Alexandria in Egypt and Its Harbour

The artwork

On the left, inside the walls beside the Cairo gate, a Latin inscription marks a stone: underneath it, the inscription notes, the body of Saint Mark was found, and then taken to Venice. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• Alexandria in 1575, with the harbour, Pompey's Pillar and the place of Saint Mark.
• In a hallway or beside a bookcase it is a window on the Mediterranean.
• A gift for anyone who loves Egypt or Venice.

Two Venetian merchants, Buono da Malamocco and Rustico da Torcello, carried it off in 828. The story goes that they hid it in a basket under pork, so that the Muslim customs officers would keep their distance. In Venice Saint Mark became the patron of the city; the head, according to Coptic tradition, stayed in Alexandria. In June 1968 Pope Paul VI returned a fragment of the relics to the Copts, which he had received from the Patriarch of Venice: today it is in Cairo, in Saint Mark's Cathedral.

It is a plate from the second volume of the Civitates orbis terrarum by Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg, published in Cologne in 1575, engraved on copper. The cartouche at the top recalls that the city was founded by Alexander the Great and that inside its walls it is full of ruins, yet as large as Paris. Top right, on a promontory, stands the column known as Pompey's Pillar, which was in fact raised for the emperor Diocletian; at the bottom, the harbour with its ships and a tower the plate calls “Pharus”, like the ancient lighthouse. This uncoloured copy is part of the David Rumsey Map Collection.

For anyone who has seen Egypt or dreams of it, and for those who know Saint Mark's Basilica by heart, it is a gift to hang in a hallway or beside a bookcase. And on the left, under that stone, Saint Mark's place is still empty.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass