Coptic woman

A carte-de-visite portrait of a Coptic woman, or Christian Egyptian. According to tradition, the Coptic Orthodox Church is the Church of Alexandria that was established by Saint Mark, the apostle and evangelist, in the middle of the first century. It has been a distinct church body since the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE, when it took a different position over the precise nature of Christ from that of the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

An inked inscription verso in a period hand reads Femme copte / chretienne / Egypt 1869.

Photographer unidentified.