#diss

tattoo stamps in the collection of the musée du quai branly, seventeenth to nineteenth centuries

This tattoo stamp [the final image in this set] featuring the resurrection of Christ belonged to members of the Razzouk family, originally of Coptic descent, who had been tattooing pilgrims in the old city of Jerusalem for several hundred years; the business remains active today [as of 2014]. The studio maintained a collection of some hundreds of blocks of this kind, from which a pilgrim could choose a design, which would then be inked and stamped onto the skin as a guide to the tattooist.