View showing the Bab al-Nasr gate, the mosque of al-Hakim, and part of the city walls in Cairo. Although the caption mentions the Bab al-Futuh gate, it is not recorded in this watercolour.
pencil, monochrome watercolour
mounted
17.4 x 10.1 cm
[Lane's caption on verso of album page, at top left corner] 'The Ba'b en-Nasr & Ba'b el Footon' being two of the principal gates of Musr el(?) ~~xxxxxx xxxxxx xx xx ~~ : - a the former - b the latter. c c the two / minarets of the ruined mosque of El-Wha'kim. / Erected A H. 480 - A.D 1087-8.' (pencil note)
A scene with four women inside a room within a dwelling or perhaps a coffee shop(?), probably in Cairo or elsewhere in Egypt. The woman on the left wears a white and red striped garment and white turban with her back to the artist and holds a small teacup in her right hand, offering it to one of the other women. Background right, a woman wearing a blue, red and red checked jilbab with a black veil over a blue garment, greeted at the door by a servant girl wearing a blue garment and head covering with her back to the artist Foreground right, a woman wearing a green garment and white scarf is seated on a red floor cushion
Street scene, probably in Cairo, with a man wearing a blue garment and a white turban, walking and holding aloft a long stick in his right hand, preceding another man wearing a green garment and red turban riding a horse.
Handwritten notes recording contacts at various institutions whom the former owners of the album may have consulted in relation to the album's contents.
14 x 9 cm
[annotation]: 'See Mr Gibb Smith / V&A. / Capt. Hollis Smith / of Parker Galleries / suggested I bring the / book & you'd introduce / me to the right person / John Halton(?) in Library, / or Print Room -'
The album contains 23 original studies, including the photographic portrait of a sculptural bust of Lane, two fully worked drawings with watercolour, eleven monochrome watercolours with pen and ink landscapes and views, and ten pencil studies of wall reliefs. Many of these images include handwritten captions in pencil that are almost certainly added by E. W. Lane himself on the opposing page of the mounted image. This indicates that Lane arranged for this selection of items to be mounted in the album, which was then presented to someone.
Diary kept from 4 May 1922 to 20 October 1926 by the wife of the British archaeologist and photographer Harry Burton (1879-1940). The diary contains detailed daily entries recording social engagements and memorable events, including the excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter’s team, of which her husband was a member. The diary details her life and travels with her husband at home in Florence, their stays in Egypt (especially Luxor, but also Cairo), the trip they made across the US and to Hollywood in 1924, and various holidays in Europe (London, Salzburg, St. Moritz, etc.), as well as trips to friends in Italy. Lined account book, 400 pages, 8vo (179 x 110 x 28 mm).
