Description:

Two engraved plates from the Description de l'Égypte
1809-1822

lot includes two double page full elephant folio engravings from the Antiquités volumes I and II of the Description de l'Égypte, ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'expédition de l'armée française, publié par les orders de Sa Majesté l'Empereur Napoléon le Grand; (Description of Egypt, or the collection of observations and researches which were made in Egypt during the expedition of the French Army, published by the order of His Majesty the Emperor, Napoleon the Great).published in Paris: Imprimerie impériale, and Imprimerie Royale, 1809-1822. Produced between February 1802 and 1830 on the orders of Naopleon Bonaparte and published between 1809 and 1828, 1,000 copies were printed

  • Provenance: Footnote:
    1. plate # 54 from the Antiquités volume I, Edfou (Apollinopolis Magna)

    This plate is taken from a series of views of the great temple at Edfu and the various buildings in its cultic complex. The temple of Horus, a jewel of Ptolemaic architecture and exceptionally well-preserved, is made up of a majestic entry gate and a hypostyle chamber, which are both extensively documented thanks to the engravings by the experts of the Institut d'Egypte. Begun in 237 BC by Ptolemy III and completed 180 years later under Tiberius, it proved an extraordinary sight for the draughtsmen who had come to explore the left bank of the Nile.

    2. plate # 39 from the Antiquités volume II, Thebes Memnomian

    The Memnonium, a name used by visitors to the Valley of the Kings from 1750 to 1850, refers to a set of three royal buildings constructed during the New Kingdom: the Ramesseum, the Temple of Amenhotep III and the Temple of Sethi I. The draughtsmen and architects of Bonaparte's Institut, sent out on expedition across Upper Egypt from 1799 documented Thebes and the Valley of the Kings, even attempting to reconstruct some of the buildings on the basis of descriptions by Classical authors. The tomb of Ozymandias (one of the numerous names of Ramses II), in a very poor state, thus became the subject of very thorough study and an attempt to fill in its missing bits on the basis of the writings of Diodurus Siculus. This Greek historian of the Augustine period stayed in the valley of the Nile from 60-57 BC and his visit to the tomb of Ramses II is recounted in his monumental Bibliotheca Historica (Book I, XLVII-XLIX).

    At the same time, the experts also made extremely detailed studies and views of the Colossi of Memnon, all that remains of a huge memorial temple to Amenhotep III built on the road to the necropolis in the Valley of the Kings. These colossi were located at the entrance to the temple in front of a preliminary pylon made of brick. These two statues represent King Amenhotep III framed to the right by the great Royal Consort Tiy and to the left by the Queen Mother Mutemwiya.
  • Dimensions: 24 x 37in (61 x 94cm)
  • Condition: Both uniformly matted and framed. 29 1/2 x 42 in. (75 x 106 cm.) Center creasing as always present ; light foxing overall present to both.

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