Lot Essay
The paper mount with ink inscription reading: "Fragments d'un manuscrit papyrus trouvé dans une momie de thèbes, en l'an 8 de la république."
The Napoleonic Expedition landed in Egypt in 1798. Along with a 55,000 strong army, Napoleon also brought with him groups of French artists, engineers and scientists, known as the savants, to study the remains of the ancient Egyptian civilisation. In 1799 a group of French soldiers, under the command of Pierre Bouchard, found the Rosetta Stone which proved crucial in the later decipherment of the Egyptian script, being inscribed with the same text in hieroglyphics, demotic and Greek.
The Napoleonic Expedition landed in Egypt in 1798. Along with a 55,000 strong army, Napoleon also brought with him groups of French artists, engineers and scientists, known as the savants, to study the remains of the ancient Egyptian civilisation. In 1799 a group of French soldiers, under the command of Pierre Bouchard, found the Rosetta Stone which proved crucial in the later decipherment of the Egyptian script, being inscribed with the same text in hieroglyphics, demotic and Greek.