Fragment No. 1: A small portion of The Psalter (Ps. XLIII, 24ff) on three pieces of vellum

Historical period(s)
5th century?
Medium
Ink on parchment
Dimensions
H x W: 9 x 10 cm (3 9/16 x 3 15/16 in)
Geography
Egypt, Fayyum
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1909.148
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Manuscript
Type

Manuscript folio fragment

Keywords
Egypt
Provenance

To 1909
Ali Arabi, Giza, Egypt, to 1909 [1]

From 1909 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Ali Arabi in Giza, Egypt, in summer of 1909 [2]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Miscellaneous List, Biblical Manuscripts Section, S.I. 1483, pg. 7, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See also, Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record. Also see W. H. Worrell: The Coptic Manuscripts in the Freer Collection; University of Michigan Humanistic Series, Vol. X (1923), Part I, pp. ix, xiii-xxvi. According to W.H. Worrell ". . . Professor Sanders has stated about all that can as yet be said of the provenance of the collection. The dealer who sold the manuscripts, [except no. 9] Ali Al Arabi of the village of Gizeh, near Cairo, at first asserted that they had been acquired in Akhmim, Upper Egypt. Later he owned that the statement was false, and produced the actual finders, who maintained that the manuscripts had been discovered at a spot which, though it cannot at present be named, is quite consistent with all the other evidence; it would have been a likely refuge for fugitives from the ruined Monastary of the Vinedresser, which lay near the third Pyramid, and was near enough to modern Gizeh so that the manuscripts would naturally be offered there for sale. It is therefore impossible to believe that the manuscripts were found near the White Monastary at Akhmim, or at Eshmunen" (W. H. Worrell: The Coptic Manuscripts in the Freer Collection; University of Michigan Humanistic Series, Vol. X (1923), Part I, p. x).

[2] See note 1.

[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Ali Arabi (C.L. Freer source) ca. 1840-1932
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Published References
  • The Coptic Manuscripts in the Freer Collection. University of Michigan Humanistic Series, vol. 10 New York, 1923. pl. vB.
Collection Area(s)
Ancient Egyptian Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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