
03/11/2023
Incredible Late Period hieroglyphs ๐๐
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Incredible Late Period hieroglyphs ๐๐
A bit late for but here's a to a particularly macabre-looking decorated coffin(?) fragment of the Graeco-Roman Period now . It shows a deity apparently in the act of harvesting heads...
Does anyone know a parallel?!
On , I just wanted to flag the extensive Egyptomania woven into 's Edgar Allan Poe-fest 'The Fall of the House of Usher'. I especially enjoyed the references to the 19th Dynasty female pharaoh Tawosret and the sapphires spuriously said to have been used in her mummification... ๐
We may not have her sapphires but does hold some bright blue faience foundation deposits from Tawosret's west bank Theban temple! ๐
One of the excitements of working with collections is noticing details that have previously escaped your attention. This week, thanks to visiting researcher Martin Odler, I saw these hieroglyphs on a 5000 year old copper adze from Abydos.
Can you make them out...? ๐
to last year's exhibition & this gloriously painted vignette of the god Re-Horakhti from the Book of the Dead papyrus of Queen Nedjmet, wife of Herihor, from around 1000 BCE.
Checking in this morning on this little chap - the Old Kingdom official Res-hy-nefer from Giza (http://Acc.no. 4171, from the excavations led by Flinders Petrie)...
Afternoon obsession: this little-known Late Period votive statuette of a goddess, found near the sacred lake of the temple of Hathor at Dendera in 1918 and now @ the Egyptian Museum, Cairo ๐คฉ
to hanging out with some of the 2300 year old sphinxes of the Saqqara Serapeum ๐ฆ
I've spent some time this afternoon looking at drawer-full of terracotta heads with visual artist . Human faces never fail to generate discussion!
Here a Graeco-Roman head of a figure of Harpocrates - note the 'sidelock-of-youth'
Some great layered interpretation here, in many different languages, as part of 's project. Check out this piece of a votive faience throwstick with the protective Eye of Horus:
https://multilingualmuseum.manchester.ac.uk/object/eye-of-horus/
to Deir el-Bahri in December.
Currently thinking about 's expedition to Punt and how all of her soldiers look like her and Senenmut and all the deities depicted on the temple's walls... ๐ค
Indulging in a tiny bit of spotting after a lovely meeting in London today.
'The Son of Re Nakhtnebef', better known as Nectanebo I (379-361 BCE)
Next I'm talking about ... statues! FREE zoom for Egyptian students of , but all welcome 6pm UK/8pm Egypt ๐๐ช๐ฌ
Thinking about active/passive, male/female, king/queen binaries - & the female Pharaoh
This small (40cm high) travertine figure is the only representation of Hatshepsut to survive from the 1000+ stone statues in the Karnak Cachette. Where did the rest of her Karnak sculpture end up?!
CG 42061
https://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/cachette/ck88
As it gets increasingly dreich โ in the UK, a to the sunny Graeco-Roman temple of Dabod now in ... โ๏ธ๐ช๐ธ
On leave for a few days. I've spent this afternoon in the company of Hatshepsut's obelisks, their texts and my own experiences of visiting them at Karnak. No emails. No phone (well, except now...) - bliss.
On I'm revisiting my notes on Ankh-khered-nefer ('Beautiful living child') . The cartouches of Osorkon II (c. 874-850 BCE) appear on the upper surface along with a rebus writing of his name - a child ('khered') holding the 'ankh' and 'nefer' signs ๐
Currently a bit obsessed with this 5200 year old gilded wooden male figurine from Tell el-Farkha ('Mound of the Chicken') discovered by a Polish-Egyptian mission in the Nile Delta. Who is he? A ruler, a deity, an elite man? He's currently on display
at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Final places available for 's study day on . Featuring several key objects from (including this familiar example ๐ฆ๐) will introduce themes of image-making, magic, ritual and warfare.
Saturday 30th September, 09.30-15:30 GMT.
Lectures are recorded for access by participants up to two weeks after the event
https://shorturl.at/cH258
Some more Egyptological highlights from my visit this week . I'm working with curators there to bring some of these fascinating objects onto display in new galleries - and learning a thing or two for in future.
A particular highlight for me was this beautiful if fragmentary stela(?) showing Tuthmose III (Men-kheper-re) at the head of a group of ancestral figures being presented with offerings - behind him a female royal, perhaps Ahmose-Nefertari?
Big thanks to Mel & Izzy at Ipswich for hosting me!
Just learnt that the small holes on this Corinthian-style bronze helmet were used to help attach a leather lining to make this form of protection more comfortable for a soldier to wear. Egyptian kings of the 7th Century BCE onwards employed Greek soldiers in their armies.
Finally met Titus Flavius Demetrios today. An extraordinary 2nd Century CE mask from Hawara, naming the deceased in clear Greek letters on the rear. Although extensively restored, the original winged headpiece must have been quite something ๐คฉ
A bit late for , but I've been spending quite a bit of time thinking about this innovative statue of Senenmut (now in Egyptian Museum Cairo, CG 579) - his largest and most loquacious.
This photograph was taken by a tourist visiting the temple of Mut at Karnak shortly after the statues discovery in 1896. The position of the bystanders make the statue seem colossal - in fact it's only a bit over lifesize.
Another highlight of my week was spotting this detailed - if slightly naรฏve - 1825 model of the Lateran of Tuthmose III and IV . The original was shipped to Rome in 357 CE and was placed in the Circus Maximus.
Throwback to studying scenes of the ritual of 'Opening of the Mouth in the Mansion of Gold for a Statue' (hieros circled) for an image of King Seti I in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV17) - not merely animating but confirming the king's eternally perfect form.
Some very special new acquisitions to my library: just a fraction of the magnum opus of the great Professor Kenneth Kitchen, a fellow Scot & alumnus, who patiently collected & published every historical text from the Ramesside Period (c. 1300-1000 BCE).
19th Century copy (in Derbyshire marble) of a 2nd Century bust from Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, showing a two-faced representation of Osiris-Apis - a likely avatar of his deified lover Antinous.
The original was found damaged in Rome in 1736 and was restored as a female figure - hence the breasts.
2300 year old fragment from a striding statue of a Ptolemaic general called Djedhor "the Lion" ๐ฆ - a highlight for this statue-geek of a wonderful day with Rachel Atherton of ๐ค
Checking out the competition... ๐ though I'll need to get Spanish friends to help! ๐
๐ช๐ธ
The humidity in today has got me needing a refreshing shower like Lady Taheret here ๐ฅตโ
Paying my respects to some familiar faces this week ๐คฉ
๐ this c. 1976 photo of French Egyptologist Christiane Desroches Noblecourt & the 3350 year old scribal statue of the high official Amenhotep son of Hapu.
She's indicating how the inscriptions on his lap were worn away by generations of ancient temple visitors
Some appropriate reading... ๐ป
to hanging out with this 3350 year old blind harpist from the Saqqara tomb chapel of Paatenemheb ('the Aten is in festival') now in Leiden ๐คฉ
Look out for me popping up tomorrow on 'Queens That Changed the World' - not about myself, alas, but about my regal fave ! ๐
https://channel4.com/programmes/the-queens-that-changed-the-world/on-demand/75127-004
A 2000 year old pottery lamp from with a on it.
This made my day.
This weekend, I've been thinking about stelophoroi - statues like this early 18th Dynasty example of Wensu showing the owner with a text describing the adoring of the beauty (Neferu) of the sun god (Re)... wondering what this may mean for Senenmut being shown so often with Princess Neferure held in front of him. ๐คโ๏ธ
Spotted this last week: a wall-mounted photo of an display showing a cabinet with animal mummies and bronze votives. The limestone statue of the New Kingdom official Iuty looks on as if he were a gallery attendant. Anyone know the date of the image...?
Some highlights of last week's intensely mid-expanding trip to . So many ideas to explore back ๐ค
Revisiting photos from my visit to last week, I spotted this delightful detail on cosmetic containers from the reign of Tuthmose IV, c. 1400 BCE: the name of a King's Daughter, Nub-em-tekh - meaning literally "golden in drunkenness." Utterly fantastic โจ๐ป
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