Collections, Collecting and Gentlemanly Pursuits

Collections and Collecting

Last Tuesday Beverley Rogers came to talk to our research group about William MacGregor. I was struck by the comparison between him and another collector of objects from the Egypt Centre, William Frankland Hood. Both were clergyman, both originally went to Egypt for health reasons (unfortunately poor old Frankland Hood eventually died of tuberculosis), both of course collected and their artefacts were put on public display. Both collections were sold off for money reasons in the 1920s. Interestingly too both sale catalogues of their collections have a forward by Percy Newberry. Of course, one might expect a lot of similarities.  Clergyman were very often antiquarians in Victorian Britain, presumably they had the time and some income, plus it would have been a gentlemanly pursuit showing scholarly interest involving 'scientific' sorting and cataloging. Clergyman, one would assume, would have been interested in the Biblical connections of Egypt too.

But, the Rev. Fitzherbert Fuller who collected our coffin of the lady musician gave away his Egyptian coffin when he became a clergyman.

I know loads has been written on collecting (mainly by Susan Pearce but also others) so I wont go into that here, but I did think it worth drawing attention to the men (and the occasional woman) who so influenced the development of Egyptology through what they collected and how they presented their collections. Their enthusiasms and biases influenced the development of Egyptology. Their work, of course, was soon to be overshadowed by the development of professional archaeology and specialists based in universities.

All Good Wishes for the Year of the Snake

This Sunday is Chinese New Year- the Year of the snake. And this afternoon our Egypt Centre volunteers are looking at the relationship between animals and gods in ancient Egypt. Of course we will have to include something snakey. Snakes were not all bad at all but were also symbols of rebirth and protection.

I am resisting the temptation to talk only about how flint knives were considered an appropriate weapon to ward of snakes or how the snake on the mountain of Bakhu had his front half made of flint.

We will, however, look at this fine snakey pair on the left- a large stone fragment depictig Isis-Thermouthis and Serapis Agathadaimon, guarantors of royal power and protection of the land.

And more snakey items (information on link here).

Wishing you all a great New Year with snakey revival and protection!

 

All things nefer

OK so this is a bit late for the New Year, unless you follow the Coptic Calender, or the ancient Egyptian one, in which case I'm either incredibly early or incredibly late. But Happy New Year to all.

And, in the spirit, here is an ancient Egyptian New Year Vessel in the Egypt Centre heavy with symbols of newness. Or rather the top bit of one. If you want to know more about such things and see what a whole one would look like this is the link: http://www.egypt.swansea.ac.uk/index.php/collection/46-w1358-and-w1359

The top bit shows an opening lotus flower (water lily), a very widespread symbol of rebirth in ancient Egypt. One creation myth describes how at the beginning of time a beautiful water lily rose from the waters of chaos, the waters of the Nun. It opened out and from it came the sun-god Re.

Either side of the water lily are two baboons. Baboons were said to welcome the sun as it rose anew each morning. Well apparently they do make a lot of noise when they wake up.

We also have the bottom bit of the New Year vessel (left). You will notice it isn't quite round but is squashed. It is shown, not quite circular just as the image of the sun arising in the horizon is also shown, so again a symbol of the sun coming up each day.

It also has an inscription on it wp rnpt nfr (Good New Year).




There are actually lots and lots of things in the Egypt Centre all to do with newness and rebirth. For example this (right) bit of a ring from Amarna showing a young girl playing a lute. During the 18th Dynasty the motif of the adolescent girl was particularly important and perhaps represented the nfrwt of Egyptian literature.

We also have green faced gods.


This piece (left) from a tomb Chapel at Deir el-Medina shows the creator god Ptah with a green face. Ptah was often called nfr hr. Nefer is often translated as 'beautiful' but it also has connotations of newness and thus greeness. Each year, after the annual inundation of the Nile, new plants sprung up fresh and green.

Then, there's the bust of Nefertiti.

There are other nefer things but I think I'll leave it there.

Glass fragment, Swansea and Cairo

A piece of ancient glass over 3000 years old, displayed in Swansea University’s Egypt Centre, has been published with information on its manufacture. It has been identified as being part of an Egyptian vase which is currently in the Cairo Museum. It is on loan from Swansea Museum. Garethe el-Tawab, Curator of Swansea Museum said: “ The loan of this very rare piece of ancient glass by the Museum to our colleagues in the Egypt Centre is a marvellous example of partnership working in international research”. I thought that was a good quote, better than I could have thought up myself.

The fragment, originally belonging to pharaoh Amenhotep II (1427-1400 BC), is 4cm long piece and displays two names of the king in cartouches picked out in red and yellow on a background of brilliant blue. The names are surmounted by red sun-disks and yellow feathers.

The glass fragment was given to Swansea Museum in 1959. Circumstantial evidence suggested it came from the tomb of queen Tiye (wife of king Amenhotep III). Kate Bosse-Griffiths wrote an article about this and other items from the tomb (see references below). It had been given to Swansea Museum by Miss Annie Sprake Jones of Abergwili who received it from her brother Harold Jones. Harold Jones had been employed as an artist in the tombs of the Valley of the Kings in the early 20^th century.

German Egyptologist, Birgit Schlick-Nolte contacted the Egypt Centre  and Swansea Museum as she was interested in the manufacture of early Egyptian glass. Kate Bosse-Griffiths, who had earlier curated both the Egypt Centre items and those at Swansea Museum, and Birgit had long ago corresponded on the piece, and both were absolutely sure that the Swansea fragment was part of the vessel in the Cairo Museum which comes from the tomb of Amenhotep II. The complete vessel measures around 40cm in height and consists of a white amphora decorated with brown and light blue decoration.

Glass of this date is extremely rare in Egypt and was often given as diplomatic gifts between the kings of the region. Vessels and other artefacts from the reign of Amenhotep II are part of an extraordinary array of sophisticated techniques from an innovative period of glass production. Large vessels such as that in the Cairo Museum, from which our fragment originated were not even attempted in later years. At this date the manufacture of glass was a royal monopoly and valuable like gold and silver.

The Swansea piece with the king’s name would have been prefabricated and placed upon the body of the vessel while it was still in a molten state. Interestingly, one of the names for glass in ancient Egyptian was ‘the stone that flows’.”

Bosse-Griffiths, K. 1961. Finds from 'The tomb of Queen Tiye' in the Swansea Museum. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 47, 66-70.

Schlick-Nolte, B., Werthmann, R. and Loeben, C. 2011. An outstanding glass statuette owned by pharaoh Amenhotep II and other early Egyptian glass inscribed with royal names', Journal of Glass Studies 53, 11-44.

Icon of Berlin and Egypt. 100 years of Nefertiti

This replica bust of Nefertiti welcomes our visitors. 100 years ago, on the 6th December 1912 the original was uncovered at Amarna by the German excavation team headed by Ludwig Borchardt. The original is now in Berlin and has caused some controversy as it has been claimed that it taken from Egypt illegally. It is, of course, an iconic symbol of Egypt but is also loved by the people of Berlin and thus has also become a symbol of that city.

The original was found, with others, in the workshop of the sculptor Thutmosis in a walled-off closet. There is one inlaid eye made of rock crystal in the original suggesting that the piece was never finished. As it may have been an artist's model perhaps there was never any need to finish it.

Nefertiti was a wife of the so-called 'heretic' pharaoh Akhenaten who built a new city on the banks of the Nile around 1340 BC to worship the god the Aten. Previously, the main god worshiped in Egypt had been Amun, the god of Thebes. The Egypt Centre has over 200 artefacts from the royal site of Amarna (originals not copies).

This queen was one of the few Egyptian royal women who attained any importance. Nefertiti is even shown smiting the female enemies of Egypt-such smiting scenes were usually reserved for kings. It is possible that for a time she even acted as joint ruler with her husband, though this is debated. During the Amarna Period there seems to be a change in depictions of royal women. Not only are they sometimes painted a reddish colour, usually reserved for men, but at times they are also shown as mature women, with signs of ageing. For much of Egyptian history women were depicted as slender and youthful.

Our copy of the bust of Nefertiti was brought to Swansea in the 1960s by Professor of Classics George Kerferd. It seems probable that it was made from the Berlin original by the sculptor Tina Wentcher (also known as Ernestine Haim). She produced a number of replicas in the years following World War I and there are now many examples scattered throughout the world.

The bust of Nefertiti is perhaps the most well-known depiction of ancient Egyptian women. But, while it is considered an archetype of female beauty we cannot be sure that Nefertiti actually looked like this. As with all Egyptian art, representations were idealised and stylised.

SPARKLING Egypt Centre

The Egypt Centre (Rosie Freeman and Jayne Holly-Wait) attended Swansea's first ever SPARKLE event on Saturday. Swansea SPARKLE is a transgender and public integration day. We shared a stall with the National Waterfront Museum and talked to people about identity in ancient Egypt, we also had some examples of items used to make make-up and other beauty products for people to smell and feel. Hopefully we've encouraged people to visit the museum and even volunteer!

A Voice Offering

On Monday we had a group of very enthusiatic Swansea MA students in the Egypt Centre looking at our objects as part of their Egyptian language course. They were particularly looking at voice offerings. This is one of the objects that they studied. You can find out a bit more about it here.

We often get groups studying artefacts without text but it is more unusual for those studying text. It seemed to go well with the students commenting about how it was good to see things in context. I'm also hoping that the novelty of seeing text 'in the flesh' will help them remember and inspire them to learn more.