ARTISTIC CRAFTSMANSHIP
FROM ANCIENT EGYPT

PREVIEW OF THE WORKS OF ART AUCTION ON 26 MARCH 2026

Coptic textiles from the 3rd to the 10th century CE testify to the mastery of Egyptian artisans. Most surviving Coptic textiles originate from burial sites and consist primarily of garments and liturgical vestments; church furnishings have also been preserved.

Our March auction presents a monumental hanging of museum quality from a German private collection. The richly detailed figures and ornamentation point to an early phase of Christian iconography. Textiles of comparable refinement are extremely rare. The archaeologist Dr Klaus Parlasca (1925–2020) investigated its provenance, and identified Sheikh Abadeh in Middle Egypt as the probable findspot. He further suggested a connection to a fragment in the Detroit Institute of Arts. Both pieces may have been produced in the same workshop, perhaps even originally as pendants. A further close relationship exists with a curtain textile in the Abegg Stiftung in Riggisberg, Canton Bern. Like our example, the Bern ‘pendant’ was in a Lucerne auction of 1959/60.