Puzzles & Treasures from Cartonnage

P. Mich. Inv. 557a

Painted parchment fragment from a group of cartonnage fragments assigned to 557. It is not unusual for fragments of decorated leather and inscribed parchment and later, paper, to show up mixed in with layers of papyrus and other vegetable fibers in ancient book boards. This painted parchment is an example. The Revised Inventory of Coptic Papyri has this note regarding the fragment: ‘Fragment containing a miniature of St. Theodore the Anatolian on horseback.’ The fragment is blank on the verso. It was originally creased and a section was folded over; it has recently been treated in the University of Michigan conservation lab to unfold and flatten out the creases.

P. Mich. Inv. 557a

P. Mich. Inv. 6592a

P. Mich. Inv. 6592b

P. Mich. Inv. 557d (recto)

P. Mich. Inv. 557d (verso)