PROTOTYPING AN EGYPTIAN REVIVAL. LASER SCANNING, 3D PRINTS AND SCULPTURE TO SUPPORT ECHOES OF EGYPT EXHIBITION.

While “Egyptomania” is rarely identified in medieval art, a sphinx of Paschalis Romanus is one of the best examples of Egyptian revival art during the European Middle Ages. The original sphinx, located at the Museo Civico of Viterbo (Italy) was thus an ideal fit for the exhibition "Echoes of Egypt", but its size and the expense of transport precluded shipping the statue from Italy to the United States. With 3D scanning and printing, however, we were able to include the sphinx sculpture in the exhibit, placing the object within the larger context of Egyptian revivals, including a fascinating juxtaposition with a medieval Arabic manuscript that includes an early attempt to translate hieroglyphs: Bibliothèque Nationale de France MS Arabe 6805, Ibn Wahshiyya (ca. 860-935 CE), Book of the Long-Desired Fulfilled Knowledge of Occult Alphabets