Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Colonial official · Collector · Donor · Numismatist

Tankerville James Chamberlayne

1844–1909 · United Kingdom

Cyprus official and amateur collector who gave Lapithos terracottas to the Louvre and reported the first Lambousa silver find to government in 1898.

Biography

Major Tankerville James Chamberlayne served in the Cyprus Island Administration from 1886 to 1908 and was District Commissioner of Kyrenia from May 18982. He was private secretary to the Governor, Sir Henry Bulwer, in Nicosia, and Caubet calls him an active francophile who helped French visitors, among them the tour of the Gothic monuments made by Camille Enlart between February and June 18963. In 1894 he published in Paris Lacrimae Nicossienses, a catalogue of Nicosia's medieval tombstones, which Given describes as virtually the only worthwhile British contribution to the study of medieval Cyprus in the nineteenth century1,7.

He also collected antiquities. He gave the Louvre a group of terracotta figurines from a Cypro-Phoenician sanctuary at Lapithos3. Dissinger adds that some of his Lapithos figurines went to the Louvre and others to the Cyprus Museum, and that two figurines from the cave site of Embros reached the British Museum through him; he said he found them in 1897. She notes that he was not an archaeologist and recorded no findspots4. Kiely and Merrillees call his collection important and say it vanished altogether8.

On 28 December 1898 he wrote to the Chief Secretary about the first Lambousa silver. He reported that a peasant, Constanti Thoma, had found it, and that "Mr Giovanni" had told him the man said he had sold 17 pieces to a Nicosia jeweller named Nikolaki for 25 pounds. Some pieces were, "it is alleged", melted down. The same man had once offered him an "ancient urn" for 15 shillings, which he declined, hoping that finds would be offered to government first2. Merrillees records that Chamberlayne was related by marriage to the duc de Dino, who sold the treasure to the British Museum, and suggests that the idea of the sale may have come from Chamberlayne2. In 1905 the Museum Committee named him its agent at Kyrenia against illicit export6. Of a gold hoard found in 1906, 43 of 131 coins went to the bishop and 88 were lodged in the Kyrenia treasury, whence they passed to the Cyprus Museum5.

Life and work

  1. 1894
    Published Lacrimae Nicossienses (Paris), a catalogue of funerary inscriptions of Nicosia with an armorial and topographical description; Given calls it virtually the only worthwhile 19th-century British contribution to medieval Cyprus.

    ParisTatton-Brown 2001Kiely & Merrillees 2012

  2. 1896
    As private secretary to Governor Bulwer helped French visitors, among them Camille Enlart's Feb-June 1896 tour of the Gothic monuments.

    NicosiaCaubet 1993

  3. 1897
    Said to have found two figurines at the cave site of Embros; these reached the British Museum through him (Dissinger's wording: 'said to have found them').

    EmbrosDissinger 2017

  4. 28 December 1898
    Wrote to the Chief Secretary (28 Dec 1898, seven months into his post as District Commissioner, Kyrenia) that 'last year' a peasant named Constanti Thoma found silver plate at or near Acheropities; that 'Mr Giovanni' had told him the man said to Glossop he had sold 17 pieces to the jeweller Nikolaki of Nicosia for 25 pounds; and that the man had once offered him an 'ancient urn' for 15s., then 10s., which he did not buy at 15s. but inclined to recommend for the Castle, wishing to encourage people to offer finds to Government first. The letter does not mention Dino or the British Museum.

    LapithosMerrillees 2009, pp. 394-395

  5. 1899–1900
    Gave the Louvre a group of terracotta figurines from a Cypro-Phoenician sanctuary at Lapithos. A later article gives c.50 to the Louvre in 1899/1900 and c.20 to the British Museum in 1900 (WebFetch summary only).

    ParisCaubet 1993Kiely & Merrillees 2021, p. 206

  6. 1 October 1903
    Wrote to the Chief Secretary with his knowledge and views on certain people involved in the second Lambousa treasure affair.

    NicosiaMerrillees 2009, pp. 401-402

  7. 1906
    As Commissioner of Kyrenia, under an agreement made with the bishop of Kyrenia, shared the 1906 Lambousa gold hoard (131 solidi): 43 coins to the see, 88 into the Kyrenia treasury and then to the Cyprus Museum.

    KyreniaMetcalf 2009

Through their hands

12 records

Came from

Own excavations
Claude Delaval Cobham1894
Monastery of Kykkos
Tankerville James Chamberlayne

Went to

1890Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
1890Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana
1903Cyprus Museum
1906Kyrenia treasury
British Museum
Musée du Louvre
Vatican collection
SaleGift or bequestPassed onWho objects came from and went to, as the sources record it
  1. 1890

    GiftManuscriptsChamberlayne donated a number of his manuscripts, if not all, to the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana.

    Gave to Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticanaa number of Chamberlayne’s manuscriptsNo. Vaticani graeci 2307-2320 and 2337Chrysostomides & Dendrinos 2006, p. 247

  2. 1890

    GiftManuscriptsChamberlayne donated a number of manuscripts from his collection to the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

    Gave to Biblioteca Apostolica VaticanaNo. Vat. Gr. 2307-20 and 2337Constantinides & Browning 1993, p. 30

  3. 1890

    CollectionpossiblyManuscriptsChamberlayne seems to have collected more than twenty manuscripts in Cyprus.

    No. Vat. Gr. 2307-20 and 2337Constantinides & Browning 1993, p. 30

  4. 1894

    Gift receivedManuscriptsCobham gave a Gospel Lectionary to Chamberlayne.

    Received from Claude Delaval CobhamNo. Vatican Gr. 2311Chrysostomides & Dendrinos 2006, p. 246Constantinides & Browning 1993, p. 30Constantinides & Browning 1993, p. 327

  5. 1903

    GiftMajor T. Chamberlayne presented the bronze moufflon horn to the Museum.

    Gave to Cyprus Museumbronze horn of moufflon from VasiliaDikaios 1947, p. 103Dikaios 1961, p. 103

  6. 1906

    TransferChamberlayne lodged the balance of the Lambousa hoard in the safe of the Kyrenia treasury.

    Passed objects to Kyrenia treasury88 gold coins from the Lambousa hoardMetcalf 2009, p. 198

  7. 1906

    TransferChamberlayne assigned one third of the hoard to the bishop of Kyrenia.

    With bishop of KyreniaMetcalf 2009, p. 198

  8. n.d.

    GiftMajor Chamberlayne donated the group of Lapithos terracotta figurines to the Musée du Louvre.

    Gave to Musée du LouvreTerracotta figurines from a sanctuary at LapithosNo. AM 1460, AM 1484, AM 1607, AM 1591, AM 1582Caubet et al. 1992, p. 112Caubet 1993, p. 35Caubet 2012, p. 156

  9. n.d.

    PurchaseManuscriptsChamberlayne bought manuscript Vaticanus graecus 2313 from the monastery of Kykkos.

    Bought from Monastery of KykkosNo. Vaticanus graecus 2313£2,00Chrysostomides & Dendrinos 2006, p. 247

  10. n.d.

    GiftManuscriptsTankerville James Chamberlayne donated manuscripts to the Vatican collection.

    Gave to Vatican collectionMSSConstantinides & Browning 1993, p. 447

  11. n.d.

    TransferTwo figurines from Embros came to the British Museum through Major Tankerville Chamberlayne.

    Passed objects to British MuseumDissinger 2017

  12. n.d.

    AdviceChamberlayne recommended that the Government accept Pishiali's offer of an urn.

    Connected with Island Administrationancient urn or vesselAcheiropoietosMerrillees 2009, p. 395

In the field

2 records

Embros cave site

1897

  • Found · 1897possiblyChamberlayne reportedly found two figurines at the Embros cave site.

    two female terracotta figurinesDissinger 2017

Cyprus

Connections

8 people
Claude Delaval CobhamCamille EnlartHenry Ernest Gascoyne Bul…Paul PerdrizetD. M. MetcalfCharles Maurice Camille d…Constanti Thoma PishialiFrank G. GlossopTankerville James Chamberlayne
Sales & giftsFieldworkColleagues

Sales, gifts & bequests

Fieldwork & employment

Colleagues & contacts

Recording and study

2 records
Studied2

  • Chamberlayne studied funerary inscriptions in Nicosia’s churches and mosques.

    funerary inscriptions in churches and mosquesChrysostomides & Dendrinos 2006, p. 246

  • Major Tankerville Chamberlayne undertook work on the tombs of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Nicosia.

    Walsh 2005, p. 6

Objects

  • Group of Cypro-Archaic terracotta figurines from a sanctuary at Lapithos (many holding birds)

    From LapithosMusee du Louvre1899–1900Caubet 1993Dissinger 2017

  • Two figurines said to come from the Embros cave site

    From Embros (cave site)British Museum1897–1900Dissinger 2017

  • Some Lapithos figurines in the Cyprus Museum collection

    From LapithosCyprus MuseumDissinger 2017

Also named in

Sources

  1. 1.T. Chamberlayne (1894). Lacrimae Nicossienses : recueil d'inscriptions funéraires, la plupart françaises, existant encore dans l'île de Chypre, suivi d'un armorial chypriote et d'une description topographique et archéologique de la ville de Nicosie. Paris.
  2. 2.R. S. Merrillees (2009). “The modern history of the first Lambousa treasure of Byzantine silverware from Cyprus”. The Antiquaries Journal 89, 389-403. Online
  3. 3.Annie Caubet (1993). “Les antiquités chypriotes au Musée du Louvre”. Kinyras : l'archéologie française à Chypre. Lyon. Online
  4. 4.Alicia Marie Dissinger (2017). “Cypro-Archaic Bird Iconography: Types, Uses, and Meanings”. University of Virginia.
  5. 5.D. M. Metcalf (2009). Byzantine Cyprus 491-1191. Nicosia, Cyprus Research Centre.
  6. 6.Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert, Alexandra Bounia (2016). The Political Museum: Power, Conflict, and Identity in Cyprus. Routledge.
  7. 7.Veronica Tatton-Brown (ed.) (2001). Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: Fact, Fancy and Fiction. Oxford, Oxbow.
  8. 8.T. Kiely, R. S. Merrillees (2012). “The archaeological interests of Samuel Brown, government engineer, and his circle of acquaintances in late nineteenth-century Cyprus”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42, 245-272. Online
  9. 9.Thomas Kiely, Robert Merrillees (2021). “Tankerville James Chamberlayne: a singular pioneer in the revealing of Cyprus' past”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 51, 183-221. Online
  10. 10.J. Chrysostomides (ed.), Ch. Dendrinos (ed.) (2006). "Sweet Land..." Lectures on the History and Culture of Cyprus. Camberley, Porphyrogenitus.
  11. 11.C. N. Constantinides, R. Browning (1993). Dated Greek Manuscripts from Cyprus to the Year 1570. Nicosia and Washington, D.C., Cyprus Research Centre; Dumbarton Oaks.
  12. 12.P. Dikaios (1947). A Guide to the Cyprus Museum. Nicosia, Department of Antiquities. Online
  13. 13.P. Dikaios (1961). A Guide to the Cyprus Museum. Nicosia, Department of Antiquities.
  14. 14.A. Caubet, A. Hermary, V. Karageorghis (1992). Art antique de Chypre au Musée du Louvre: du Chalcolithique à l'époque romaine. Éditions Kapon; Réunion des Musées Nationaux; Fondation A. G. Leventis.
  15. 15.Annie Caubet (2012). “Les collections d'antiquités chypriotes au musée du Louvre”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42, 11-14.
  16. 16.Michael Walsh (2005). “A Gothic masterpiece in the Levant. Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Famagusta, North Cyprus”. Journal of Cultural Heritage 6, 1-6.