Giovanni Anastasi (1765–1860) was born into an Armenian family from
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
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, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
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.
[Dawson, Warren R., Anastasi, Sallier and Harris and their Papyri, in: JEA 35, pp. 158-162.] He established himself as a wealthy merchant and
antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
. Anastasi served as a Swedish-Norwegian Consul General from 1828 until his death. He sold large collections of antiquities—to the Dutch government in 1828, now in the Dutch
National Museum of Antiquities in
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
, including the
Ipuwer Papyrus
The Ipuwer Papyrus (officially Papyrus Leiden I 344 ''recto'') is an ancient Egyptian hieratic papyrus made during the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, and now held in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Netherlands. It contains the ...
;
another collection—to the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
in 1839, and another to the French in 1857.
In 1839, the British Museum acquired from Anastasi's collection
ostracon
An ostracon (Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer to sherds or even small pieces of ston ...
of
Sinuhe
''The Story of Sinuhe'' (also known as Sanehat) Retrieved November 6, 2018. is considered one of the finest works of ancient Egyptian literature. It is a narrative set in the aftermath of the death of Pharaoh Amenemhat I, founder of the Twelfth ...
.
See also
*
Giovanni di Niccolò Pappaffy, his nephew, Greek Ottoman merchant in British Malta
References
Bibliography
* Vassilis I. Chrysikopoulos: ''A l’aube de l’égyptologie hellénique et de la constitution des collections égyptiennes: Des nouvelles découvertes sur Giovanni d’Anastasi et Tassos Neroutsos''. In: P. Kousoulis, N. Lazaridis (eds.): "Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists". Peeters, Leuven 2013
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digital text(with full career).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anastasi, Giovanni
Syrian art dealers
1765 births
1860 deaths