bookbindings. The only book of its kind so far, and regrettably never updated or translated into English.
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Jansma, Nanke S. H. Ornements des manuscrits coptes du Monastère Blanc. Scripta Archaeologica Groningana 5. Groningen, The Netherlands: Wolters-Noordhoff, 1973.
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A typological analysis of marginal ornaments in Coptic manuscripts, on the basis of books from the library of the so-called White Monastery near Sohag in Upper Egypt. Books from this once-famous monastic library are now to be found in public collections all over the world. A detailed study, primarily of use for the specialist.
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Leroy, Jules. Les manuscrits coptes et coptes-arabes illustrés. Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 96. Paris: P. Geuthner, 1974.
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A catalogue of a number of Coptic and Christian Arabic manuscripts from Egypt, with an analysis of their illustration. A concise but serious study into the art of Christian book illustration in Egypt before the 15th century.
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Coptic Bookbinding

In the first centuries of our Common Era, the codex or book, consisting of pages, gradually replaced the volumen, the scroll that had been in use for centuries. The earliest material evidence for the codex (leaves and fragments of leaves) dates back to the 2nd century, but the first surviving bindings are from the 3rd and 4th centuries. The development of the codex coincides with the rise of Christianity, and it may not be a coincidence that Christian books from Egypt are among the first codices. The new medium of the codex must have been attractive for the upcoming religion. The fact that so many codices were preserved in Egypt is due to the desert climate, which is favorable for the preservation of organic material. The earliest and most famous bookbindings are the ones from Nag Hammadi, where in 1945 a library of Gnostic texts were discovered in a jar by local farmers. The bindings, all consisting of a single quire in limp leather, can be dated to the second half of the 4th century. Another important find of manuscripts with bindings was made near the village of Hamouli in the Fayyoum oasis in 1910. This library, which must have belonged to the local monastery of St. Michael, consisted of some sixty-odd bindings, the earliest one dating to 823 CE. Sixty of them were acquired by the collector John Pierpont Morgan in 1911 and are still in his New York library. These two collections, together with leather bindings from various origins, give an excellent representation of what is generally called Coptic bookbinding. One important handicap in our knowledge of the technique of these bookbindings is that most of the manuscripts were taken out of their leather covers soon after discovery, in order to have better access to the texts. It is only in recent decades that scholars such as J. A. Szirmai have made more-thorough studies of the actual sewing technique (Szirmai 1999; Cockerell 1932; Lamacraft 1939).

Cockerell, Douglas. “The Development of Bookbinding Methods—Coptic Influence.” The Library, 4th ser. 13.1 (1932): 1–19.
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In this article the author discusses a number of Egyptian bindings from the British Museum and the Pierpont Morgan Library and compares them to later European bindings, showing the influence that they must have undergone.
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Lamacraft, C. T. “Early Book-Bindings from a Coptic Monastery.” The Library, 4th ser. 20.2 (1939): 214–233.
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A study of a collection of five 6th-century Coptic books, found in 1924–1925 in the neighborhood of Saqqara, possibly originating from the nearby monastery of Apa Jeremia. Three were acquired by A. Chester Beatty; the other two, by the University of Michigan.
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Szirmai, J. A. The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1999.
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A general study of medieval bookbinding, in which the first three chapters are dedicated to the technique of Coptic binding. Special attention is given to the Nag Hammadi codices. An excellent study into the anatomy of Coptic books.
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Woodwork

Woodcarvings from Christian Egypt exist in great variety, and also here, it is not always easy to draw a line between Coptic and late Roman or Islamic. Enss 2005 offers a general introduction, comprising objects both with religious and profane backgrounds but concentrating on the period before 1000 CE. The same is the case for the catalogue of the Louvre (Rutschowscaya 1986), which offers an interesting cross section through different kinds of woodwork. One of the more specific kinds of Coptic woodwork concerns the screens that served for dividing the church interior, primarily used for fencing off the sanctuary but also used as subdivisions of the nave. Bolman 2006 gives a good introduction into the development of the Coptic altar screen. Pauty 1930, although a concise publication, is important because it gives a description of two important screens in their original setting. The importance of Jeudy 2006 is that the author continues where Enss 2005 stops. It is a very well-documented study, useful as an introduction as well.

Bolman, Elizabeth. “Veiling Sanctity in Christian Egypt: Visual and Spatial Solutions.” In Thresholds of the Sacred: Architectural, Art Historical, Liturgical, and Theological Perspectives on Religious Screens, East and West. Edited by Sharon E. J. Gerstel, 73–104. Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Studies. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2006.
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The author sketches the development of the wooden altar screen in the Coptic Church, from its earliest evidence to the Early Modern period.
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Enss, Elisabet. Holzschnitzereien der spätantiken bis frühislamischen Zeit aus Ägypten: Funktion und Dekor. Spätantike, frühes Christentum, Byzanz, Kunst im ersten Jahrtausend, Reihe A: Grundlagen und Monumente 13. Wiesbaden, Germany: Reichert, 2005.
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A thorough study of woodcarvings from Egypt in the early Christian and early Islamic periods, partly covering the same material as Jeudy’s thesis (Jeudy 2006) but concentrating on the period before 1000 CE. A good introduction.
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Jeudy, Adeline. “Le mobilier liturgique en bois au Moyen Âge: Interactions et identité de la communauté copte du Xe au XIVe siècle.” PhD diss., Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris, 2006.
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In her thesis the author deals with wooden furnishings in the church interior; first of all, the altar screen or higab. She gives a catalogue and analysis of the most-important pieces. Second, she analyzes the origin and development of the altar canopy. The third part of the thesis is dedicated to other pieces of wooden furniture. Detailed, thorough, and also useful as an introduction.
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Pauty, Edmond. Bois sculptés d’églises coptes (époque Fatimide). Publications du Musée Arabe du Caire. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1930.
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A study of two important early wooden altar screens (11th century), from the churches of St. Barbara and Abu Sefein in Old Cairo. The documentation is important since the screens from the latter church have been moved and altered since 1930, the year of publication.
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Rutschowscaya, Marie-Hélène. Catalogue des bois de l’Egypte copte. Paris: Ministère de la Culture, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1986.
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Catalogue of woodwork from Christian Egypt, containing a wide range of objects that in some cases can be identified as Christian by their decoration or function (for instance, liturgical furniture). Many other objects are simply to be dated to the period that Christianity was the predominant religion. A considerable number of objects and fragments originate from the excavations at the monastery of Apollo at Bawit (see under Monastic Culture).
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Stone Sculpture

Few publications have been dedicated to Coptic sculpture. Definitions vary on what can be called “Coptic sculpture,” and whereas early publications such as Duthuit 1931 and Beckwith 1963 tend to put the limits very wide and include even tetrarchic sculpture under this heading, the tendency nowadays is to be more cautious. The fact that objects have been made in stone is often not enough reason by itself to study them under the same heading as “sculpture,” and defining what makes them Christian is not always easy. Architectural sculptures from different periods, such as capitals, have often been reused, often in combination with elements made for the building, making it difficult to draw a line between Late Antique and “Coptic.” Severin 1985 (first published in 1977) points out the problems in studying architectural elements. An entirely separate group of sculptures consist of tombstones and funerary sculptures; also here, it is difficult and not always useful to distinguish Christian from non-Christian sculpture, as Thomas 2000 shows. Tomb sculptures are not primarily to be seen as works of art, but primarily as personal documents that give information about individuals and the society they have been living in. Tudor 2011 follows this approach, paying attention not only to the sculpture, its style, and its iconography, but equally to the epigraphy.

Beckwith, John. Coptic sculpture, 300–1300. London: Tiranti, 1963.
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In its very concise text, the author presents Coptic sculpture, in its various appearances, as a provincial offshoot of Hellenistic art that further sinks into primitivism after its isolation from the mainstream church. A rather dated approach, but of some use for the selection of 150 illustrations.
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Duthuit, Georges. La sculpture copte: Statues, bas-reliefs, masques. Paris: G. van Oest, 1931.
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A book that is more of historiographical than art-historical value. The author presents a personal selection of pieces from several collections and also includes imperial sculpture, Late Antique pagan pieces that he considers “Christian in disguise,” and funerary stucco masks without any Christian background.
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Severin, Hans-Georg. “Frühchristliche Skulptur und Malerei in Ägypten.” In Spätantike und frühes Christentum. Propyläen Kunstgeschichte 15. Edited by Beat Brenk, 243–255. Berlin: Propyläen Verlag, 1985.
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A concise introduction to early Christian sculpture in Egypt. Severin is an expert on Late Antique sculpture, especially architectural ornaments, and gives a critical account on style and technique of sculpture in the Christian period, rather than calling it Coptic. Book originally published in 1977.
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Thomas, Thelma K. Late Antique Funerary Sculpture: Images for This World and the Next. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000.
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In this study, the author offers an insight into the craftsmanship of funerary sculpture, produced for commissioners both from pagan and Christian communities, and shows that there is a fluid boundary between these products.
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Tudor, Bianca. Christian Funerary Stelae of the Byzantine and Arab Periods from Egypt. Marburg, Germany: Tectum Verlag, 2011.
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Bianca Tudor provides a comprehensive archaeological and epigraphical study of Christian funerary stelae from Egypt from the 4th to the 14th centuries CE. It shows the gradual metamorphosis of Egypt’s vibrating urban and Hellenized centers into rural and monastic nuclei of local Coptic culture.
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Metalwork

As with the case of textiles and sculpture, it is difficult to determine what can be considered Coptic metalwork. Most objects should be called Late Roman, Byzantine, or Arab (the term “Islamic,” just like “Coptic,” implies religious aspects that are often totally absent). This is the case especially when it concerns objects in museum collections that have been acquired through the antiquities trade. Without provenance or archaeological context, dating and determination can be extremely difficult. And even if objects have been found in situ, there is often no morphological difference among containers, keys, jewelry, etc., that were used by Christians or non-Christians. The most important category of objects that can be called “Christian” is that of liturgical objects such as censers, patens, rhipidia (liturgical fans), procession crosses, and lamps and candlesticks that were made especially for use in churches. Bénazeth 1992 and Bénazeth 2001 give a representative image of the variety in metal objects from the Christian period, illustrated by the two most important collections of so-called Coptic metalwork.

Bénazeth, Dominique. L’art du métal au début de l’ère chrétienne: Musée du Louvre, catalogue du Département des Antiquités Égyptiennes. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1992.
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The author, curator at the Louvre, is one of the leading experts on metal from post-pharaonic Egypt. The collection of the Louvre offers a wide variety of metal objects, both religious and profane, and gives a representative impression of the production of metalwork in Christian Egypt.
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Bénazeth, Dominique. Catalogue général du Musée copte du Caire. Vol. 1, Objets en métal. Mémoires Publiés par les Membres de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire 119. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 2001.
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Catalogue of one of the most important collections of metalwork from Christian Egypt.
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Textile and Costume

The eastern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity saw a shift in taste from monochrome white dress to more and more polychrome and elaborately decorated costume. This is also visible in Egypt: from the 4th century onward, civil dress became more and more colorful. Linen tunics were decorated with ornaments, mostly woven in colored wool. This aspect of everyday life received (too) little attention from art historians and archaeologists for decades. Meanwhile, the interest of private collectors for such textiles stimulated widespread illegal digging in late Roman and Christian cemeteries. Tunics and other garments, wall hangings, and bedcovers were cut into small pieces in order to make more-profitable merchandise. As a result, most of the pieces in private and public collections are isolated ornaments of an unknown provenance. For such collections of textiles, see Du Bourguet 1964, Nauerth 1989, and Renner 1982, all cited under Exhibition and Museum Catalogues. The use of the term “Coptic textiles” and its French and German equivalents is widespread, but also here the adjective “Coptic” should be used with a certain restraint: a limited number of pieces show Christian themes in their decoration, and, so far, too little is known about civil dress codes in late Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic dress to decide whether specific garments were worn by Copts or non-Christians. Rutschowscaya 1990, although titled Coptic Fabrics, gives an overall impression of the materials, themes, and varieties in textiles. Apart from countless fragments of clothing, a number of (fragmentary) wall hangings from Egypt have survived, showing a technical and stylistic continuity from Late Antiquity to the Christian period. Rutschowscaya 1990 pays attention to this aspect, but the best-preserved example of a Christian wall hanging, most probably from a church and of a cultic/devotional character, is the tapestry now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, in Ohio, and is analyzed in Shepherd 1969. The rather recent tendency to pay more attention to textiles in their use and contexts, both in costume and in architectural furnishings, becomes clear in De Moor and Fluck 2009 and De Moor and Fluck 2011. Innemée 1992 focuses on ecclesiastical dress and the development of its morphology, while Pritchard 2006 sketches the development of civil dress. Dating of textiles was problematic as long as C-14 dating required rather large quantities of organic material, but progress in this field also affected the study of textiles, as De Moor and Fluck 2007 shows.

De Moor, Antoine, and Cäcilia Fluck, eds. Methods of Dating Ancient Textiles of the 1st Millennium AD from Egypt and Neighbouring Countries: Proceedings of the 4th Meeting of the Study Group “Textiles from the Nile Valley,” Antwerp, 16–17 April 2005. Tielt, Belgium: Lannoo, 2007.
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The research group “Textiles of the Nile Valley” organizes twice-yearly symposia with specific themes. This volume is dedicated to the problem of dating textiles with C-14 and other methods. Until recently, dating on stylistic grounds was the most common method, since a dated contexts for most textiles is lacking. This, however, has the disadvantage of minimal precision. Developments in C-14 dating offer new possibilities in dating textiles.
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De Moor, Antoine, and Cäcilia Fluck, eds. Clothing the House: Furnishing Textiles of the 1st Millennium AD from Egypt and Neighbouring Countries; Proceedings of the 5th Conference of the Research Group “Textiles from the Nile Valley,” Antwerp, 6–7 October 2007. Tielt, Belgium: Lannoo, 2009.
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Little has been written so far on non-garment textiles. This volume is one of the first scholarly publications that deal with a wide range of furnishings such as bedcovers, wall hangings, and curtains.
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De Moor, Antoine, and Cäcilia Fluck, eds. Dress Accessories of the 1st Millennium AD from Egypt: Proceedings of the 6th Conference of the Research Group “Textiles from the Nile Valley,” Antwerp, 2–3 October 2009. Tielt, Belgium: Lannoo, 2011.
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This volume is dedicated to often-“forgotten” accessories such as shoes and bonnets, which nevertheless form an important part of everyday and festive or ceremonial costumes. Also important for its elaborate bibliography.
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Innemée, Karel C. Ecclesiastical Dress in the Medieval Near East. Studies in Textile and Costume History 1. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1992.
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A study on the basis of texts and representations of the liturgical and monastic dress in the Coptic and other Eastern Orthodox churches. Of certain names for garments in liturgical texts, little could be said about their shape, while representations of costumes are often difficult to interpret. The author tries to couple information from both contexts and sketches a number of morphological developments.
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Pritchard, Frances. Clothing Culture: Dress in Egypt in the First Millennium AD; Clothing from Egypt in the Collection of the Whitworth Art Gallery, the University of Manchester. Manchester, UK: Whitworth Art Gallery, 2006.
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An in-depth study of the Whitworth Art Gallery’s collection of clothing from Christian Egypt, most of which was excavated between 1888 and 1923. The evolution of the shaping and cut of garments, especially tunics, cloaks, and headwear, is traced from the late 3rd century to the 10th century.
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Rutschowscaya, Marie-Hélène. Coptic Fabrics. Translated by Adam Stephenson. Paris: Adam Biro, 1990.
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A general and highly readable introduction. The author deals with weaving techniques, dress and soft-furnishings textiles, and mythological and Christian themes in decorations.
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Shepherd, Dorothy G. “An Icon of the Virgin: A Sixth-Century Tapestry Panel from Egypt.” Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 56.3 (1969): 91–120.
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The so-called Cleveland tapestry is a rare example of a well-preserved Coptic wall hanging or curtain that must have had a function as a cult image in a church. The author gives an iconographical and stylistic analysis of this unique piece.
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Ceramics

The vast majority of ceramic objects, not only in Christian Egypt but in most cultures, are containers for storage, preparing and serving drinks, and foodstuffs. Bearing this in mind, it is difficult to consider them as works of art or to see them as part of religious material culture. It would be more appropriate to talk of Egyptian ceramics from the late Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods, as Ballet 1992 does. Only some specific objects or groups of objects stand out because of their high artistic value or because they originate from a specific religious background, such as religious statuettes and pilgrim’s souvenirs. Kiss 1989 offers a thorough monograph on this subject. For archaeologists, the value of a good system of dated typology of pottery lies in the fact that it helps in dating archaeological contexts. Egloff 1977 is a good example of such a tool for dating. Most of the literature on ceramics from Christian Egypt is of a technical and specialized level and is more archaeological than art-historical in its approach.

Ballet, Pascale. Ateliers de potiers et productions céramiques en Égypte: Actes de la table ronde (Le Caire, 26–29 novembre 1990) organisée par l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale. Cahiers de la Céramique Égyptienne 3. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1992.
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Instead of dealing with the objects themselves, the proceedings of this symposium have the pottery production centers as their subject. This makes it useful to the reader who is interested in a wider context and in the places of origin of ceramics.
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Egloff, Michel. Kellia: La poterie copte; Quatre siècles d’artisanat et d’échanges en Basse-Égypte. Recherches Suisses d’Archéologie Copte 3. Geneva, Switzerland: Georg, 1977.
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The book offers a typology of pottery excavated at the monastic site of Kellia, focusing on 5th- to 9th-century ceramics. The book has become a general reference work on early Coptic pottery, since it couples certain types and shapes to dated contexts, making it a useful instrument for dating and determination.
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Kiss, Zsolt. Les ampoules de Saint Ménas découvertes à Kôm el-Dikka (1961–1981). Alexandrie 5. Warsaw, Poland: PWN, 1989.
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If any kind of ceramic could be called Christian, it is the pilgrim’s flasks from centers of pilgrimage. Abu Mena was the center of the cult of St. Menas from the 4th to the 10th centuries and attracted visitors from all over the Christian world, as far as France and Switzerland. This volume presents a variety of such religious souvenirs found in Alexandria.
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Architecture

Christian architecture in Egypt is limited to just a few categories, of which churches and monasteries are the most important. Here we should again be careful the word “Coptic,” since a number of important monuments date from before the schism of 451 and have continued to function in the hands of the Chalcedonian Church. Grossmann 2002 underscores this, presenting the pilgrimage center of Abu Mena as one of the most important Chalcedonian monuments in Egypt. A characteristic of Coptic churches is their relatively modest scale. Although a few examples can be given of huge buildings (among which are early monastic churches in Upper Egypt), the lack of an imperial or royal patronage has meant that the patriarchate or local communities were mainly responsible for building commissions. Grossmann 1982 gives a detailed account of a group of churches that most surviving Coptic churches belong to. Sheehan 2010 offers a study of a rare complex of buildings with military, civil, and ecclesiastical elements, the late Roman to Christian forerunner of what is now Cairo.

Grossmann, Peter. Mittelalterliche Langhauskuppelkirchen und verwandte Typen in Oberägypten: Eine Studie zum mittelarterlichen Kirchenbau in Ägypten. Abhandlungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Kairo, Koptische Reihe 3. Glückstadt, West Germany: J. J. Augustin, 1982.
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Grossmann is generally considered to be the leading expert on Christian architecture in Egypt. In this volume he discusses one of the most popular types of church common in the 11th–12th centuries—which was based on an elongated plan, roofed with one or more domes—as well as the older types of churches that preceded it. Indispensable for anyone working on Egyptian church architecture.
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Grossmann, Peter. Christliche Architektur in Ägypten. Handbuch der Orientalistik 62. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2002.
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The most comprehensive book on religious architecture in Egypt, dealing both with city/village churches and monastic complexes. The author makes a division according to building types and discusses countless technical details such as construction of doors, roofings, columns, etc.
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Sheehan, Peter. Babylon of Egypt: The Archaeology of Old Cairo and the Origins of the City. American Research Center in Egypt Conservation 4. Cairo and New York: American University in Cairo Press, 2010.
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What is generally known as Old Cairo is in fact a Roman fortress that became one of the early Christian urban centers in Egypt. A study of its origins and development on the occasion of its restoration, in the course of which archaeological details have shed a new light on its history and architecture.
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Monastic Culture

Egypt is, together with Syria, the cradle of monasticism, and the importance of monasteries for the Coptic Church and its culture cannot be overestimated. Hugh Evelyn-White (Evelyn-White 1926–1933) realized this, and his study on the monasteries of Wadi al-Natrun, although dated in a number of aspects, is still a valuable contribution. Excavations that took place at the beginning of the 20th century were often carried out below the modern standards of archaeology, but in spite of this, the reports (Clédat 1904–1916, Maspero and Drioton 1931–1943, and Quibell 1912) are still important because much of the excavated architecture and paintings has been destroyed since their publication. Digging for additional documentation in the excavation archives (Clédat 1999) can add valuable information to this. The site of Kellia, important for early monastic culture, is now lost for the most part, but the reports of Swiss and French excavations offer an important and detailed image of life at the edge of society (Bridel 1986; Kasser, et al. 1967–1972). Walters 1974 may now be outdated in a number of regards, but it might be too early to write a new comprehensive book on monastic archaeology, considering the new material that comes to light every year.

Bridel, Philippe, ed. Le site monastique copte des Kellia: Sources historiques et explorations archéologiques; Actes du Colloque de Genève, 13 au 15 août 1984. Geneva, Switzerland: Mission Suisse d’Archéologie Copte de l’Université de Genève, 1986.
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These congress proceedings contain a variety of contributions that shed light on many aspects of monastic life in Kellia: organization, everyday life, devotion, and economy. Extremely useful as an introduction to the monastic culture of Kellia.
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Clédat, Jean. Le monastère et la nécropole de Baouît. 2 vols. Mémoires Publiés par les Membres de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire 12, 39). Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1904–1916.
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The monastic site of Bawit in Middle Egypt has the remains of a semi-coenobitic monastery named after its founding father, Apollo. During its heyday, the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered an elongated stretch of desert, approximately three kilometers long. Excavations started in the beginning of the 20th century. This is the first excavation report.
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Clédat, Jean. Le monastère et la nécropole de Baouît. Edited by Dominique Bénazeth and Marie-Hélène Rutschowscaya. Mémoires Publiés par les Membres de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire 114. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1999.
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Much of the documentation by Clédat concerning the excavation of Bawit was left unpublished until Bénazeth and Rutschowscaya published this useful addition of Clédat’s excavation reports.
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Evelyn-White, Hugh G. The Monasteries of the Wadi ’n Natrûn. Edited by Walter Hauser. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1926–1933.
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Vol. 1, New Coptic Texts from the Monastery of Saint Macarius (with an appendix on a Copto-Arabic ms., by G. P. G. Sobhy); Vol. 2, The History of the Monasteries of Nitria and of Scetis; Vol. 3, The Architecture and Archaeology. Results of the expedition by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to document the four still-inhabited monasteries in Wadi al-Natrun, initially under direction of W. J. Palmer-Jones and later under Hugh Evelyn-White. A detailed and erudite account of the monasteries as they were before the renovations of the 1960s took their toll. Republished as recently as 1973 (New York: Arno).
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Kasser, Rodolphe, Maria-Krystyna Błocka, and Sébastien Favre. Kellia. 2 vols. Recherches Suisses d’Archéologie Copte 1, 2. Geneva, Switzerland: Georg, 1967–1972.
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Vol. 1, Kellia 1965: Topographie génerale, mensurations et fouilles aux Qouçoûr ’Îsâ et aux Qouçoûr el-’Abîd, mensurations aux Qouçour̂ el-’Izeila; Première expédition archéologique de l’Université de Genève au site copte appelé Kellia, en Basse-Égypte occidentale; Vol. 2, Kellia: Topographie. A well-documented and detailed survey report of two groups of hermitages within the region of Kellia. Indispensable for getting an impression of the vast archaeological site.
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Maspero, Jean, and Etienne Drioton. Fouilles exécutées à Baouît. 2 vols. Mémoires Publiés par les Membres de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire 59. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1931–1943.
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Maspero and Drioton continued the excavations at Bawit, bringing to light more richly decorated cells. Only a few of these paintings were saved, making these excavation reports the sole source of information concerning these works of art.
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Quibell, James Edward. Excavations at Saqqara (1908–9, 1909–10): The Monastery of Apa Jeremias. Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1912.
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Report of the excavations at the important monastic site of Jeremias’s monastery at Saqqara. As in the case of Bawit, excavations were done without all-too-thorough documentation. Vulnerable remains left in situ have been destroyed since then. The black-and-white photographs in this publication are all that remains in a number of cases. See also publications on the paintings from Saqqara under Mural Painting.
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Walters, Colin Christopher. Monastic Archaeology in Egypt. Modern Egyptology. Warminster, UK: Aris & Phillips, 1974.
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An overview of the material culture of Coptic monasteries, arranged in chapters according to the subject: architecture, painting, stonework and woodwork, aspects of daily life, and burial customs. Useful as an introduction; outdated in certain points by later research results.