Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 102-103. (Budapest, 2005)

ANNUAL REPORT 2005 - A 2005. ÉV - LÁSZLÓ TÖRÖK: After the Pharaos: Treasures of Coptic Art from Egyptian Collections

mations of artistic forms and contents over the course of time and in the different quality strata of artistic production (figs. 70 and 71). In more general terms, the exhibition intended to present a visual history of the transfigurations of Classical ideas and forms in post-Classical times. Egypt, this special province of Classical and postClassical culture, may also offer lessons for the historian of other periods and regions. And the interaction of traditionalism and innovation and "national" and "international" as illustrated by Coptic art offered the thoughtful visitor to the exhibition not only images of the past, but also paradigms of the present. The exhibition comprised three interrelated units. The first consisted of figurai tomb stelae, architectural carvings, figurai bone reliefs, terracottas, textiles and pottery vessels dating from the period between the second century B.C. and the fourth century A.D. A part of the objects represented the last phase of the traditional Egyptian canon of representation; other objects illustrated the continuity of Alexandrian Hellenistic types and forms; again others demonstrated the influence of the great Roman centres of artistic production, both Eastern and Western. 70 INTERIOR VIEW OF THE EXHIBITION