The Coptic Museum ,Woodwork

 

The Coptic Museum ,Woodwork

 

 

Egypt lacks good quality wood for the most part, which has always made it a valuable commodity. During the Pharaonic Period find wood, and especially ebony, was imported from the south (Kush, or Nubia and Punt) and cedar from Lebanon and Syria. During the Roman and Byzantine Periods, Egypt was much less prosperous then in much of the Pharaonic Period. Therefore, one might expect that fine imported wood should have been used mainly in Alexandria, but it is known, however, that indigenous wood such as tamarisk, acacia, sycamore, lebbakh, jujube and willow were widely and skillfully used by Coptic carpenters, and that imported woods, such as box, cedar, ebony liquidambar, olive and pine were employed for fine and important works. The main centers of Coptic carpentry were Babylon (a section of Old Coptic Cairo), Antinoe, Bawit and Akhmin.

 

Many churches and monasteries were once adorned with elaborate sculptures in wood, consisting of lintels, doors, panels and friezes, decorated with saints, Nile themes, floral and animal ornaments, geometric patterns and scenes taken from the Old and New Testaments. Smaller items made of wood for daily life include toilette equipment, combs, caskets, toys spindles, stamp seals and musical instruments.

 

Woodwork, particularly screens, doors and panels of the 10th through the 14th centuries, reflects clearly the influence of Islamic Art.

 

The Coptic Museum houses three of the most important wood artifacts from the churches of Old Coptic Cairo. They are the door of the Church of Saint Barbara, the altar of the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus and the lintel from Al-Mo'allqa.

 

 

They are very valuable for the study of Coptic sculpture during the period between the 4th and 6th centuries.