Egyptian Feather Motif Coated Canvas Passport Holder

Our coated canvas passport holder borrows the feather pattern from an Egyptian glass inlay (200 B.C–A.D. 100) in The Met collection. A mosaic technique allowed multiples of an image to be created; a figural or design composition was made by bundling colored glass canes, drawn out into a long bar which was then sectioned at right angles—probably by striking the bar with appropriate tools—to produce small tiles such as the extraordinary fragment in the Museum’s holdings.