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Ernst Kühnel (1882-1964)

ERNST KÜHNEL (1882-1964) A German scholar. He was director of the Islamic Department of the Berlin Museum (1931-1951); professor at the University of Berlin (1935-1954); consultant to the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C.; and member of many academies. He worked in all branches of Islamic art, notably on the connection between Coptic and Islamic art, …

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Coptic Textiles

Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

COPTIC TEXTILES [Throughout their long history, Egyptians have practiced the art of weaving. The Coptic period has yielded enormous numbers of textiles displayed in many museums and private collections all over the world. These textiles have come mainly from archaeological excavations of burial grounds and akwam (mounds containing antique objects). The pieces attest a variety …

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Biblical Subjects In Coptic Art

Bible / By Arsanious Adel

BIBLICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART [The term “biblical subjects” here designates subjects taken from the Old Testament; subjects from the New Testament are grouped with the Christian subjects as a whole (see CHRISTIAN SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART). Biblical subjects are far from rare in Coptic art, although they are not as frequent as they are, for …

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Greek Language

History / By Armia FAYEZ

GREEK LANGUAGE Between Greeks and Egyptians, contacts of essentially commercial nature are attested for the Mycenaean period (c. 1580-1100 B.C.) and the ninth-eighth century B.C. Unambiguous evidence for Greek presence in Egypt is available from the seventh century B.C. on. Psammetichos I (664-610 B.C.) gave the Ionian and Carian mercenaries (the “bronze men” of Herodotus …

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Qus

Places / By Armia FAYEZ

QUS A town known in the era of the pharaohs as Ksa or Ksi. From the Greek period onward (third century B.C.) it was known as Apollinopolis Parva. It evolved by taking advantage of the activities of QIFT, which the Greek kings had made the starting point for roads linking the Nile Valley and the …

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Glass, Coptic

Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

COPTIC GLASS The glass of the Coptic period—third to twelfth centuries—was the heir to a long tradition of glassmaking in Egypt. While Coptic glass exhibited some regional variations, it did not differ substantially from glass in neighboring areas. Glass was manufactured in Egypt from about 1500 B.C.; it reached its acme of beauty in the …

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Metrology, Coptic

Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

METROLOGY, COPTIC In stone and textile workshops, Coptic craftsmen probably used sample books with favorite patterns and wooden stencils in order to reproduce certain patterns many times. Both samples and stencils require a general system of measurements, and stonemasons ordered their quarry blocks according to standard sizes. Some measurements are taken from third- to ninth-century …

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Mythological Subjects In Coptic Art

Heritage, Culture / By Armia FAYEZ

MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS IN COPTIC ART The ancient civilizations of the Middle East abounded in myths, which expressed sacred truths in words. Mythological subjects were a fertile source of inspiration for artists. As one civilization succeeded another in the same area, the newer mythology gradually superseded the old, and the iconography changed accordingly. But elements of …

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Nubian Textiles

Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

NUBIAN TEXTILES The famous Coptic textiles of Egypt, with their elaborate woven patterns taken from Christian and classical themes, were not made in Nubia. In the earliest part of the medieval period, when Egypt was still weaving with flax and wool, the Nubians were using cotton almost exclusively. Cotton made its appearance in Nubia sometime …

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Islamic Influences On Coptic Art

Heritage / By Armia FAYEZ

ISLAMIC INFLUENCES ON COPTIC ART The effects of Islam on Coptic art from the Muslim conquest of Egypt onward. There can be no absolute appraisal of such one-sided artistic development, for ever since the conquest, there has been an interaction of Muslim and Coptic art. Techniques developed by Muslim craftsmen, such as luster painting in …

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