Egyptian Hours

Artist Nicholas Phillips (British, born 1950)

Publisher [Nicholas Phillips?, London, 1980]

Date[1980]

Dimensionschemise: 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (165 x 165 x 44mm)
element: 6 1/4 x 6 1/4 in. (159 x 159mm)

MediumOriginal prints: 7 embossings, with hand-coloring, die-cutting, and thread additions on white wove paper affixed to boards Text: typewriter and letterpress Paper: white wove paper affixed to board

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineMrs. George W. Stevens Fund

Object number

1987.20A-H

Not on View

Label TextNicholas Phillips created Egyptian Hours after a four-month journey through Egypt, traveling from Alexandria to Aswan. The work draws on the format of a medieval Book of Hours, a Christian devotional text marking the day’s divisions. Here, however, seven symbolic “hours” trace a visual journey from Islamic Cairo to the tombs of the ancient pharaohs. Patterns like mashrabiya screens and glazed tiles gradually give way to images of sealed chambers, shrouded figures, and faded funerary garlands.