Papyrus Mini-Gallery - Sappho - the Greek poet painted
Hand-painted natural papyrus 11,5 × 16 cm, black folding passepartout, writing paper as well as a hanging eyelet.
The Greek lyric poet Sappho was the most important lyric poet of classical antiquity. She was born around 650 BC on the island of Lesbos and came from a noble family. Sappho was married to a wealthy man and the mother of a daughter.
She wrote a total of nine volumes of poetry in which she glorified the culture of women in the service of the divine muses. The stanzas of three eleven-syllables with a concluding five-syllable, typical of her poetry, are called "Sapphic stanza" after her. As part of the cult of Hera and Aphrodite, Sappho gathered young women of marriageable age around her, whom she instructed in poetry, music, song and dance and with whom she performed at celebrations of the gods.
One of her contemporaries, the Greek poet Anacreon, accused Sappho of having a very close and intimate relationship with her pupils. This is where the terms "lesbian love" and "Sapphism" come from as a term for female homosexuality. According to a legend, Sappho threw herself to her death from a steep cliff out of grief over her unrequited love for the youth Phaon.
Our papyrus offer
We offer you light, ochre-coloured natural papyrus from Egypt. You can choose from various hand-laid formats. The design possibilities with papyrus are manifold. You can write on it, paint it or print on it; you can use ink, fibre pens, water-based or tempera paints.
Papyrus is a natural product
In the Nile Delta, papyrus leaves are still produced in the traditional way. Families in the countryside harvest the papyrus stems, which can be up to 6 metres high, and process the raw material into papyrus leaves with great skill. Carefully made papyrus leaves are produced in several steps, which always have an individual, handcrafted character.
Fair trade with Egypt
PGI buys Egyptian products directly from the producer. This allows us to bypass dealer stations and offer our customers favourable prices. But the Egyptian producers also benefit from this direct marketing, they achieve much higher prices for their products. We regularly visit our partners in Egypt and discuss the upcoming needs on site.