Enfilade

George Dance, Front Elevation of a Library Chimney-piece for the 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, Lansdowne House, Berkeley Square, Westminster, ca. 1788–94; pen, sepia, raw umber, and crimson washes, shaded on laid paper laid down on (old) board with double-ruled border (London: Sir John Soane’s Museum, SM D3/3/3).

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Now on view at The Soane:

Egypt: Influencing British Design, 1775–2025

Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, 8 October 2025 — 18 January 2026

The mystery, romance, and aesthetic appeal of ancient Egypt has informed richly decorated Regency homes, Victorian factories and cemeteries, Art Deco cinemas, and twentieth-century houses, shops, and offices. This exhibition explores the British fascination with all things Egyptian through evocative drawings and books owned by Soane. Decorative objects including Wedgwood ceramics, Liberty Fabrics, and an Egyptian-style Singer sewing machine demonstrate the range of ways people have brought Egypt into their homes from Soane’s time to today.

This exhibition is accompanied by new work by Cairo-born artist Sara Sallam. As part of this exhibition, Sallam has produced A Tourist Handbook for Egypt outside of Egypt, Vol. II, London. Displayed in the Foyle Space in large scale, Sallam’s collages juxtapose photographs of London’s commemorative statues and imperial architecture with nineteenth-century paintings of correlating events in Egypt. Copies are available for purchase from the museum shop. Sallam’s second work, Eyes that Weep, Eyes that Pierce, is an audio tour, available exclusively on Bloomberg Connects, inspired by the sarcophagus of Seti I. Sallam invites you to listen closely to the Egyptian sky goddess Nut (seen inside the sarcophagus), her voice tracing the many eyes that have peered into Seti I’s sarcophagus across time.