Manuscript and Photographs on "The Earliest Known Paintings on Cloth" by a noted British Collector, Author and Geologist in Egypt

1906. Robert de Rustafjaell Manuscript and Photographs on "The Earliest Known Paintings on Cloth" by a noted British Collector, Author and Geologist in Egypt, 1906

Typed manuscript, 8 pp., 10" x 8" with a few handwritten emendations, three original B&W photographs, two measuring 8.5" x 6.5", one 9.5" x 7.5".

About very good with some light soiling and wear at edges, a bit of spotting and creasing. Photos somewhat faded with penciled notations to versos describing measurements of the paintings.

This is an original typed manuscript for, and three original photographs of, "The Earliest Known Paintings on Cloth" by Robert de Rustafjaell. The author was known as an "elusive" collector of Egyptian artifacts by the Swansea, UK's Egypt Centre, which holds upwards of 1000 of his finds. Robert de Rustafjaell was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1859, though did report himself to have been born in Birmingham in 1876. In "Who Was Who in Egyptology" (Egypt Exploration Society, 2019), author M.;L. Bierbrier suggested that "few of his often-extravagant claims about his ancestry and life can be externally verified." If we choose to believe the wild adventure story of his life, de Rustafjaell changed names as often as he changed wives, was educated at Harrow and Oxford, as well as in Sweden and Germany, and excavated at Cyzicus in Turkey in 1901. He lived for some time in Egypt as a geologist, mining engineer and owner of the Luxor Trading Co., which also sold antiquities. In 1909 he opened a shop in Luxor that he deemed the "Museum of Practical Archaeology," which was believed to have included a considerable number of forgeries. He declared bankruptcy in London in 1914 and traveled at least three times to New York between 1919 and 1927. At one point he assigned himself the title of Col. Prince Roman Orbeliani, linking himself with the powerful Georgian Orbeliani family. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society in 1899, of the Zoological Society in 1901 and the Royal Numismatic Society in 1904. In addition to announcements of his collections in newspapers and journals, he published "Paleolithic Vessels of Egypt or The Earliest Handiwork of Man" (1907), "The Light of Egypt from Recently Discovered Predynastic and Early Christian Records, etc." (1909), and "The Stone Age in Egypt: A Record of Recently Discovered Implements and Products..." (1914). His collections were dispersed in five Sotheby's auctions between 1906 and 1915, making their way to the British Museum, British Library, the Louvre and other institutions. Most have settled at the Egypt Centre at Swansea via Sir Henry Wellcome. Bierbrier wrote, "Despite his colourful career, not a single photo of Robert de Rustafjaell is known to exist, which is perhaps exactly how he would have wanted it given his elusive nature. Roman Orbeliani, as he was then known, died in New York 10 Feb 1943."

In this manuscript, de Rustafjaell posited that "The paintings in the photographs which accompany this paper belong to that period in which the art of Egypt reached its highest standard, about the XVIII dynasty, and their age is, therefore, roughly 3,500 years." A detailed description of the excavation site, supposed creation and uses of the art follows, along with a translation of the hieroglyphics and a brief treatise on Egyptian painting in general. Per the final page of the document, "The writer was fortunate enough to light upon the paintings during his travels last summer in Egypt, and has now lent them to the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington."

These materials came from the archive of Frederick George Hilton-Price (1842-1909), the famous banker, Egyptologist and antiquary. Hilton-Price had served as director of the Society of Antiquaries and president of the Egypt Exploration Fund. He was also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, fellow and vice president of the Zoological Society of London, fellow and vice president of the Royal Numismatic Society and vice president of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.

OCLC shows an array of holdings of Robert de Rustafjaell's published works, but none of any archival materials.