Sahidic Coptic Fragment
Sahidic Coptic Fragment
Egypt
9th to 10th Century A.D.
Ink & Papyrus
H:24cm W:24cm
£45,000
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A papyrus fragment featuring a previously unknown apocryphal narrative written in Sahidic Coptic. The fragment features two partial columns of text, with 18 and 21 lines of clear script in black ink. While the fragment itself has been dated to 9th-10th Century, the text itself is probably much earlier, dating to not long after the Council of Calcedon (451 A.D.). The contents of the text are based mainly on the story of the crucifixion and death of Christ, as told in the Gospel of John. Although there are several similar apocryphal texts in Coptic, this fragment seems to be unique and, therefore, the only record of a lost text from a formative period of Christian dogma.
The text reads as follows:
‘[…] they also sought to kill Lazarus9 because of what Pilate said.10 And amidst all these things, they came from the governor (ἡγεμών), each one telling his lie. When they came to the place where they were hanged, the sun rose again, so that they might pursue11 (διώκω) the body (σῶμα). He ordered (κελεύω) the four assassins […5-6 lines damaged…] eat [them] […] unless (εἰ μή τι) […] holy, so that they should put him in the tomb (τάφος). The other thing they had done was not out of compassion, but (ἀλλά) because they did not think that he would rise. When they broke the legs of the thieves (λῃστής) who were hanging on the wood with him […] the [hammer], thinking to break his legs like (ὡς) a robber, and they found out that he gave his (last) breath. They were full of anger (θυμός) against him, because he had escaped from their hands and from the pain of the hammers. But (δέ) one of those standing by had a spear (λόγχη) in his hand, and he thrust it into his (col. 2) [side]. Immediately, water and blood came out and flowed over his garment and upon the wood. And (δέ) those who were standing by were astonished at what had happened to him, saying to one another, “This man is indeed (ἀληθές) a divine son! Surely, it never happened that blood came out of the dead […]’
Sahidic was the primary dialect of the Coptic language in the pre-Islamic period. Books of the Old Testament were translated into Egyptian dialects from the Alexandrian Greek version – the complete Sahidic texts of some of the books survive today, as well as a large number of fragments representing most of the canonical books and some of the deutero-canonical books also. The first translation of the New Testament into Sahidic took place at the end of the second century in Upper Egypt, where Greek was less widely understood. Some notable Sahidic Bible manuscripts include the Crosby-Schøyen Codex, British Library MS. Oriental 7594, and Michigan MS. Inv 3992.
Papyrus plants (Cyperus papyrus) grew abundantly in the marshes of the Nile Delta and low-lying areas of the Nile valley during Ancient Egyptian times. It had both symbolic and practical import, with amulets of the tjufy hieroglyph (representing the papyrus plant) worn for protection and health. The papyrus was also the heraldic plant of Lower Egypt. Papyrus stalks were used to craft boats, boxes, baskets, sandals, and ropes, and the lower part of the plant could be roasted and eaten. Strips of the pith found inside the stalk were used as the material for writing papyri. The pith was laid down in layers and dried under pressure, before being shaped into rolls that could be left intact or cut into sheets. The strips, generally arranged in two perpendicular layers, are what gives papyrus its distinctive striped appearance. Many documents written of papyrus have been recovered from ancient Egypt, due to preservative qualities of the dry, arid climate of the deserts.
Previously with Maurice Nahman (1868-1948), Cairo and Paris, from at least 1948.
Private Collection of Bernard Lemoine (b. 1937), Paris until 2003, then Normandy (accompanied by French cultural passport 235938).
ALR: S00240817, with IADAA Certificate, this item has been checked against the Interpol database.
Maurice Nahman (1868-1948) was born in Cairo to banker Robert N Bey and Sarina Rossano. He began working as a cashier at Credit Foncier Égyptien in 1884 and was promoted to Head Cashier in 1908. In 1924 Nahman retired to focus on his gallery full-time. His interest in antiquities began at a young age, and he began dealing in art in 1890. In 1913 he purchased 27 Madebegh Street (now Sherif Street), a vast palazzo of Arab style, which held a large gallery where he displayed his antiquities – the building later known as ‘Casa Nahman’. Though mostly recognised as a dealer of ancient Egyptian antiquities, Nahman also dealt in high-quality Coptic and Islamic artefacts.
Through his half a century of daily experience with Egyptian antiquities, Nahman became an expert in identifying forgeries, and his opinion was sought out by many specialists. As advertised on his calling card, Nahman supplied objects to many major museums, including the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the British Museum, the Musée du Louvre, the Museum of Fine Arts in New York, and the Museum of Berlin. His gallery guestbook includes the likes of Chester Beatty, Hagop Kevorkian, Bernard von Bothmer, Maurice de Rothschild, and John Rockefeller.
Nahman was also a prolific collector of papyri and, alongside Dr. David L. Askren, was the main channel for the export of papyri from Egypt into America after World War I. The British Museum, the British Library, Brummer Gallery, and the Michigan Papyrus Collection all purchased papyri from Nahman.
A premature obituary for Nahman was written by Belgian Egyptologist Jean Capart in 1947, as a result of an incorrect rumour that Nahman had died (Chronique d’Egypte, 1947, 22:43). Capart praised Nahman as ‘le plus grand marchand d’antiquités égyptiennes du monde’. This obituary was republished after Nahman’s death, in the same issue of Chronique d’Egypte as Capart’s own obituary. After Nahman’s death in 1948, his son Robert continued the antiquities business until he passed in 1954. Two large posthumous sales of the Nahman collection took place after Robert’s death.
Bernard Lemoine (b. 1937) was born in Paris in 1937. Although little inclined to study, he was a deeply curious child and began an eclectic collection, featuring paintings, drawings, engravings, old books, stamps, postcards, art objects, fossils, shells, prehistoric tools, old toys, and boat models. He spent his holidays in the port of Grandcamp in Normandy, and his nautical interest is clear from his collecting habits. He became interested in art when his father took him on Thursday afternoon trips to the museums of Paris, and through a literature professor who gave him a complimentary course in ‘beauty’: he had his students create a panorama of historical artists, architects, composers, and writers along the walls of his classroom. Lemoine also became friends with the son of the artist Michel Seuphor, and through visiting him discovered Seuphor and his friends’ abstract works. At the age of nineteen, Lemoine began a career as a surveyor. Lemoine made connections on his travels, including Raphaël Manchon, who became the Curator of the Baron Gérard Museum in Bayeux in 1946.
At about twenty-five, Lemoine became friends with an antiques dealer in the Batignolles district of Paris, which cemented his taste for antiquities. Lemoine made his first purchases here, of a Louis XV desk, a sixteenth century Japanese Buddha, and several paintings. Lemoine took delight in discovering and handling the objects in his collection, closely examining their details, ensuring their authenticity, and retracing its history with the seller. After he was introduced to framing techniques, Lemoine bought cubic metres of material, frames, drawings, engravings, and red chalks and devoted himself to creating sophisticated frames for his pieces, using his surveyor’s skills. In 1998, he began gradually purchasing a superb collection of ancient Greek ceramics that was being sold by the widows of a private collector of Greek art.
In 2003, Lemoine left Paris for Normandy and established his collection in a beautiful eighteenth-century mansion. He also set up a workshop in there to continue producing frames.
