I am trying to find out more about this item. It is number EC485 in our collection and measures 264 by 164 mm. It has been mounted on a piece of wood sometime before it came to us. This is what I have discovered so far but would appreciate it if anyone has any helpful comments, or even parallels. Alexandra von Lieven has given us some very helpful information with regards the style (showing its Ptolemaic date), But further comments are always welcome.
It seems to be the door cover of
a (shrine). It is made from wood with
modelled gesso (plaster) and would originally have been gilded. The pivot/hinge
is on the left hand side. The shrine would have held an image of a god. The
decoration shows a king offering to the god within the shrine (who may
originally have been depicted on the missing right door leaf). The style of the piece suggests a Ptolemaic date.
The king is
kneeling, facing right and offering incense with his left arm. He wears a shendyt
kilt and the blue (khepresh) crown. Kushite kings (25th
Dynasty) preferred other crowns (Collier 1993) but is brought back by Saite (Russman 1995) rulers (from
664 BC) and used by later kings. It was often worn when the king was shown
offering. In front of the
king’s head is an empty cartouche. Empty cartouches are relatively common feature in Ptolemaic royal scenes. Above the figure is a pt (sky sign)
with a row of stars therein and above that, a row of uraei. Stars are also featured on the Late
Period naos of Amasis, Louvre E605). Below the king is a row of doors evoking
early royal palace facades (also featured on the naos of Amasis, Louvre E605
and the naos of Darius, British Museum EA37496). This façade decoration is also
seen on earlier shrines such as the sides of the small golden shrine of
Tutankhamun.
Fragments of
other small shrines are known in other museums. These are usually made of wood
and inlaid with glass or precious stones (e.g. BM EA37496; Louvre E605).
Alternatively, they may be wood covered in gold silver or copper (Hope 1998,
829 fig. 9; Spencer, N. 2006, 4).
Unfortunately, often they are without archaeological context. And, if anyone knows of anymore please can they let me know.
A light
shrine, made of wood, seems to have been called by the ancient Egyptians a
sH-nTr (Spencer 1984, 114, 139 footnote 167). These seem to have either been
used as inner temple shrines or as portable outdoor shrines. Small, light shrines were sometimes
reused as coffins for animals (Colburn 2014, 259).
Shrines to
the gods were often kept in temples. Usually these consisted of an outer stone
shrine and within that a portable wooden shrine with two-leaved doors (though
also see Spencer 2006, 4). Such double doors were known as ‘the gates of
heaven’. Lorton (1999, 128) suggests that the cult statues from such shrines would
have been a foot or so in length. While the doors to stone shrines could also
have wooden doors covered in precious metal, the larger size of such shrines
suggests that ours is unlikely to be part of an outer shrine.
A naos door
with inlaid with glass from the British Museum (EA37496) is around 28cm in
length, so of a similar height to this example. Like ours, the king is making
an offering and is standing on a surface similarly decorated to ours. However,
other shrines, suggest much larger cult statues (Teeter 2011, 43).
Shrines could
be erected outside temples for temporary festivals, and placed on wooden
barques for processions. Such shrines would need to be lighter than the
monumental outer shrines in temples. There are also very small shrine doors known
from museum collections which have been interpreted as models. Examples include
the gilded wood naos door British Museum EA38255 showing Nakhthorheb kneeling
and holding ceremonial basket. This latter measures around 11cm in height.
The shrine
itself, as an enclosed box, would have been dark. The opening of the doors of
the shrine would have let in the light allowing the god to be reborn and for
worship to take place (Finnestad 1985, 94–95). The two doors to shrines
imitated the two doors to heaven. It seems likely that the missing leaf in our
example would have shown the god (as in the naos of Amasis, Louvre E605).
The object was puchased in 1992 by Sir Henry Welcome at an auction of items owned by MacGregor.
References
Colburn, H.P.
2014. The Archaeology of Archaemenid rule
in Egypt. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Michigan
Collier, S.
1993. ‘The Khepresh Crown of
Pharaoh’, Ufahamu: A Journal of African
Studies, 21(1–2), 137–155.
Finnestad, R.
B. 1985. Image of the World and Symbol of
the Creator. On the Cosmological and Iconological values of the Temple of Edfu.
Wiesbaden: Otto
Harrassowitz.
Fischer, H.G.
1996. Egyptian doors inside and out, In Fischer, H.G. Varia Nova, Egyptian
Studies III, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 91–98.
Hardwick, T. 2003.
The iconography of the blue crown.
Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 89, 117–141.
Lorton, D.
1999. The Theology of Cult Statues in Ancient Egypt. In Dick, M.B. (ed.) Born in Heaven, Made on Earth: The making of
the cult image in the ancient Near East. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns,
123–201.
Russman, E.R.1995.
Kushite Headdresses and ‘Kushite’ Style. Journal
of Egyptian Archaeology 81, 227-232.
Spencer, P.
1984. The Egyptian Temple. A
Lexicographical Study. London, Boston and Melbourne: Kegan Paul
International.
Teeter, E.
2011. Religion and Ritual in Ancient
Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
