Matthias Egger is a PhD candidate at École Pratique des Hautes Études. He is currently preparing a thesis entitled Coptic illumination (8th-19th centuries): economy, semantics and identity under the supervision of Prof. Ioanna Rapti. Based on a largely unexploited corpus, approached using a multidisciplinary method, his research explores the various aspects that unite the art of the illuminated Coptic book between the medieval and modern periods, and questions the applicability of this historical division to this cultural area. A former student of the École du Louvre, he also wrote a dissertation on Paris’ manuscript “copte 13” (ms. BnF copte 13).

Alongside his research, Matthias Egger has contributed to finalise the cataloguing of Coptic manuscripts in the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale in Cairo and to the archiving of Nicole and Jean-Michel Thierry’s collection at the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art.