Author Description

Founded some five thousand years ago, the Egyptian civilization that stretched along the banks of the Nile during the Pharaonic reign is astonishing for its level of refinement and sophistication. For three thousand years, Egyptian craftsmen used highly advanced techniques to produce spectacular works of art. Although governed by strict conventions, they nonetheless reflect such a range of creativity and audacity over the centuries that the quality of these works remains unequaled anywhere else in the world. With the start of the Christian era, Coptic Egypt developed a harmonious art that combined the iconographic expression of the new faith with the Pharaonic past.