Egypt, Republic, the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile, awarded to Prof. Amintore Fanfani, former Italy's Prime Minister

[Elmar Lang]

Hello,

 

I am just returned after a Militaria Show that took place in Slovenia, close to our borders.

 

Amongst the interesting pieces to see and the chance to meet fellow collectors etc., I've had the nice opprtunity to add an interesting set to my collection.

 

The Order of the Nile, in its transition from the monarchy and the Republic, changed its design from an elaborate one, into a more modern and equally beautiful style, adopting an iconography directly connected to ancient Egypt. The artist who designed the new order, found the inspiration for the design of the centre, by an alabaster vase, found in the Tomb of Tutankhamen, Carter No. 210; Picture by Harry Burton p0671 (Griffith Institute: Carter Archives (ox.ac.uk) , symbolizing the union of Upper and Lower Egypt.

 

The set now in my collection was awarded to Amintore Fanfani (1908-1999), during his state visit to Egypt, January 6th-9th, 1959, while being Italy's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

 

As Lot no. 92, it was sold in 2021 at the auction of the property from Prof. Fanfani's late wife, passed away in 2019, with all the orders, decorations and honours awarded to the italian politician, during his long career.

 

The Order of the Nile in its republican, one-class type -besides the Collar- doesn't appear quite often so, I think it could be useful to anyone, to have here some pictures of the set. The star of both the sash badge and the breast star is made of silver, with gilt details; the centre medallion in gilt silver and night-blue enamel, but the "ancient egyptian" centre, is made of gold, with a fine, "frosted" finish; the reverse of the two pieces are struck with egyptian marks.

 

All the best,

 

Enzo

Edited April 4, 2022 by Elmar Lang

[BlackcowboyBS]

wow, thats a real beauty, congrats on this one! 

[oamotme]

Elmar,

 

Well done - to my mind the most attractive of the Republic of Egypt series of awards. Nice to see the Bichay manufacturer's mark and also the Cairo silver marks.

 

At one stage I had a case, a sash and a breast star - all purchased separately over the years, and now no doubt with someone waiting to find a lone sash badge for sale.

 

I attach a copy of the regulations from the Arab Republic of Egypt 1983 Protocols.

 

Owain

[Elmar Lang]

Dear Owain,

 

thank you for your invaluable addition to the thread I've started today.

 

I agree, that this order is highly attractive and in my opinion, innovative in design too.

 

Does it exist a list of those who received the Republican order?

 

To add a note on this same set, the case and the award document (same as those of the other orders awarded and belonged to Prof. Fanfani) are lost because on January 28th 1999, a fire partly destroyed the apartment in Rome, where the old politician (who died a few months later) and his wife lived. While the orders where all exhibited in a showcase, the cases and their papers were stored in a cabinet, placed where the flames burnt everything. Because of that fire, also the important collection of paintings and works of art put together by Prof. Fanfani (who was an appreciated painter himself), was completely destroyed, signifying a great cultural loss.

 

One day, I hope I will find an original case though.

 

Best wishes,

 

Enzo (E.L.)

[oamotme]

Enzo,

As far as I am aware there are no available records for the award of senior Egyptian orders - such information may exist somewhere in Cairo but even if it does exist getting access will be a challenge. Good luck with finding a case.

I was aware of the Fanfani auction and was tempted to bid , especially on his wife's miniatures, however buying in Europe and importing to the UK is doubly expensive - auction house fees plus UK Customs tax - accordingly I, along with some other collectors in UK, have ceased to bid at European auctions.

Kind regards,

Owain

[Rusty Greaves]

I previously outlined the nature of the Ancient Egyptian imagery on the Republic-era Grand Cordon Order of the Nile regalia (in a post I made about the mini of this order posted on 7 March, 2018 in the thread "Miniatures of the Middle East & Arab World" started by Owain on 6 December, 2017). Given the interest in Enzo's acquisition of an example of this lovely award, I thought I would resurrect my summary of the archaeological imagery to include here. 

 

 

The imagery on the Republic's version of the Order of the Nile is derived from some of the many variant Ancient Egyptian depictions symbolizing the ~5000 year-old unification of Egypt (the tied lotus and papyrus stems form a symbol of "union", sema-taui). This above drawing of a relief panel on the stone throne of Pharaoh Senwosret I shows the gods Seth & Horus uniting the two (formerly divided) kingdoms of Upper & Lower Egypt. This throne dates to the 12th Dynasty (~1956-1911 BC), long after this has become an established icon in Ancient Egyptian political decoration. In this version of the unification, Seth (on left) binds a lotus (the image of Upper Egypt-the southern portion by our geography) and his brother Horus (on right) ties papyrus (symbolic of Lower Egypt, the northern part of the country) to the central sema symbol. This central dividing image is a symbol for the lungs (each of the brother gods have their feet on one lobe) attached to the trachea, which is the hieroglyphic symbol sema representing "union". In most written versions of this glyph it looks more "jar-like" through shortening of the trachea, as in the form adopted for the Republic of Egypt's central icon on the Order of the Nile badges shown above in Enzo's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd photos of his initial post here of 4 April, 2022 (with a border decoration of 15 lotus blossoms). The suspension device connected the sash badge to the sash of the 1st Class Order of the Nile (Enzo's 2nd photo in his initial post here) further reiterates this unity theme in the symbolism: the lowermost lotus flower supports an ensemble of a central lotus flower that is flanked by a papyrus bloom on the left and a lotus flowers on the right, and each of those has an additional stem adjacent to them to further symbolize the binding together of Upper & Lower Egypt. Other images depicting the union of Upper and Lower Egypt also employ a sedge for Upper Egypt or a bee to symbolize Lower Egypt. The well-known Narmer Palette (>5000 years old) is usually thought to depict this conquest of the "Two Lands" that became the unified Egypt with militaristic imagery of King Narmer (wearing the white Crown of Upper Egypt) smiting a prisoner with a cudgel on the recto side and wearing the Red Crown of Upper Egypt on the verso side. The hieroglyphs in the cartouche at the top of the trachea portion of the sema symbol in the above drawing are the throne name of Pharaoh Senwosret I: Kheperkara (http://www.joanlansberry.com/setfind/uniting.html)

 

 

Image from Wikipedia of the post-1953 Republic of Egypt badge suspended on the Collar of the Order of the Nile showing another modern image adaptation of the Ancient Egyptian theme of the unification of (Upper & Lower) Egypt. It retains the binding of lotus (right) and papyrus (left), but has changed the sema image to a more vegetative framework and inserted stylized ancient Egyptian water symbols under the figures' feet, presumably in reference to the Nile. The two male figures with pendulous breasts ("moobs" as seen on the two figures flanking the sema union symbol on the sash badge and breast star), fat rolls, and large bellies (also seen on the figures on the sash badge and breast star) derive from common versions of this image depicting the god Hapi, frequently associated with this political art image during the 19th Dynasty (~1291-1189 BC). Hapi is a deity associated with the annual flooding of the Nile. His breasts and belly are considered to represent the fertility of the river and its renewal of the floodplain with the annual inundation that brought organic material to enrich the soils of the valley terraces. The gold design in the enamel probably depicts repeated sets of the three Great Pyramids of Giza (9 km west of the Nile), possibly reiterated to resemble ancient Egyptian imagery of water in reference the River Nile. The surrounding margin designs are stylized lotus blossoms interspersed with rubies. The suspension device depicts three lotus blossoms. The badge is made of solid gold, rubies, turquoise, and enamel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Nile).

 

Always looking for a way to sneak in some of my archaeological pedantry!

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Rusty Greaves

[Rusty Greaves]

Just to round out some info on the Republic version of the Order of the Nile, here are a few images of the Collar for the Order of the Nile and the miniature medal. 

 

 

 

Above are two images of the Egyptian Republic period Collar of the Order of the Nile showing some details of the links on the Collar. The uppermost is from Wikipedia (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orden_del_Nilo#/media/Archivo:Orden_Nila.jpg) and the lowermost from Wikimedia (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Cordon_of_the_Order_of_the_Nile_(Egypt)_-_Memorial_JK_-_Brasilia_-_DSC00434.JPG). Both photos can be zoomed for better detail of the links on the Collar. The Collar chain has repeated floral elements that combine multiple lotus flowers arranged in a circle and ornamented with rubies and a central inlay of turquoise. Above and below these floral elements are individual gold lotus flowers attached to the chain. The other links in the collar are square gold plaques bordered on the inferior and superior margins with either green, dark blue, red, and turquoise enamel, or inlayed with a green stone, lapis lazuli, carnelian and turquoise framing stylized gold water waves with central figures or symbols adapted from various Ancient Egyptian motifs. 

 

 

 

Here is a good image of the miniature Order of the Nile breast medal from La Galerie Numismatique, silver partly gilt, and enamel 25 x 20 mm (https://www.coins-la-galerie-numismatique.com/online-shop/orders-medals/order-nile). The auction listing describes this as a "Knights Cross Miniature (5th Class)". However, as noted the Republic-era post-1953 version of this Order of the Nile was only awarded as a Collar or Grand Cordon class. This ribbon should correctly have a rosette and gold braid (galon) as shown in the miniature example second from the right in Owain's post of 8 March, 2018 on the thread "Miniatures of the Middle East & Arab World", started by Owain on 6 December, 2017. 

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Rusty Greaves