The Final, Yet Not Least, Burial Chamber of Seti I

It has been a while since I last published a post about Egypt, and now, perhaps in the spirit of the Egyptian sense of rebirth, I have decided to give it a try.

Tomb KV17 in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings is the resting place of Pharaoh Seti I from the 19th Dynasty. It is also known as “Belzoni’s tomb,” “the Tomb of Apis,” and “the Tomb of Psammis, son of Necho.” As one of the most elaborately decorated tombs in the valley, it is now almost always closed to the public due to damage. The longest tomb in the valley, measuring 137.19 metres (450.10 feet), features well-preserved reliefs in all but two of its eleven chambers and side rooms.

Here is an excellent recount of this discovery by the esteemed Marie Grillot. I believe you will find it quite engaging.

Sources: Madain Project & Ancient Egypt Magazine

The Discovery of Seti I’s Alabaster Sarcophagus by Belzoni

via égyptophile

View of part of the collection of antiquities in Sir John Soane’s Museum from the head of the sarcophagus of Seti I
carved and incised calcite (Egyptian alabaster), with traces of ‘Egyptian blue’ filling – New Kingdom – 19th Dynasty – circa 1279 BC
discovered in October 1817 in the tomb of Seti I (KV 17) by Giovanni Battista Belzoni on behalf of Consul Henry Salt
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London – inventory no.: M470 (acquired in May 1824)
watercolour by Joseph Michael Gandy, dated September 9, 1825

On October 18, 1817, Giovanni Battista Belzoni discovered, in the Valley of the Kings, an immense tomb with walls covered in magnificent scenes. He was captivated by what lay before him… “I can call the day of this discovery one of the most fortunate of my life,” he recalled in “Travels in Egypt and Nubia.” “I judged, by the paintings on the ceiling and by the hieroglyphs in bas-relief that could be distinguished through the rubble, that we had gained access to a magnificent tomb.”

He could not have known then that this was the “first tomb to be decorated with a complete program of religious texts” (“Theban Mapping Project”), nor could he have presumed to whom it belonged…

Plan and section of the tomb of Seti I, based on plates illustrating the research and operations of G. Belzoni in Egypt and Nubia
© The Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum

In reference to the “carcass of a bull embalmed with asphalt” found there, it was called the “Tomb of the Apis” or, at times, the “Belzoni Tomb.” Then, due to a misinterpretation by Thomas Young, it was attributed to “Nichao and his son Psammis”; for Joseph Bonomi, it was the “Tomb of Oimeneptah I.” It was thanks to the deciphering of the hieroglyphs by Jean-François Champollion in 1822 that it could finally be identified as the tomb of Seti I. Originally from the Delta, the true founder of the 19th Dynasty, this military man, astute politician, and great builder reigned over the Two Lands for eleven years (1294 to 1279 BC). Very early on, he associated his son with the throne, who succeeded him as Ramses II.

Statue of Seti I – calcite (Egyptian alabaster) – 19th Dynasty
Discovered in March 1904 in the Karnak Cachette by Georges Legrain for the Antiquities Service directed by Gaston Maspero
Previously in the Cairo Museum – JE 36692 – CG 42139 – On display since 2007 at the Luxor Museum (Gallery J)

The hypogeum (which much later would be referenced as KV 17) descends 137 m into the Theban mountain through 7 corridors and has 10 rooms! Belzoni goes from wonder to wonder, and his admiration reaches its peak when he arrives in the sarcophagus room. “The paintings were all executed with such perfection that I felt compelled to call this room the Hall of Beauties… But what this room offered, to our eyes, was most important: a sarcophagus placed in the centre, which has no equal in the world. This magnificent tomb, measuring nine feet five inches long by three feet seven inches wide, is made of the finest oriental alabaster: being only two inches thick, it becomes transparent when a light is placed behind one of the walls; inside and out, it is covered with sculptures: these are hundreds of small figures, no more than two inches high, which represent—it seemed to me—the entire funeral procession of the deceased placed in the sarcophagus, as well as emblems, etc. Unfortunately, the lid was missing: it had been removed and broken, and we found some fragments of it during the excavations in front of the first entrance.”

View of the left side of the sarcophagus of Seti I, with the hypothetical location of the lid fragments
illustration by Joseph Michael Gandy dated 18 November 1825 – © The Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum

Belzoni was accustomed to perilous “manoeuvres”: it is worth recalling that, two years earlier, he had orchestrated the removal of the “Young Memnon,” which was taken from the Ramesseum and sent to the British Museum… But extricating the fragile sarcophagus from the tomb seemed an even more difficult task. He undertook it—after carefully assessing the risks—and apparently without neglecting to have his name engraved on the rim of the fragile coffin beforehand. “It was a very delicate operation because the walls of this tomb (sic) were so thin that the slightest shock could break them. However, it was removed from the underground chamber without incident and, as soon as it was outside, placed in a strong crate. The valley through which it had to be transported to reach the Nile offered more than two miles of uneven terrain, and one mile of flat ground, covered with sand and pebbles. We transported it by means of rollers, and we fortunately managed to load it,” recounts Jean-Jacques Fiechter in “The Harvest of the Gods” (quoting “epistolario”, letter no. 122).

Sarcophagus basin of Seti I – carved and incised calcite (Egyptian alabaster), with traces of ‘Egyptian blue’ filling.
New Kingdom – 19th Dynasty – circa 1279 BC – discovered in October 1817 in the tomb of Seti I (KV 17)
by Giovanni Battista Belzoni on behalf of Consul Henry Salt
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London – inventory number: M470 (acquired in May 1824) © The Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum

Upon his arrival in Egypt in June 1815, Belzoni, the “Titan of Padua,” had cultivated a close relationship with the French consul, Bernardino Drovetti, but ultimately entered the service of the British consul, Henry Salt, the following summer. In their quest for antiquities—the firmans they possessed granting them complete freedom in their excavations—the two “consul-collectors” were fierce rivals, and the term “War of the Consuls” is sometimes used. Henry Salt benefited from a substantial inheritance left to him by his father. This financial security allowed him to indulge his passion for ancient Egypt by building his own collection. Furthermore, he had an “official mission” to enrich the Egyptian department of the British Museum. Belzoni would become one of his most effective agents, not only in the field but also when it came to negotiating the sale of artefacts, even as far as London!

Henry Salt (Lichfield, UK – 14-6-1780 – Alexandria, Egypt – 30-10-1827)
Diplomat, British Consul in Egypt from 1816 to 1835, collector of antiquities

In 1821, after travelling down the Nile and reaching Alexandria, the alabaster sarcophagus was loaded onto the frigate HMS Diana, which sailed for Great Britain. Stored at the British Museum, it was offered to them along with the “first Salt collection.” Negotiations with the London museum, which had just acquired Lord Elgin’s Parthenon Marbles for £35,000, proved difficult. While Salt had hoped to get £8,000 from his collection, after lengthy and bitter discussions, he had to sell it to them for… £2,000! As for the sarcophagus, which he offered them for 2,000 pounds, Brian M. Fagan recalls in “The Rape of the Nile: Tomb Robbers, Tourists, and Archaeologists in Egypt”: “The administrators categorically rejected the offer of the sarcophagus, due to both legal difficulties and the excessively high price, despite protests from Salt and Belzoni that they had received higher offers from Drovetti and other buyers. Ultimately, the sarcophagus was sold for 2,000 pounds to John Soane, a wealthy London architect and art collector.”

Le sarcophage de Séthy Ier au Sir John Soane’s Museum, London © The Trustees of Sir John Soane’s Museum

This “eclectic” collector had been completely fascinated by Belzoni’s adventures, as well as by the exhibition “The Egyptian Tomb” (on the tomb of Seti I) that the latter organised, with his wife Sarah, at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London, and which he had visited on June 8, 1821… He would have to wait until May 12, 1824, to be able to acquire the sarcophagus, the purchase of which had been stubbornly refused by the British Museum…

In “Sir John Soane’s Greatest Treasure, The Sarcophagus of Seti I”, John H. Taylor recounts the installation of the sarcophagus in Soane’s house at Lincoln’s Inn Field on May 12, 1824: “The door being too narrow to allow it to pass through, a wide opening had to be made at the rear of the house, and ropes were used to lower it to the basement, beneath the Soane Dome, into a space named ‘the sepulchral chamber’ in his honor. It made a perfect centrepiece for the ‘crypt’ of Soane’s museum, perfectly reflecting his self-proclaimed ‘melancholy and sullen’ personality.”

A curatorial note from the Sir John Soane Museum, where it is displayed under inventory number M470, states: “This sarcophagus was acquired with, according to early records, 18 pieces of the lid (see X58 and X73; one of the pieces is actually part of a canopic jar and is now catalogued as museum number X74). The museum also has a cast of another piece of the lid displayed in 1961 (X164)… The sarcophagus consists of two monolithic alabaster blocks. It is inscribed over its entire surface with religious scenes and figures, which were then filled with a substance called ‘Egyptian blue’.” Although most of the blue filling has disappeared, traces remain here and there. The effect, when complete, must have been stunning… The Museum further explains that: “The Victorian display case that now protects the sarcophagus was installed in 1866. Previously, the coffin was displayed without a case, as Soane wished, simply mounted on four fluted columns. The display case, fitted with casters, can be disassembled into two parts. It was refurbished in 2007, and the thick Victorian glass, with its strong greenish tint, was removed for safety reasons and replaced with clear safety glass. This improved the sarcophagus’s visibility. The display case is now a museum piece in its own right. It has brilliantly protected this delicate sarcophagus—whose stone scratches easily and which could also be stained by water if the skylight above leaked—for over 150 years.” A brass frame now protects it…

This magnificent and imposing mummy-like coffin, whose lid, broken in antiquity, must have borne the image of the pharaoh, is 284.5 cm long, 111.8 cm wide at the shoulders, 68.6 cm high, and its thickness varies from 2.5 to 10.2 cm. It is illustrated with funerary texts and vignettes taken from the “Book of Gates,” which is divided into twelve sections, corresponding to the twelve hours of the night…

To understand the admiration aroused by such an artifact, John H. Taylor quotes an excerpt from a newspaper article in the “Morning Post” of April 22, 1824: “We believe that there is no country in Europe which would not be proud to possess such a rarity and that the Emperor of Russia, in particular, would rejoice to obtain it, if it were possible to buy it from the liberal and patriotic individual who is its present owner”…

Giovanni Battista Belzoni (Padua, 5-11-1778 – Timbuktu, 3-12-1823)
portrait published by his wife, Sarah, in 1824

As for Belzoni, who expressed his feelings about this exceptional piece thus: “Europe has never received from Egypt an ancient artefact of such magnificence,” he would be the big financial loser in the transactions… Indeed, as Brian M. Fagan reminds us, Henry Salt had promised him “half the price the sarcophagus would fetch above the paltry sum of two thousand pounds”… Not a single pound was ever paid to him…

Marie Grillot

Sources:
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, Sarcophagus of Pharaoh Seti (or Sety) I, resting on four fluted stone columns – c.1279 BC – XIXth Dynasty – Museum number: M470
http://collections.soane.org/object-m470
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, Case covering the sarcophagus of Seti I – 1866 – Museum number: M470.A
https://collections.soane.org/object-m470-a
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, Cast of a fragment of the lid of the sarcophagus of Seti I – Museum number: X164
https://collections.soane.org/object-x164
Sir John Soane’s Museum London, Fragment of the lid of the sarcophagus of Seti I – Museum number: X73.A.i (et suivants…)
https://collections.soane.org/object-x73-a-i
Brian M. Fagan, The Rape of the Nile: Tomb Robbers, Tourists, and Archaeologists in Egypt, Book Club Associates, 1975
https://books.google.fr/books?id=CI84DgAAQBAJ&pg=PT113&lpg=PT113&dq=exhibition%20Belzoni%20Seti%20Saint%20Petersburg&source=bl&ots=cpZJr4hXvf&sig=COEiL_SQlWBptDjwcsh4Hy9VOAc&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBuPvggZfZAhWFzaQKHdkuDgEQ6AEIUzAH#v=onepage&q=exhibition%20Belzoni%20Seti%20Saint%20Petersburg&f=false
Giovanni Battista Belzoni, Voyage en Égypte et en Nubie, Pygmalion, 1979
Jean-Jacques Fiechter, La moisson des Dieux, Julliard, 1994
Brian M. Fagan, L’aventure archéologique en Égypte : Grandes découvertes, pionniers célèbres, chasseurs de trésors et premiers voyageurs, Pygmalion, 1997
Nicholas Reeves, Les grandes découvertes de l’Égypte ancienne, Éditions du Rocher, 2001
Nicholas Reeves, Richard H. Wilkinson, The Complete Valley of the Kings, American University in Cairo Press, 2002
Jean Vercoutter, À la recherche de l’Égypte oubliée, Découvertes Gallimard, 2007
https://books.google.fr/books?id=2IJnkBDoBBwC&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=exposition+egypte+boulevard+des+italiens+1822+paris&source=bl&ots=Sv3a4SiBkH&sig=kSl3FSh1RFMI2DB2URr9y9raz1Y&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9juyw15TZAhULL8AKHVFcC7wQ6AEIaTAD#v=onepage&q=exposition%20egypte%20boulevard%20des%20italiens%201822%20paris&f=false
John H. Taylor, Sir John Soane’s Greatest Treasure, The Sarcophagus of Seti I, Pimpernel Press Ltd, 2017
Pierre Tallet, Frédéric Payraudeau, Chloé Ragazzolli, Claire Somaglino, L’Égypte pharaonique, histoire, société, culture, Armand Colin, 2019
Theban Mapping Project, KV 17, Sety I
https://thebanmappingproject.com/tombs/kv-17-sety-i

Divine Earrings for a Truly Extraordinary Pharaoh

These earrings are the most striking of the four pairs found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. The ducks with outstretched wings create a circular shape, and their feet hold the shen symbol. The head is made of translucent blue glass, while the wing is crafted in cloisonné.

Earrings-of-Tutankhamun-with-Duck-Heads via https://egypt-museum.com/

Hanging below the duck are gold and blue glass beads, each featuring five uraei (rearing cobras). The earrings show a high level of aesthetic sophistication, and the duck held a particular erotic significance.

Let’s appreciate and enjoy Marie Grillot‘s vivid portrayal of this captivating divine gem.

(It’s clear I am not happy about naming a character in this article, but I am committed to getting the translation right; just to mention!)

Tutankhamun’s Blue Bird Earrings

via égyptophile

Bluebird Earrings – Gold, glass, quartz, travertine, faience – 18th Dynasty
From the treasure chamber of Tutankhamun’s tomb, discovered in November 1922
by Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings (KV 62)
Ref.: Carter 269a(1) – JE 61969-a – GEM 485

These “bluebird earrings,” as Christiane Desroches Noblecourt aptly called them, and these “gold-encrusted earrings in the shape of an ousekh necklace with a blue glass falcon,” as Zahi Hawass describes them, are one of five pairs found in Tutankhamun’s treasure.

The “Blue Bird” Earrings – gold, glass, quartz, travertine, faience – 18th Dynasty
In the rectangular box 269a, placed in chest 269
From the treasure chamber of Tutankhamun’s tomb, discovered in November 1922
by Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings (KV 62)
Ref.: Carter 269a(1) – JE 61969-a – GEM 485-a
The Griffith Institute – Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
The Howard Carter Archives – Photographs by Harry Burton

They had all been deposited in a rectangular box (number 269a) placed in a charming wooden chest (number 269). Shaped like a cartouche, it is topped with a flat lid, decorated with the king’s birth name written in delicate colored hieroglyphs. It can be identified, “in situ”, in the photos taken by Harry Burton in the “Treasury Room” whose “official opening” took place on February 17, 1923.

With a height of 12.1 cm and a width of 4.4 cm, these earrings are made of “gold, glass paste, translucent blue glass and pale orange-white-blue melted glass” for Christiane Desroches Noblecourt. At the same time, Zahi Hawass sees, instead, in the gold inlays, besides the glass, quartz, travertine and earthenware…

Their heavy and imposing suspension system consists of two tubes, one sliding inside the other, which are passed through the lobe involving an extensive “perforation”. These two elements “are decorated on both sides: at the rear, a hemispherical boss (0.85 cm, diam.) of translucent quartz lined with pigment; at the front, a hemispherical boss (0.95 cm, diam.) of translucent quartz supported by a pigment, forming a solar disk, with two uraei” specify Howard Carter and Alfred Lucas.

The central element consists of a bird with outstretched wings curved inwards, which makes them meet almost forming a circle. They are, like the body, worked according to the cloisonné method… For Zahi Hawass: “The wings of the falcon, and the details at the place where they meet, form a large collar called usekh”.

The bird’s head, which does not resemble that of a falcon, cannot but raise questions, just as it raised questions for Howard Carter: “It is interesting to note that the sun falcon, Herakhtes, has, for some inexplicable reason, the head of a mallard (Anas boscas) in semi-translucent blue glass”…

The bird’s legs are almost horizontal and the talons enclose a shen sign, a symbol of eternity…

The “Blue Bird” Earrings – gold, glass, quartz, travertine, faience – 18th Dynasty – at the time of their discovery
from the treasure chamber of Tutankhamun’s tomb, discovered in November 1922
by Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings (KV 62)
ref.: carter 269a(1) – JE 61969-a – GEM 485-a
The Griffith Institute – Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
The Howard Carter Archives – Photographs by Harry Burton

Under its tail, a slightly curved gold plate, decorated with pellets, serves as a hook for the lower part of the loops. It is composed of curious “flexible hanging appendages, composed of openwork plates with a geometric pattern interlaced by five rows of blue and gold cylindrical beads, ending in five uraei heads” (“Tutankhamun and his era”)… When discovered, as Harry Burton’s photos show, these “tassels” were fragmentary and in poor condition… A successful restoration has restored them to their original appearance.

Howard Carter noted that these ear ornaments had signs of wear, indicating that they had been worn, most likely until adolescence, by the young king… He did note, during the examination of Tutankhamun’s mummy, that his earlobes were pierced. In “The Tomb of Tutankhamun – The Annexe and Treasury”, he adds this interesting detail: “The gold mask that covered his head also had pierced earlobes, but the holes had been carefully filled with small discs of thin gold leaf, suggesting a desire to conceal this fact”…

Bluebird Earrings – Gold, glass, quartz, travertine, faience – 18th Dynasty
From the treasure chamber of Tutankhamun’s tomb, discovered in November 1922
by Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings (KV 62)
Ref.: Carter 269a(1) – JE 61969-a – GEM 485-a
The Griffith Institute – Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
The Howard Carter Archives – Photographs by Harry Burton

This pair of earrings, Carter 269a(1), has been transferred to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where it was recorded in the Journal of Entries under the reference JE 61969. Its new reference at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza is GEM 485-a.

It should be noted that one of the earrings was featured in the exhibition “Tutankhamun, the Pharaoh’s Treasure”, whose initial worldwide tour, which began in 2018, was reduced to Los Angeles, Paris, and London due to the pandemic.

Marie Grillot

Sources:

The Griffith Institute – Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation – The Howard Carter Archives – Description in Murray-Nuttall Handlist – Pair of ear-rings – JE 61969; Card/Transcription No.: 269a1-1
http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/269a(1)-c269a1-1.html
http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/269a(1)-p1471.html
Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, Life and Death of a Pharaoh, Hachette, 1963
Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, Tutankhamun and His Time, Petit Palais, Paris, 17 February-July 1967, Ministry of State for Cultural Affairs, 1967
Cyril Aldred, Jewels of the Pharaohs, ed. Thames & Hudson Ltd., London, 1978
Nicholas Reeves, Tutankhamun: Life, Death, and Discovery of a Pharaoh, Editions Errance, 2003
Howard Carter, The Tomb of Tutankhamun, Volume 3: The Annexe and Treasury, Bloomsbury, London, 2014
Marc Gabolde, Tutankhamun: Pygmalion, 2015
Zahi Hawass, Exhibition Catalogue “Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh,” IMG Melcher Media, 2018

A Delicate, Feminine Perception of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptian history is undeniably captivating, and exploring it with a hint of femininity makes it even more alluring.

By Myrtle Florence Broome (Self Portrait). Original publication: unknown immediate source- Wiki. Fair use!

Myrtle Florence Broome (22 February 1888 – 27 January 1978) was a British Egyptologist and artist renowned for her illustrated collaboration with Amice Calverley on the Temple of Seti I at Abydos, as well as her paintings that captured the essence of Egyptian village life during the 1920s and 1930s. She was born on 22 February 1888 in Muswell Hill, London, to Eleanor Slater and Washington Herbert Broome. Broome studied art at a school in Bushey founded by Sir Hubert von Herkomer. From 1911 to 1913, she attended University College London, where she earned a Certificate in Egyptology under the guidance of Sir Flinders Petrie and Margaret Murray.

Broome, Myrtle Florence; Egyptian Girl with a Harp; Bushey Museum and Art Gallery;

I was pleasantly surprised to come across this old post from the égyptophile site, and am excited to share this beautiful story about two women and their love for ancient Egyptian magic with you.

Broome, Myrtle Florence; A Young Egyptian Woman in Finery with Jewellery; Bushey Museum and Art Gallery;

Therefore, I included the slogan of the Iranian women’s and men’s revolution, #WomanLifeFreedom, in this post, as it symbolises not only the struggle for freedom in Iran but also resonates worldwide.

By Marie Grillot, with my sincere thanks.

Myrtle Florence Broome, Egyptologist and… artist

via égyptophile

Florence Broome, Egyptologist and Painter
London, February 22, 1888 – Bushey, January 27, 1978 – Self-portrait on the right
and, on the left, a copy of her extraordinary work at Abydos:
“King Sethos receives life and dominion from the goddess Saosis” (detail)

Along with Nina de Garis Davies, Marcelle Baud, and Amice Calverley, Myrtle Florence Broome is undoubtedly one of the most gifted copyists to have worked in Egypt during the first half of the 20th century.

Myrtle was born in London’s Muswell Hill neighbourhood on February 22, 1888, into a family of music book publishers. However, it was in Bushey, Hertfordshire, that she spent much of her life, and it was there that she studied at the Beaux-Arts, developing her talents for drawing and painting.

In 1911, she joined University College London, where she studied Egyptology under the guidance of two eminent professors, Flinders Petrie and Margaret Murray, who would become the first female Egyptologists.

During the two years of classes taught by Margaret Murray, what she ironically called “the gang” was formed: it included Myrtle Broome, Guy and Winfried Brunton, Reginald (Rex) Engelbach, and Georginan Aitken, all of whom went on to have distinguished careers in Egyptology (Rex would become curator of the Cairo Museum of Antiquities).

Margaret Murray’s influence on Myrtle was undoubtedly significant, and it seems likely that she encouraged her to develop and exploit her artistic talents professionally.

Myrtle Florence Broome (left) and Amice Calverley posing in front of their “copies”

In 1927, Myrtle was at the Qau el-Kebir site, where she conducted epigraphic surveys of Middle Kingdom tombs and copied their scenes.

In 1929, she was recruited by the Egypt Exploration Society and joined Amice Calverley at Abydos. This marked the beginning of a fruitful, beautiful, and enriching collaboration that would culminate in a deep and lasting friendship.

They will spend eight seasons together, eight excellent seasons in the temple and the Osereion. The task is complex, and the concentration is extreme because recording the scenes requires very particular attention, with no room left for personal interpretation. All this in rather “primitive” working conditions, sometimes perched on ladders more than 10 m above the ground and in often oppressive heat! The Abydos team is very quickly enriched by a Canadian Egyptologist and an Austrian photographer who also do excellent work, while good humour reigns.

James Henry Breasted was at a loss for words to praise their talent and admitted that it seemed impossible to find more expert and brilliant women.

The result was published in four volumes edited between 1933 and 1958 by the Egypt Exploration Society of London and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, with the financial support of John D. Rockefeller Jr. A remarkable work, of unparalleled quality, and—but?—so beautiful that it remained, in a way, almost confidential for fear of damaging the plates!

Myrtle Florence Broome’s house during her work at Abydos

The time spent in Abydos was undoubtedly one of the happiest periods of Myrtle’s life. In the small, low-rise house she lived in—and which we can see in one of her paintings—she had: “a housekeeper whom she nicknamed Nannie and a villager, called Sadiq, who served as her advisor, bodyguard, and personal assistant. Life was frugal, however, and Myrtle took great care not to exceed their allotted budget.”

Accompanied by Sadiq, Amice, and Myrtle, they took several short trips in Amice’s car to the Red Sea, Kharga, and Dakhla. Myrtle’s paintings vividly depict the desert’s colours, with shades of pink, brown, and subtle hints of golden beige.

Amice Calverley on a painting by Myrtle Florence Broome, created during one of their many “expeditions” to Egypt
(c) Bushey Museum and Art Gallery; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

We feel that she loved these landscapes infinitely, that she was imbued with their colours and their light. One of her paintings is particularly touching and gives a beautiful idea of what their escapades must have been like: we see Amice sitting on a mat, near her car, taking notes in the middle of the desert! We must put ourselves in context: these two women were adventurers and pioneers!

Myrtle Florence Broome, “The Pharaoh Seti I worshipping the god Osiris
from the Temple of Seti I at Abydos”

Their joint mission to Abydos ended due to World War II, but they remained close until Amice’s death in April 1959.

During these seasons away from home, Myrtle wrote many letters to her family; they constitute a beautiful testimony to her life, her perspective on things, and her way of sharing them. Some of her correspondence has been deposited at the Griffith Institute in Oxford.

Myrtle Florence Broome and her dogs at Abydos

From Egypt, she brought back not only paintings, but also photographs from which one can only realise that, in addition to her immense talents and her incredible intelligence, she was also a charming woman. Her very successful self-portrait confirms this, showing us a regular face with a certain nobility in its bearing and an expressive, frank gaze. Of her love life, we know little except for a barely sketched romance with a policeman, which she immediately renounced, convinced that “in any case, it could not have worked.”

Upon her return to England in 1937, she apparently devoted herself entirely to her parents, and especially to her ailing father…

Myrtle “passed away” on January 27, 1978… And suppose you still want to know more about this artist. In that case, you can consult her archives on the Griffith Institute website or refer to the book, published in November 2020 by AUC Press: “An Artist in Abydos: The Life and Letters of Myrtle Broome” by Lee Young, with a preface by Peter Lacovara.

Marie Grillot

Myrtle Florence Broome, Egyptian Village Scenes

Sources :
M.L. Bierbrier, editor, “Who Was Who in Egyptology”, third revised edition, London, 1995. Calverley, Amice Mary (1896-1959)”
“Obituary notice: Myrtle Florence Broome (1887-1978)”, by John Ruffle
“The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos copied by Amice M. Calverley, with the Assistance of Myrtle F. Broome and edited by Alan H. Gardiner”, London: The Egypt Exploration Society; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1933-58, Vols. 1-4
“The Life of Margaret Alice Murray: A Woman’s Work in Archaeology”, Kathleen L. Sheppard
“Amice Calverley”, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 45 (1959),85-87, Janet Leveson-Gower

Collection Broome MSS – Myrtle Florence Broome Collection https://archive.griffith.ox.ac.uk/index.php/broome-correspondence

“An Artist in Abydos, The Life And Letters Of Myrtle Broome”, by Lee Young, Foreword By Peter Lacovara, AUC Press, November 2020, 248 p.

A Compact Divine Container for Deities.

The naos of Kasa in the Turin Egyptian Museum is renowned for its elegance and uniqueness. It acts as a portable chapel for Anukis and the Elephantine triad gods—Khnum and Satis—who govern the Nile flood. The inscription: “Adoring Anukis, lady of Sehel, kissing the ground for Satis, lady of Elephantine. May she grant you life, strength, ability, favour, love, and a beautiful tomb after old age, along with a burial in the district of the chosen in the great West of Thebes—the district of the just—for the servant on the Seat of Truth, Kasa, justified.

A votive naos is a small, portable shrine made of wood or stone in ancient Egyptian religion, housing statues of gods. These miniature temples were placed at sacred sites, such as temples and tombs, for votive offerings—objects dedicated to gods as prayers or expressions of gratitude.

The image at the top: Votive naos of Kasa, via Wikimedia Commons

Let’s enjoy the incredible story about this magic box, thanks to the brilliant Marie Grillot.

The votive naos (shrine) of the House.

via égyptophile

Votive naos of Kasa – painted wood – 19th dynasty – 1292 – 1190 BC BC – from Deir el-Medineh
Egyptian Museum of Turin – Cat. 2446 (by acquisition from the Drovetti Collection in 1822) – museum photo

Dating from the 19th Dynasty (1292 – 1190 BC) and coming from Deir el-Medineh, the charming “naos of Kasa” is 33.5 cm high, 18 cm wide and 33 cm deep. Made of stuccoed and painted wood, its façade takes the form of a temple with a portico with two columns. Inscribed with hieroglyphs, their “hathoric” capital offers a charming face of the goddess with large eyes surrounded by kohol and an imposing black wig. On her head is an abacus serving partly as a support for a coved cornice decorated with a series of vertical blue-green, blue-red bands. The “body” of the chapel is rectangular in shape: its lower part rests on a sledge while the upper part also takes the form of a coved cornice with painted bands.

The front reveals a charming double door painted in red ochre with black frames. The door is closed by two round black knobs located in the upper third. Above each knob is a “frame” containing four columns of hieroglyphs. The interior consists of two compartments of unequal height.

Both sides and the back of the chapel are covered with scenes painted in several registers. The majority of them are dedicated to the “Triad of the First Cataract,” or “Elephantine Triad,” associating the god Khnum with the goddesses Satis and Anuket (Anoukis). The latter is generally presented as “the daughter of the divine couple” or “the wife of the god.” In “Ancient Egypt and its Gods”, Jean-Pierre Corteggiani specifies that one of her titles is: “Mistress of To-Seti, that is to say of Nubia; she is sometimes called the Nubian, although there is no proof that she is really from this region, one of her functions is to guard the southern border of Egypt”… And he adds “If it is up to Satis, assimilated to Sothis, to make the beneficial flow rise, it falls to Anoukis the equally essential task of making it decrease and thus to allow, after the flood recedes, seeds to germinate and vegetation to grow on the land freed by the waters”.

Anouket’s primary attribute, which makes her immediately identifiable, is her tall and generous headdress made of ostrich feathers… As for Satis, she wears the white crown adorned with two antelope or gazelle horns…

On this chapel is inscribed this powerful prayer: “Worship Anouket, mistress of Sehel, kiss the earth of Satis, mistress of Elephantine. May she grant life, strength, skill, favour, love, and a beautiful burial after old age and burial in the district of the praised in the great West of Thebes, the district of the righteous, to the servant of the Place of Truth, Kasa, justified.”

The back of the naos reveals Kasa, kneeling, arms raised in worship, a prevalent iconography in Deir el-Medineh… “The texts inscribed on this small chapel also cite the name of the god Amun, ‘the beloved god who listens to prayers, who helps the orphan, who saves from shipwreck'” specifies Marcella Trapani, in the “Catalogue of the Museo Egizio”. And she adds: “In all likelihood, this naos was originally placed in Kasa’s house”…

The question, of course, arises as to what it contained. In the study she devotes to it in BIFAO 72, Dominique Valbelle offers this analysis: “The original contents of this naos are also mysterious. The interior, as we have seen, is divided into two unequal compartments by a small shelf. There is therefore very little space left above to house a statuette or some other ‘ex voto’…”

Was Kasa originally from the First Cataract region? In any case, he was a member of the royal institution of “Set Maât her imenty Ouaset” (“the Place of Truth to the west of Thebes”, present-day Deir el-Medineh). Founded at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty under the reign of Thutmose I, this “corporation” brought together architects, scribes, painters, sculptors, quarrymen, etc., responsible for digging and decorating the eternal dwellings of the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, and even more distant necropolises. They lived as a family in this “fortified” village, composed of stone houses with palm-leaf roofs, places of worship, and a hillside necropolis. “The fact that we often refer to them as ‘workers’ sometimes tends to give credence to the misconception that the community of the village of Deir el-Medineh was at the lowest level of Egyptian society. In fact, these men were artisans, most of them highly skilled and distinguished for their expertise,” explains Pierre Grandet in “The Artists of Pharaoh, Deir el-Medineh and the Valley of the Kings”…

From its creation to its decline at the end of the Ramesside period, this “microcosm” left a wealth of evidence of considerable importance… It is expressed at various levels: daily life, society, architecture, art, writing, or even in the “intimacy” of the “repertoire” of their eternal homes and in the funerary trousseaux rich in lessons that they contained…

This naos, which is an exceptional piece, arrived at the Egyptian Museum in Turin in 1822, through the acquisition of the Drovetti Collection: it was registered under the inventory number Cat. 2446. In the work cited above, Marcella Trapani indicates that it came from tomb no. 10 of Deir el-Medineh, which “Porter & Moss” actually attributes to “Penbuy and Kasa” and dates from the reign of Ramses II…

Marie Grillot

Sources:

Votive naos of Kasa
https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/it-IT/material/Cat_2446/?description=Naos+votivo+di+Kasa&inventoryNumber=&title=&cgt=&yearFrom=&yearTo=&materials=&provenance=&acquisition=&epoch=&dynasty=&pharaoh=
Bertha Porter, Rosalind L. B. Moss, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, And Paintings – I. The Theban Necropolis Part 1. Private Tombs, Second edition revised and augmented – Griffith Institute Ashmolean Museum Oxford, 1960, pp.19-21
http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/topbib/pdf/pm1-1.pdf
Ernest Scamuzzi, Egyptian art at the Turin Museum, Hachette, 1966
Dominique Valbelle, The Naos of Kasa at the Turin Museum, Bulletin of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology 72, 1972, pp. 179-194
The Egyptian Museum, Turin, Federico Garolla Editore, 1988
Isabelle Franco, Dictionary of Egyptian Mythology, Pygmalion, 1999
Guillemette Andreu, The Pharaoh’s Artists, Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Kings, exhibition catalogue, Turnhout, RMN, Brepols, 2002
Guillemette Andreu, Florence Gombert, Deir el-Medina: The Pharaoh’s Craftsmen, RMN, Hazan, 2002
Eleni Vassilika, Art Treasures from the Egyptian Museum, Allemandi & Co, 2006
Jean-Pierre Corteggiani, Ancient Egypt and its Gods, Fayard, 2007
Egyptian Museum Guide, Franco Cosimo Panini Editions, 2015
Hanane Gaber, Laure Bazin Rizzo, Frédéric Servajean, At work we know the artisan… of Pharaoh! – A century of French research in Deir el-Medina (1917-2017), 2018, Silvana Editoriale
Guillemette Andreu, Dominique Valbelle, Guide to Deir el-Medina. A village of artists, Cairo, French Institute of Oriental Archaeology, IFAO Cairo, 2022

An Incredible Discovery! The Journey of a Clear and Radiant Stele, Unveiling the Beauty of Princess Nefertiabet.

This relief stele from Princess Nefertiabet’s tomb (G 1225) in Giza depicts her and other relatives of the king, including Nefertiabet, daughter of Khufu. She is shown seated, facing to the right, depicted with a long wig and a panther-skin garment.

An offering table before her holds customary reeds and various food items. Below are linen and ointment on the left, and bread, beer, oryx, and bull on the right. A linen list is displayed beside the slab.

Stele of Princess Nefertiabet and her food offerings
Egypt Museum

Now, I would like to share an excellent description of the discovery of this beautiful ancient artwork by the brilliant Marie Grillot.

The stele of Nefertiabet: from its mastaba in Giza to the Louvre Museum

via égyptophile

Stele depicting Princess Nefertiabet before her funeral meal – painted limestone – reign of Khufu (4th Dynasty)
Discovered by Montague Ballard in 1902 in mastaba G 1225 at Giza
Entered into the Louvre Museum in 1938 by the gift of L., I. and A. Curtis – E 15591

In 1901-1902, Montague Ballard, a British brewer, obtained an excavation permit at the Giza site. He stayed there for only a very short time, but it was long enough to make some interesting discoveries. In 1902, in the western cemetery, he discovered a mastaba, which would be referenced as G 1225, that notably contained the “Stele of Nefertiabet,” named after its “owner.”

Most of the artefacts discovered during his mission were subsequently dispersed. Three pieces from the mastaba ended up in Arthur Sambon’s collection. They were then put up for sale on May 25, 1914, in Paris by the expert Jacob Hirsch. The stele seems to correspond to the object presented under No. 2 of the “Stone Sculptures of Egyptian Art.” Did it then pass into other hands? In any case, it was later found in the possession of an aesthete and art lover: Atherton Curtis.

Born in New York in 1863, he settled in Paris in 1904, where he “brought and continually increased his collection.” In “La Grande Nubiade,” Christiane Desroches Noblecourt recalls: “Among the most prestigious donors (to the Louvre), not only for the Egyptian department but for all the others, was Atherton Curtis. He wanted to add to his name that of Louise, his first wife, who died prematurely, and that of the second, who was also passionate about all antiquities, Ingeborg.” The stele entered the Louvre in 1938 through the “Curtis Bequest.” It was during the November 8, 1938 meeting of the Council of National Museums that Charles Boreux, Curator of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities, informed “the Council of the immediate gift, by Mr. and Mrs. Atherton Curtis, of three magnificent pieces of sculpture included in the donation subject to usufruct that they made to the Louvre a few months earlier. These are a painted limestone group representing King Amenhotep and Queen Nofertiti, a group from the Old Kingdom, and finally a polychrome bas-relief in the name of Princess Nofritabtj.” He died in 1943, and the stele was then permanently housed at the Louvre, registered under the reference E 15591.

Measuring 37.70 cm high, 52.50 cm wide, and 8.30 cm thick, it is made of painted limestone. It belongs to the category known as “slab stelae,” which are in fact “slabs embedded in the walls of funerary chapels” and which represent the oldest reliefs in Giza.

Stele depicting Princess Nefertiabet before her funeral meal – reign of Khufu (4th Dynasty), painted limestone
discovered by Montague Ballard in 1902 in mastaba G 1225 at Giza
entered the Louvre Museum in 1938 by the Donation of L., I. and A. Curtis – E 15591 – photo © 2013 Musée du Louvre / Christian Décamps

While the scene depicted is relatively common in Old Kingdom funerary iconography, its quality and the finesse of its execution remain exceptional. This suggests that it was likely executed in the workshops of Pharaoh Khufu. This could also be explained by the fact that Nefertiabet was either “the daughter or sister of the great pharaoh” or, according to another interpretation, “probably a sister of King Khufu and a daughter of Snefru.”

The rectangular surface is surrounded by a plain band standing out in slight relief. Nefertiabet is depicted alone facing her eternal meal. She is on the left side, seated on a delightful bull-legged stool, the back of which is decorated with a papyrus umbel.

Slim, fine, slender, her “yellow skin colour is well preserved,” and she is particularly elegant. Her panther-skin dress is held together, on the left, by “seven red shoulder knots, all applied with paint,” while on the right, the shoulder is bare. The garment stops above the ankles, revealing the bracelets that adorn them, while her bare feet rest flat on the ground.

Her perfectly profiled face is highlighted by a long, black, tripartite wig, which covers a large part of her forehead but leaves her ears visible. Her large eyes are rimmed with kohl, and her nose and mouth are of ideal proportions; only her neck, adorned with a necklace, appears a little short. “The face expresses the ideal of feminine beauty at the time of the pyramids: slightly rounded forehead, fine, straight nose, delicately contoured lips and nostrils, and a rounded throat” (Christiane Ziegler, “Egypt at the Louvre”).

Her left arm rests, hand flat, on her right breast, while her right arm is held alongside her body, hand outstretched towards “a white stone footed tray, placed on a cylindrical terracotta support, and covered with slices of cake with a golden crust and white crumb”.

The quality of the carved and painted hieroglyphs that “document” the stele is of total perfection, as proven by the precision of execution of the libation ewer, the animal heads, and even the birds,…

Above Nefertiabet’s head, “an inscription in large hieroglyphs enhanced with colour specifies her name and title; one will particularly admire the reed and the duck, meaning respectively ‘king’ and ‘daughter’… All around (the pedestal table) hieroglyphic signs and images immortalise the offerings necessary for her survival that the inscription wishes her thousands of: duck with its head cut off; head, foreleg and rib of beef; jug of wine. Above the table, two lines of hieroglyphs, arranged in a frame, list the products of the funerary ritual (incense, ointment, green and black makeup) as well as fruits and drinks: figs, jujubes, carobs, beer, and wine. The entire right-hand side is occupied by lists listing thousands of pieces of fabric, undoubtedly necessary for mummification, with their quality and length, as specified by Christiane Ziegler in the work cited above.

One might rightly wonder how this stele, which dates from 2590-2565 BC and is therefore more than 4,500 years old, has reached us in such a well-preserved state. Here is part of the explanation: “This stele was sealed on the outer wall of its tomb in Giza, at the foot of the Great Pyramid. Later walled up, it was protected from the wear and tear of time and men.

In his study “Slab Stelae of the Giza Necropolis” published in 2003, Peter Der Manuelian specifies however that: “The remains of the original mud-brick chapel have not been preserved and the exact location of the slab stela could not be determined due to the destruction of this part of the mastaba wall by Ballard”…

But at the Louvre, in the heart of the prestigious Parisian museum – precisely on the first floor of the Sully wing, in room 635 dedicated to the Old Kingdom – Nefertiabet remains very much alive, adorned with everything fundamental to ensure her a long, very long eternity…

Marie Grillot

Sources:

Stele of Nefertiabet
https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010005261
Jacob Hirsch, Expert, Catalogue of Works of Art and High Curiosities…, Faience…, Saxon Porcelain,… Egyptian and Greek Sculptures…, Persian Manuscripts…, Old Paintings… Forming the Collection of Mr. Arthur Sambon… Sale: May 25-28, 1914, Imprimerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1914
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k12478139/f12.item.r=tombeau
Charles Boreux, The Atherton Curtis Donation, Bulletin des musées de France, November 1938
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k58649569/f8.image.r=curtis?rk=21459;2
Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, The Great Nubian or the Journey of an Egyptologist, Stock, 1992
Guillemette Andreu, Marie-Hélène Rutschowscaya, Christiane Ziegler, Ancient Egypt at the Louvre, Hachette, 1997
Christiane Ziegler, Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1999, p. 20, 207-208, notice no. 54.
Peter Der Manuelian, Slab Stelae of the Giza Necropolis, The Peabody Museum of Natural History of Yale University, The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, New Haven and Philadelphia, 2003
http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/search-results/?q=1225
Morris L. Bierbrier, Who Was Who in Egyptology, London, Egypt Exploration Society, 2012
Campbell Price, Ancient Egypt, Pocket Museum, Thames & Hudson, 2018

The Golden Face of an Egyptian General

The burial chamber was below ground and housed and protected the body and spirit. The mortuary chapel was above ground and was accessible to visitors who would perform rites and make offerings of food and drink for the dead person.

Egyptian burial chambers resembled secret galleries meant to remain unseen, filled with stunning artwork for an elite audience—the gods. Art could transport individuals, connecting the mortal and the immortal, freeing them from the silence of death.

Tomb art was sacred and magical, controlling chaotic forces threatening universal order. Whether mass-produced or commissioned, painting, sculpture, carving, and writing upheld order by invoking the gods to ensure safe passage and eternal sustenance for the deceased in the afterlife. Tombs in ancient Egypt

However, despite all this, here is a brilliant article by Marie Grillot about an undamaged treasure of ancient Egypt.

The Golden Mask of General Oundebaounded

via: égyptophile

Mask of General Oundebaounded – gold – 21st Dynasty
Discovered in his tomb (NRT III) in Tanis in 1946 by Pierre Montet and his team
Egyptian Museum, Cairo – JE 87753

The untouched tomb of General Oundebaounded was discovered in Tanis in 1946 by the team of Pierre Montet, known as “The Man from Tanis. “

It was Pierre Lézine, an architect newly arrived on the mission, who noticed a particular spot in the tomb of Psusennes I where the thickness of a wall appeared abnormal.

Under the initially sceptical eye of his colleagues, he undertook additional surveys that confirmed his intuitions.

In “The Discovery of the Treasures of Tanis”, Georges Goyon recounts: “It was then that a tiny room appeared, with no exit, containing, intact, as if embedded in its socket, a beautiful pink granite sarcophagus. The limestone walls were covered with brightly coloured paintings depicting ritual scenes and inscriptions.” This sarcophagus would turn out to be a ‘re-use’: having initially been dedicated to a priest of Amun of Thebes, it had been modified for its new ‘occupant’…

Detail of the east wall of the Oundebaounded burial chamber (NRT III) – Montet Archives, 1946

Pierre Montet explains: “The Oundebaounded vault contained only the sarcophagus and the four canopic jars. Everything was in the sarcophagus. The mummy, dressed in its finery, was first enclosed in a silver coffin, and this in a gilded wooden coffin. When the gilded wooden coffin had been introduced into the granite basin, three paterae and a cup were placed on the lid, as well as a sword, a sceptre, and several walking sticks. The extreme humidity that reigns throughout the necropolis caused the complete destruction of everything made of wood. The gilded wooden coffin was nothing more than a pile of dead leaves. The silver coffin itself was partly eaten away.”

The pink granite sarcophagus of Oundebaounded (left), on display outside the French Mission house in Tanis

On his face was this magnificent mask, reminiscent of Sheshonq II’s. 22 cm high, it is carved from a thick sheet of gold and decorated with glass paste inlays. In ancient Egypt, gold was imbued with power: this metal was not only assimilated to the flesh of the gods, but it was also supposed to ensure the protection of the deceased.

In “The Wonders of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo,” Silvia Einaudi gives this beautiful description: “The mask covered the face, neck, and ears of the sovereign, and stopped at the forehead where six perforated tabs allowed it to be attached to the mummy’s head. The eyes, miraculously intact, are made of glass paste of different colours inserted into the metal cavities: white for the eyeball and black for the pupil. The eyebrows and the outline of the eyes were made using the same technique. The nose is almost perfectly shaped. The lips are narrow and full. The ears are not symmetrical, and the left is more prominent than the right. The mask is an idealised portrait of Oundebaounded, depicted as a young man with a serene and tranquil expression, underlined by a barely marked smile.

Examination of the General’s mummy revealed that he had joined the Ialou Fields when he was about fifty years old. Georges Goyon specifies that he was: “of slender build, perhaps of Nubian race, as evidenced by the long bones and relatively small head.”

General Oundebaounded’s swimming hook – silver and gold – 21st Dynasty
Discovered in his tomb (NRT III) in Tanis in 1946 by Pierre Montet and his team
Exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo – JE 87742

For eternity, he was surrounded by gold jewellery, amulets, precious dishes (among them the magnificent patera with swimmers), statuettes, … all of an extreme quality and a wealth worthy of a pharaoh… Who was he to enjoy such recognition?

The name of this close government associate was not unknown to the mission members, as several of his funerary statuettes, made of bronze and earthenware, had been found, as early as 1939, near the sarcophagus of the Pharaoh Sheshonq. Furthermore, a sword bearing his name had also been deposited near Psusennes.

Georges Goyon presents him to us thus: “He was not a person of royal blood, but a high priest of Khonsu and Chief of the Archers of Pharaoh. He was also invested with the important title of Superior of the Prophets-of-all-the-gods, which seemed to correspond to that of minister of worship. It was King Psusennes I who had elevated him to these high functions…. One of his most curious titles was that of “Sole-appointed-to-the-praise-of-the-great”, whose duty was to present the holders to the king during the reward ceremonies.”

One can imagine the aura Oundebaounded must have held at court, and thus understand why he was buried so close to the sovereigns…

The entire treasure contained in his tomb was sent shortly after, under police escort, to the Cairo Museum. The funerary mask was recorded in the Journal of Entries under reference JE 87753.

It is interesting to note that Pierre Montet reports that statuettes – ushabtis – bearing the General’s name were found on the antiques market. “Sixteen servants were nevertheless soon recovered in the trade… In total, we currently know of around forty listed in other Institutes and private collections.”

Marie Grillot

Sources:

Georges Goyon, The Discovery of the Treasures of Tanis, 1987
Tanis: Gold of the Pharaohs, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, March 26 – July 20, 1987
Francesco Tiradritti, Treasures of Egypt – The Wonders of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo
National Geographic, Treasures of Ancient Egypt at the Cairo Museum

Posted on 23rd May 2017 by Unknown

Queen Tiye, the Ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt!

Ägyptisches Museum (Egyptian Museum), Berlin (Wikimedia)

Queen Tiye, recognised for her intellect and formidable character, earned the respect of foreign dignitaries, who were keen to interact with her directly. She maintained an active presence in foreign relations and became the first Egyptian queen whose name was inscribed on official documents.

*Head of Queen Tiye. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 38257*

Here is an impressive presentation by Marie Grillot about a captivating piece of art represented by a magnificent statue that resonates with us through her story.

Wishing you all the best for the Easter holidays. 💖🙏

Tiyi, a face of royal beauty

via égyptophile

Head of a statuette of Queen Tiye – dark green schistose steatite – New Kingdom – 18th Dynasty
Discovered in 1905 by William Matthew Flinders Petrie in the Temple of Hathor at Serabit el-Khadim (Sinai)
Egyptian Museum, Cairo – JE 38257

In 1905, the English Egyptologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie led an expedition to the Sinai Peninsula. He was particularly interested in the site of the temple of Serabit el-Khadim. Built during the reign of Snefu for workers who came to work in the turquoise mines, it remained in use until the New Kingdom. The sanctuary is dedicated to the goddess Hathor, “mistress of turquoise,” and the eastern falcon god Sopdu.

The excavation season is expected to yield the discovery of a small female head, measuring 7.2 cm, in a very dark stone.

Here is an excerpt from W.M.F. Petrie’s description in his 1906 report “Researches in Sinai”: “A queen has left here one of the most striking portraits ever carved in Egypt. The very famous Queen Thyi, wife of the great Amenhotep III, was hitherto known from a few carved reliefs, but not yet from such a portrait in the round. Strangely, such a remote spot should have preserved this representation, which we have identified from the cartouche in the middle of the crown. The schistose stone is dark green steatite.

The entire statuette must have measured about a foot in height. Unfortunately, we have found no fragments other than the head. The great dignity of the face is combined with a fascinating uprightness. The delicacy of the contours of the eyes and cheekbones testifies to the quality of execution. The lips, whose curious curve curves downwards, are complete and delicate, yet express a disdain devoid of malice. They are, most certainly, a likeness to the truth… The ear is pierced, as is also the case with her son Akhenaten. The crown she wore was probably with gold inlays. The two-winged cobras stretch their length in loops around the head, until they meet at the back; while in the middle of the forehead, they support the cartouche with the name of the great queen of Upper and Lower Egypt. This piece alone was worth all the rest of our earnings for the year; it is now in the Cairo Museum.”

“Head of statuette of Queen Tiye – Dark green steatite” (Egyptian Museum, Cairo JE 38257)
published here by William Matthew Flinders Petrie in “Researches in Sinai” (1906), plate 133 – p. 127

In his book “Essays on Egyptian Art” published in 1912, Gaston Maspero describes it thus: “The right wing of the wig is missing, and the nose has suffered from an unfortunate shock on the left nostril, without however losing the essential part of its shape: a cartouche engraved on the front of the hairstyle tells us the name, and the piece gives, at first glance, the conviction of a portrait likeness. It is not flattering. If we are to believe him, Tiyi presented the racial characteristics of the Berberines or the women of the Egyptian desert, small eyes slanted towards the temples, noses with a wide tip and disdainful nostrils, a heavy and sullen mouth, with drooping corners and whose lower lip is pulled back by a receding chin.”

What femininity, what willpower, what pride, and what presence! The personality that emanates from this little face is visibly inspiring… And it is touching, even moving, to see how much each Egyptologist is keen to decipher it…

Thus, for Mohamed Saleh and Hourig Sourouzian (“Official Catalogue of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo”): “The oval face with high cheekbones, almond-shaped eyes and a thick, almost disillusioned mouth is that of a determined and serious woman, who exudes a high spirituality despite her apparent youth.”

In “The Wonders of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo,” Francesco Tiradritti provides the following interpretation: “The corners of the mouth, curved downwards, give the whole face an air of gravity that was often interpreted as an allusion to the decisive and inflexible temperament of Tiyi.”

Jean-Pierre Corteggiani’s analysis (“Egypt of the Pharaohs at the Cairo Museum”) is also not devoid of realism: “There is something haughty, if not contemptuous, in this young and energetic face of a woman who is both highly aware of her rank and proud to have managed to occupy it.”

There are many known representations of the queen, the most famous of which are those in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin (ÄM 21834 – yew wood head found in 1904 in Medinet Gourab), those in the Louvre (N 2312, E 25493 – glazed steatite – Salt Collection), as well as those in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (26.7.1396 yellow jasper, discovered in Amarna from the Carnarvon Collection), without forgetting, of course, the imposing statuary group where she appears seated alongside her husband and with three of their daughters (atrium of the Cairo Museum – ref. GM 610 – JE 33906).

Head of Queen Tiye – yew wood statue in the round
discovered in 1904 in Medinet Gourab
Berlin Museum – ÄM 21834 (museum photo)

Tiyi lived in the New Kingdom; she was the daughter of Youya and Touya, whom Pierre Tallet (“12 Queens of Egypt Who Changed History”) describes as follows: “Youya was from Akhmim in Middle Egypt and held the titles of director of the royal stables and divine father; her mother Touya was a ‘royal ornament’ and singer of Amun.” She was therefore close to the Court…

“In the palace, rumour had preceded the event: Tiyi would be queen… she was and assumed this role with exceptional talent,” relates Christian Leblanc in his “Queens of the Nile.” And he continues: “Announced beyond the borders by an issue of large commemorative scarabs, the marriage of Tiyi with Amenhotep III was celebrated with great pomp in Memphis… Very quickly, Tiyi had a great influence on the government of the country. Through her strong personality, she exercised a role as confidante and political advisor to her husband.” It appears that her role also continued during the reign of her son, Amenhotep IV, also known as Akhenaten.

The one who was adorned with so many laudatory titles: “Noble lady”, “Great favourite”, “Great royal wife”, “Sovereign of the Two lands”, “Who fills the palace with love”, died between the 12th and 15th year of her son’s reign.

The quality of this stone portrait is therefore “up to” the great lady that she was… We must salute the sculptor who was able to render her character traits so accurately and so finely and who, in a way, helps us to better “perceive” the subtle personality of the sovereign…

Presented under number 4257 of the “Visitor’s Guide to the Cairo Museum” (Gaston Maspero, 1915), it was recorded in the museum’s Journal of Entries under reference JE 38257.

Marie Grillot

Sources:

Head from a statuette of Queen Tiye
https://egyptianmuseumcairo.eg/artefacts/head-from-statuette-of-queen-tiye/
William Matthew Flinders Petrie, Researches in Sinai, John Murray, London, 1906
http://www.serendipity.li/petrie/rs01.htm
https://archive.org/details/researchesinsina00petruoft/page/n11/mode/2up
Jean-Pierre Corteggiani, Egypt of the Pharaohs at the Cairo Museum, Hachette Paris, 1986
Charles Bonnet, Dominique Valbelle, The Temple of Hathor, Mistress of Turquoise, at Serabit el-Khadim, Proceedings of the meetings of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, 1995, 139-4 pp. 915-941
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/crai_0065-0536_1995_num_139_4_15537
Mohamed Saleh, Hourig Sourouzian, Official Catalogue of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Verlag Philippe von Zabern, 1997
Francesco Tiradritti, Treasures of Egypt – The Wonders of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Gründ, 1999
Abeer El-Shahawy, The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Matḥaf al-Miṣrī, American University in Cairo Press, 2005
Pierre Tallet, 12 Queens of Egypt Who Changed History, Pygmalion, 2013

Published on January 17, 2015 by Marie Grillot

The Book of the Dead, or The Book for Day-Wandering (To the Other Side?)!

Throughout human history, numerous hints—such as books, signs, or symbols—have sought to reveal the truth or, at the very least, refresh our forgotten memories. However, we often appear too naive or too lazy to make the effort to understand.

Here is one: although we may be able to read and decipher it, we must also discern the underlying meaning—”reading between the lines!”—and therein lies the key!

In the upper register, Ani and his wife face the “Seven Gates of the House of Osiris.” Below are ten of the twenty-one “Mysterious Portals of the House of Osiris in the Field of Reeds.” They are all protected by fearsome guardians. (from Historicaleve)

So, let’s continue engaging and aim to gather more information. Here is Marie Grillot‘s brilliant report on this topic for its purpose!

The Book of the Dead by Kha, Architect of the Place of Truth

via égyptophile

Book of the Dead of Kha and Merit – plant fiber/papyrus, ink, pigments
New Kingdom – 18th Dynasty – reigns of Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV, Amenhotep III – circa 1425 – 1353 BC
from their tomb – TT 8 – discovered on February 15, 1906, in the necropolis of Deir el-Medina
by Ernesto Schiaparelli and Francesco Ballerini of the Italian Archaeological Mission of the Turin Museum
exhibited at the Museo Egizio in Turin – Inv. No.: Suppl. 8316/03 = Suppl.8438 – museum photo

“In use from the beginning of the New Kingdom to the Roman period, the Book of the Dead, of which a ‘canonical’ version appeared in the Saite period, could be written on leather, on the mummy’s own bandages, on pieces of funerary furniture or, particularly at Deir el-Medina, on the walls of the vault, but it was almost always on a papyrus roll, bearing the name and titles of the deceased, that the various chapters that constituted it succeeded one another. Their titles being written in red ink – the literal meaning of the term ‘rubric’ – these were written in cursive hieroglyphs, in hieratic, then in demotic, and were almost always, especially in the New Kingdom, accompanied by beautiful painted ‘vignettes’ that make the Book of the Dead the oldest illuminated book in the world” indicates Jean-Pierre Corteggiani in “Ancient Egypt and its Gods”.

The “Book of the Dead” was originally called the “Book for going out during the day”. This “recent” name is due to the Egyptologist Richard Lepsius, who, in 1842, while translating a papyrus kept in the Turin Museum, called it “Todtenbuch” (“Book of the Dead”).

Paul Barguet, who also made a translation published by Éditions du Cerf, recalls its “divine” genesis: “The god Thoth is said to be the mythical author of the magic formulas of the Book of the Dead (or “Book to go out at/the day”, a title preferred by Jean-Louis de Cénival). Each time a deceased person recites a formula, he is theoretically the author since he reactivates it at the moment of pronunciation. But the formulas of the Book of the Dead were indeed written a very first time. The Egyptian priests identified this first author. In their minds, it was a divinity, not expressly named, but originating from Hermopolis. It would then seem that it was the god Thoth. This first paternity is rarely mentioned in the Book of the Dead, but it exists in the formula sections 30B, 64, 137A and 148″…

This precious collection, intended to ensure the well-being of the deceased and to be a true guide to eternal life, was placed in the tombs of the royal sphere and in those of individuals. It contained prayers for the divinities, religious and magical texts, listed the formulas allowing one to cross the doors to access the afterlife, to be “justified”, to face dangers and threats, to benefit from offerings, to feed oneself, to go out on earth during the day after having, during the night, crossed the underground world of Osiris…

In “The Egyptians,” Françoise Dunand and Roger Lichtenberg specify that the one who knows the formulas “will go to earth among the living… He will go out every day, he wants, and return to his tomb without being arrested… Thus, while the body remains in the tomb, the soul, ba (represented as a bird with a human head), is supposed to leave it to wander at will on earth and then find it again”…

The total number of formulas stated is sometimes indicated as 150, 165, or even 194; this difference is probably due to the periods… The copies that have come down to us are not all identical; they vary in fact in the number of formulas as well as in that of the “vignettes”. Thus, Florence Maruejol, the ancient Egyptians, asked “the scribes of the Houses of Life for a choice of chapters. Or it is the scribes themselves who make the selection… The shortest measures 1 or 2 meters in length, the majority reach about fifteen meters, and the longest exceed 25 meters. The chapters are generally illustrated by vignettes drawn in line or painted by an artist who takes over from the scribe”.

The “Book of the Dead” of Kha, architect of the Place of Truth, was found in the tomb he shared with his beloved wife, Merit. Discovered on February 15, 1906, in the northern circus of the necropolis of Deir el-Medina, by Ernesto Schiaparelli and Francesco Ballerini of the Italian archaeological mission of the Turin Museum, it contained more than 500 objects that constitute highly instructive testimonies of the life of a couple of the New Kingdom who had been particularly successful in this ‘microcosm’ that was then the community of artisans.

Left, top: Statuette of the architect Kha-wood – Museo Egizio Turin, S. 8335
Funeral mask of his wife Merit – painted and gilded stucco cardboard – Museo Egizio Turin, S 8473
Left bottom: The inviolate tomb of Kha and Merit – 18th dynasty – TT 8 Deir el-Medineh – when it was discovered on February 15, 1906,
by the Italian Archaeological Mission of the Turin Museum led by Ernesto Schiaparelli and Francesco Ballerini
Right: Artifacts coming out of the tomb – photos Museo Egizio

Curiously, their “Book of the Dead” was not “rolled up” but was found folded and placed on the intermediate coffin of Kha, who died after his wife. “Composed of 38 sheets of papyrus, stuck together for almost 14 meters in total length… it lists 33 formulas arranged from left to right, often accompanied by abundantly illustrated vignettes. The introductory scene shows Kha and Merit before the god Osiris enthroned under a canopy facing a richly decorated pedestal table; this scene synthesizes the axis around which the concept of death is articulated in ancient Egypt, that is to say the encounter with the god Osiris, sovereign of the world of the dead, whose judgment determines access or not to eternal life” specifies Enrico Ferraris in the “Museo Egizio”…

The following sheets (all 35 centimeters wide) contain other formulas related to the funeral procession, the ritual of opening the mouth, protecting the deceased, amulets, etc.

Dated 1425 – 1353 BC, from the reigns of Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV, and Amenhotep III, this “Book of the Dead” was registered in the Museo Egizio – S. 8316/03 = S.8438. In the work cited above, Enrico Ferraris notes “strong formal and sequential analogies with the copy found in the tomb of Yuya and Tuya, parents of Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep III, which could suggest the use of a reference model shared by the workshops that wrote these two funerary papyri…

Marie Grillot

Sources:

Kha’s Book of the Dead Egyptian Museum of Turin – S. 8316/03 = S.8438 https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/it-IT/material/S_8316_03_S_8438/?description=LIBRO+DEI+MORTI+KHA&inventoryNumber=&title=&cgt=&yearFrom=&yearTo=&materials=&provenance=&acquisition=&epoch=&dynasty=&pharaoh= The TT 8 au Museum Egyptian https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/it-IT/search/?action=s&description=&title=&inventoryNumber=&cgt=&yearFrom=&yearTo=&provenance=Deir+el-Medina+%2F+tomba+di+Kha+%28TT8%29&acquisition= Fouilles de Schiaparelli. Documentary fund Francesco Ballerini. CEFB, Come, Italy Jeanne Vandier d’Abbadie, Geneviève Jourdain, Two Tombs of Deir El Médineh, The Chapel of Khâ, The Tomb of the Royal Scribe Amenemopet (1939), MIFAO 73, IFAO, 1939 https://archive.org/details/MIFAO73/page/n5/mode/2up Bertha Porter, Rosalind L. B. Moss, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings – I. The Theban Necropolis Part 1. Private Tombs, Second edition revised and augmented – Griffith Institute Ashmolean Museum Oxford, 1960 http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/topbib/pdf/pm1-1.pdf#page=338 Ernest Scamuzzi, Egyptian Art at the Museum de Turin, Hachette, 1966
Paul Barguet, Le Livre des Morts des anciens Égyptiens, Éditions du Cerf, Paris 1967
Le musée égyptien Turin, Federico Garolla Editore, 1988
Isabelle Franco, Dictionnaire de mythologie égyptienne, Pygmalion 1999
Egypte, le Livres des Morts, version abrégée, traduit de l’égyptien par E. A. Wallis Budge, Hazan, 2001
Nicholas Reeves, Ancient Egypt. The great discoveries, Thames & Hudson, 2002, Les Grandes découvertes de l’Egypte ancienne Editions du Rocher, 2001
Les artistes de pharaon, Deir el Medineh et la Vallée des Rois, Louvre, 2002
Françoise Dunand, Roger Lichtenberg, Les Égyptiens, Éditions du Chêne, 2004
Eleni Vassilika, Trésors d’Art du museo Egizio, Allemandi & Co, 2006
Jean-Pierre Corteggiani, L’Egypte ancienne et ses dieux, Fayard, 2007
Raffaella Bianucci, Michael E. Habicht, Stephen Buckley, Joann Fletcher, Roger Seiler, Lena M. Öhrström, Eleni Vassilika, Thomas Böni, Frank J. Rühli, Shedding New Light on the 18th Dynasty Mummies of the Royal Architect Kha and His Spouse Merit, Mark Spigelman Editor, 2015 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4511739/ Guide museo Egizio, Franco Cosimo Panini Editions, 2015
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche webtv, a torino per rivivere la scoperta della tomba di kha, 2015 https://www.cnrweb.tv/10146/ Museo Egizio, Fondazione Museo delle Antichità Egizie di Torino, Franco Cosimo Panini Editore, 2016
Ève Gran-Aymarich, Les chercheurs du past 1798-1945 : Aux sources de l’archéologie, CNRS Editions via OpenEdition, 2016 https://books.google.fr/books?id=wIKlDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1155&lpg=PA1155&dq=schiaparelli+maspero&source=bl&ots=eiKoGLOzaj&sig=Q12 Ot2EYTNn209S0gdRSiKjjG58&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8ivmMjdbRAhWBQBQKHbB2DJoQ6AEIMzAI#v=onepage&q=schiaparelli%20maspero&f=false Florence Maruéjol, L’Egypte ancienne pour les Nuls, First Editions, 2017
Gallica, Le Livre pour sortir au jour or Livre des Morts des Anciens Egypt https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/fr/html/le-livre-pour-sortir-au-jour-ou-livre-des-morts-des-anciens-egyptiens

Published 4 weeks ago by Marie Grillot

The (Wel)coming of Christian Copt;The Chapel of Peace.

“When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod the Great, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Matthew 2:12-23). The Bible identifies Egypt as the refuge the Holy Family sought while fleeing Judea.

According to Coptic tradition, St. Mark is believed to have brought Christianity to Egypt around 50 CE. A small Christian community began to form in Alexandria during the late first century and expanded significantly by the end of the second century. Certain similarities in beliefs aided the acceptance of Christianity among Egyptians, including the dual nature of the Egyptian god Osiris as both human and divine, the resurrection of Osiris, and the divine triad consisting of Osiris, Isis, and Horus.

The ancient Egyptians, classical Greeks, and Romans primarily shaped the Coptic period in Egypt. This influence is evident in Coptic art, particularly in textiles that often feature ancient Egyptian symbols and motifs, such as the ankh, representing life. The ankh served as an alternative to the Christian cross; certain textiles display both symbols. Nevertheless, Coptic art predominantly reflects the more substantial impact of Greek and Roman traditions.

I’ve been unwell and facing difficulties lately (wearing out my apparatus and equipment in old age!), so I haven’t been able to post regularly. However, now that my illness is in a stillstand modus, I’m giving it a try!

Here, I present Marie Grillot‘s captivating account of the Christian Copts’ arrival in Egypt, their artistry, and their harmonious, peaceful way of life.

The Christian Necropolis of Bagawat

via égyptophile

Mary, Noah’s Ark and Jacob, depicted on the dome of the Chapel of Peace in Bagawat.
“The central image shows the patriarch and his family in the ark. Two doves overlap between the praying Mary and the ship.
The alliance with Noah finds its fulfilment with the Annunciation” – Christian necropolis of Bagawat – Kharga Oasis – 5th – 6th centuries.

A little over a kilometre northwest of the temple of Hibis, in the oasis of Kharga, stretches a ridge about twenty meters high on the edge of the desert. It is the remains of a site from the very beginning of Christianity in Egypt.

This is the Bagawat necropolis, which was active from the 2nd to the 7th century. It is so unique that it is sometimes referred to as Coptic, Roman, Byzantine, or even Greco-Coptic or Romano-Byzantine.

Christian necropolis of Bagawat – Kharga Oasis – 2nd – 7th centuries

The middle of the first century of our era witnessed the arrival of Christianity, which caused proselytism to spread along the Nile… The edicts of Theodosius I, promulgated in 380 and then 391, led to the banning of pagan rites and the official closure of temples. The Copts, the first Christians in Egypt, affirmed their new faith and beliefs, engendering a new iconography and architecture… From its beginnings, Coptic art would draw inspiration from different cultures: Roman, Byzantine, Greek, and even Pharaonic.

During its 500 years of “activity,” in addition to digging hundreds of scattered pit tombs, the necropolis will see the construction of 263 chapels, examples of proto-Coptic art, surrounding a church built around the 4th century. As in Roman and Byzantine cemeteries, they are arranged along streets. Although they differ in size and specific details of their architectural structure, they restore an extremely harmonious overall unity.

“The funerary chapels are built of mud brick, in most cases originally covered with white plaster on the outside and inside. Externally, they present an architectural mixture of classical and ancient Egyptian motifs, often with a “cavetto” type cornice and classical forms of engaged columns with Corinthian capitals. They are generally square and covered with domes on pendentives or, less frequently, rectangular with barrel vaults. In a few cases, the remains of wooden roofs are visible. On each of the three walls of the Chapel, except the entrance wall, there is usually a niche, while a few chapels have a projecting apse at the eastern end. These apsidal ends are either circular or octagonal. Some of the larger buildings consist of a double Chapel of two square compartments, while a few have front courts surrounded by a wall of columns and engaged arches,” analyzes Albert M. Lythgoe in “The Oasis of Kharga”.

In “Enciclopedia dell’ Arte Antica” (1973), H. Torp describes “two basic types of construction. The first is very simple, with a square or rectangular plan and with a roof of wooden beams. The other type is square, covered with a dome. Of the first type, there are a little over a hundred tombs; of the second, a little less. The other mausoleums are variants or combinations of these two types, except for a limited number of circular or rectangular mausoleums with a barrel vault, as well as five large structures composed of several rooms, partially covered with vaults or a roof”.

The painters who worked in Bagawat were the vectors of diverse influences, which they combined, adapted and enriched, thus making this necropolis an exceptional place.

In “The Necropolis of el-Bagawat in Kharga Oasis”, A. Fakhry indicates that twenty-two of these chapels have “painted decorations, but only seven contain figurative art, the others showing only painted crosses or the like”.

Three chapels are particularly notable for their paintings.

The Chapel of Peace – Christian Necropolis of Bagawat – Kharga Oasis – 5th-6th centuries

The Chapel of Peace (No. 30) dates from the 5th and 6th centuries. For experts, its decoration is unique in early Christian art. The biblical themes, with characters (from the front!), are treated in shades of ochre, purple and red while respecting the perspectives the dome-shaped structure certainly made difficult to execute. This is a “unique register of sophisticated representations of biblical figures ‘labelled’ Greco-Coptic which includes allegorical images of peace, prayers and rigour alongside Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Mary, …”

The style and quality of the paintings “reflect a level of technical skill far superior to that of other surviving decorations from the necropolis. The artist who painted them appears to have had formal training” (Matthew Martin).

The Chapel of the Exodus Christian necropolis of Bagawat – Kharga Oasis – 5th-6th centuries

The Chapel of the Exodus (No. 80), whose centre of the dome is decorated with vine branches and filled with birds and naive trees, owes its name to its representations linked to the Hebrews’ departure from Egypt. It is declined in several scenes, such as Noah’s Ark, Daniel in the lion’s den, the three Jews in the furnace, the martyrdom of Isaiah, and episodes from the stories of Jonah and Job…

Chapel No. 25 – Christian Necropolis of Bagawat – Kharga Oasis – 5th-6th centuries

As for chapel no. 25, it offers magnificent white birds “standing on globes which support with their outstretched wings a solar disk covering the dome raised in the centre of the room.”

Thus, the domes and apses of the tombs and chapels contain “some masterpieces of Coptic painting, illustrating themes from the Old Testament and early Christianity, in a Hellenistic and Roman style. Wealthy Greeks certainly commissioned the paintings represented. Most of the frescoes are painted in red and purple tones, in a naive style but executed with great detail” (Hervé Beaumont, “The Necropolis of El-Bagawat” – Egypt: the guide to Egyptian civilizations, from the pharaohs to Islam).

Bagawat is an exceptional place, both architecturally and pictorially. It turns out to be, in a way, at the confluence of influences from the beginning of the Christian era…

It once again proves that religion is an immense source of inspiration for artists: to magnify their faith, they draw from the depths of themselves treasures of imagination and creativity to honour and glorify what is highest…

Marie Grillot

Sources:
Albert M. Lythgoe, The Oasis of Kharga, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 1908-11-01 https://archive.org/details/jstor-3253214/page/n1/mode/2up W. Hauser, The Christian Necropolis in the Khargeh Oasis, BMMA 27, March 1932, The Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/bulletins/1/pdf/3255361.pdf.bannered.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1p4UODOMBAj8dYj_p9nCPa2fj6m7fZrNc7OXTinm8mJES3Tjgtr5fPp7s H. Torp, el BAGAWAT, Enciclopedia dell’Arte Antica, 1973 http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/el-bagawat_%28Enciclopedia-dell%27-Arte-Antica%29/ Hervé Beaumont, The Necropolis of El-Bagawat, Egypt: the guide to Egyptian civilizations, the pharaohs to Islam, Gallimard, 2000 Matthew Martin, Observations on the Paintings of the Exodus Chapel, Bagawat Necropolis, Kharga Oasis, Egypt, Byzantine Narrative, Papers in Honour of Roger Scott, Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, Byzantina Australiensia 16, John Burke, Ursula Betka, Penelope Buckley, Kathleen Hay, Roger Scott & Andrew Stephenson, Melbourne, 2006 https://www.academia.edu/364953/Observations_on_the_Paintings_of_the_Exodus_Chapel_Bagawat_Necropolis_Kharga_Oasis_Egypt

The Ancient Craftsmanship and Artisans’ Fine Woodwork.

The lifelike statue of Ka’aper the Scribe is the oldest life-size wooden statue from Ancient Egypt.

Today, I am sharing this invaluable fine art from ancient Egypt with you. Kaaper or Ka’aper (fl. c. 2500 BC), also commonly known as Sheikh el-Beled, was an ancient Egyptian scribe and priest who lived between the late 4th and early 5th Dynasties. Although his rank was not among the highest, he is well known for his famously exquisite wooden statue. A wooden statue of a woman, commonly considered to be Kaaper’sKa’aper wife, also came from the same mastaba (CG 33). Wiki.

Although the statue of that priest is famous enough, there is another tiny masterpiece: a statue of a woman, a noble lady, from the same mastaba. This is also a wooden statue, commonly considered to be Kaaper’s wife (CG 33).

Here is a report by the brilliant Marie Grillot about the delicate artistry of this statue. Enjoy reading, and Merry Christmas!

Ka-Aper’s wife: a noble lady of the Old Kingdom …

via égyptophile

Statue of the wife of Ka-âper (Kaaper – Sheikh el-beled) – wood – Old Kingdom – 5th Dynasty (2513 – 2506 BC)
discovered by Auguste Mariette in 1860 at Saqqara, in the Mastaba C8
Egyptian Museum of Cairo CG 33 – photo of the museum

Wooden statuary was only beginning at the end of the 4th Dynasty, and this Statue is undoubtedly among the very first referenced female representations…

Carved in the round, dark brown wood, it was initially covered with a “fine patina of painted stucco”, which has now disappeared.

The face of the noble lady is rather round; her eyes are stretched, and her mouth is closed.

She wears a mid-length hairstyle covering her ears. As Mohamed Saleh and Hourig Sourouzian explain in their “Official Catalogue of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo”, it is “streaked with locks that end in small curls, and divided by a middle parting”. They also specify that “this wig is commonly found in female representations of the Old Kingdom”.

Her neck is adorned with a wide necklace of the usekh type, with some traces of colour remaining. The torso, with its marked chest, is thin and straight. Amputated by the upper limbs, it stops at the base of the shoulders. The statues were, in fact, made in several parts, and, in this case, the arms were added and attached to the bust using tenons. We can observe this “assembly” on multiple examples of wooden statuary…

The legs are also missing, but her attitude shows that she was depicted standing.
She is wearing a long, tight dress held up by two wide, sculpted straps “slightly projecting”.

The wood, with its visible veins, has worked and cracked over the course of more than 4,500 years. In particular, we notice an apparent crack that goes down from the neck to the navel and two more discreet ones, starting from the top of the skull towards the chin and the other from the left eye towards the chin. At the level of the right groin, we also note a considerable lack of triangular shape.

Despite these injuries, this lady retained the nobility and dignity pertaining to her rank, and the sculptor took care to render and respect her.

Wooden statues of Ka-Aper – Sheikh el-beled and his wife – Old Kingdom – 5th Dynasty (2513 – 2506 BC)
discovered in 1860 by Auguste Mariette at Saqqara in Mastaba C8
Egyptian Museum of Cairo – CG 34 and CG 33

In the “Guide du visiter au musée de Boulaq” (1883), Gaston Maspero describes it as number 1044: “Statue of a woman of which only the head and the torso remain. It was discovered in the same tomb as the Statue of Sheikh el-beled and is said to represent this character’s wife. In any case, it was wonderful and could be compared with Sheikh el-beled if it were not unfortunately so mutilated.”

Auguste Mariette, then the director of Egyptian antiquities, discovered the two statues in Saqqara in 1860.

Excerpt from the book: “Les Mastabas de l’ancien empire”, Paris, 1889, Mariette Auguste, Maspero, Gaston
concerning the discovery of the wooden statues of Ka-âper (Kaaper) – Sheikh el-beled – and his wife
discovered by Auguste Mariette in 1860 at Saqqara, in the Mastaba C8 Egyptian Museum of Cairo CG 34 and CG 33

In the book Les Mastabas de l’ancien Empire, published in 1889 and co-signed with Gaston Mapero, he presents the site and details the circumstances of the discovery.

“The oldest, the most extensive, the most important of the necropolises of Memphis is the one to which the village of Saqqara gave its name. The necropolis of Saqqara is located in the middle of the sand, just at the point where the desert begins and where the cultivated land ends; it is a sandy plateau which dominates by about forty meters the green plain extended at its feet. At the top of the plain, we find the necropolis…” He will uncover a huge number of tombs and mastabas there.

Among these latter is the one that will be referenced, C 8 (the letter C corresponds to those of the second half of the 5th dynasty), discovered near the pyramid of Userkaf.

It will turn out to belong, according to Mariette’s transcription, to Khou-hotep-her (Ka-âper – Kaaper), a high official, chief priest. He was responsible for reciting prayers for the deceased in the temples and mortuary chapels where he officiated during the 5th dynasty (2465 -2458 BC).

“It was at the bottom of niche B, belonging to the small room, that the precious wooden statue was found… The head, the torso, and even the stick were intact, but the legs and the base were irremediably rotten, and the statue was only standing because of the sand which pressed on it from all sides. At the door C. of the small room, in the sand, and overturned in the place where it had obviously been thrown, was the other wooden statue,” he relates.

Statue of Ka-âper (Kaaper) – Sheikh el-beled – sycamore wood – Old Kingdom – 5th Dynasty (2513 – 2506 BC)
discovered by Auguste Mariette in 1860 at Saqqara, in the Mastaba C8
Egyptian Museum of Cairo CG 34

The statue of Ka-âper is so realistic that, upon discovery, the workers struck by its resemblance to the “chief of their village” gave it the name “Sheik el-beled”. It is undoubtedly one of the most emblematic statues of the Fifth Dynasty… That of his wife, because of her “amputations”, will remain more “confidential” and will not know the notoriety of her famous spouse…

It is exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Tahrir Square, under reference CG 33.

Marie Grillot

Sources:

Gaston Maspero, Visitor’s Guide to the Boulaq Museum, 1883 edition, Typ. Adolphe Holzhausen, Vienna, 1883 https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6305105w.texteImage Auguste Mariette, Gaston Maspero, The Mastabas of the ancient empire, Paris, 1889 http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/mariette1889/0033?sid=02fcf46a77d8eaf4a9cd67e6974f1cc1 Ludwig Borchardt, General catalogue of Egyptian antiquities from the Cairo Museum – Statuen und Statuetten von Königen und Privatleuten im Museum von Kairo, Nr. 1-1294, Berlin Reichsdruckerei, 1911 https://archive.org/details/statuenundstatue53borc Gaston Maspero, Essays on Egyptian Art, E. Guilmoto Editeur, Paris, 1912? https://archive.org/details/essaissurlartg00maspuoft https://archive.org/stream/essaissurlartg00maspuoft/essaissurlartg00maspuoft_djvu.txt Gaston Maspero, Ancient History of the Peoples of the Classical Orient. I, Librairie Hachette et Cie, Paris, 1895-1899 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6134639f/f8.item.r=beled.langFR Elisabeth David, Mariette Pacha 1821-1881, Pygmalion, 1994
Mohamed Saleh, Hourig Sourouzian, Official Catalogue of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Verlag Philippe von Zabern, 1997

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The Discovery of Seti I’s Alabaster Sarcophagus by Belzoni

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Tutankhamun’s Blue Bird Earrings

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Myrtle Florence Broome, Egyptologist and… artist

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The votive naos (shrine) of the House.

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The stele of Nefertiabet: from its mastaba in Giza to the Louvre Museum

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The Golden Mask of General Oundebaounded

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Tiyi, a face of royal beauty

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The Book of the Dead by Kha, Architect of the Place of Truth

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The Christian Necropolis of Bagawat

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Ka-Aper’s wife: a noble lady of the Old Kingdom …

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