Khayamiyah

[poliphilo]

 

We go to the tip shop (the shop at the recycling centre) at least once a week. It's astonishing what people will chuck away.

Yesterday there were three of these in the shed they call The Art Gallery.  I didn't know what they were but I like things that are old and quaint. I bought two, at £4.00 each, came home, did some research, got rather excited-  and went back and bought the third. If I were a dealer- but I'm not- I could make an utterly stupid profit on them. 

But I'm not really interested in the money- except insofar as it confirms my belief in myself as an antiquarian and a connoisseur who knows a good thing (artistically speaking) when he sees it. 

What I've scored this time are khayamiya- panels of applique work made in Egypt to decorate the insides of tents. Western tourists cottoned on to them in the late 19th century- and in the 1920s, following the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, created a vogue  for panels representing pharonic scenes. I don't suppose- judging by their faded condition- that mine are much less than 100 years old.

The Tentmakers weren't Egyptologists- and their pharonic scenes jumble together motifs from ancient Egyptian art in configurations that look meaningful- but aren't. I love them. 

And now I have to find somewhere to hang them....