And
now for this week’s news from the Egypt Centre: a story of curses, Aleister
Crowley and Tutankhamum.
Whilst
trying to document more about our collection I noticed that we had some objects
which once belonged to Richard Bethell (1883-1929). ‘Who was he?’, I
thought. Bethell was Lord Carnarvon’s half-brother, Howard Carter’s
secretary and a member of the Burlington Fine Arts Club. The latter were
instrumental in categorising ancient Egyptian artefacts as art in the late 19th
century. Interesting stuff on the history of art there, but I digress. Richard
Bethell was also the son of the Third Baron Westbury.
Author Mark Beynon claims he was murdered by, or at
the behest of, the famous satanist Aleister
Crowley[i]. Richard
Bethell, was found dead in his bed at Mayfair's exclusive Bath Club aged just
46. Bethell was said to have been in perfect health. Crowley had only recently
returned to London and was often a guest of novelist W. Somerset Maugham at the
club. Or so Beynon claims. Beynon attributes seven deaths on
Crowley.
Actually, at the
time, the press seemed to have blamed the 'Curse of Tutankhamun' for the deaths
and speculated on the supernatural powers of the ancient Egyptians.
Certainly there were links between the elite,
Egyptologists and Crowley. These are commonly known and have given rise to all
sorts of strange and often false theories. For example, I once attended a
lecture where the presenter claimed that the then British Museum Egyptologist, Wallis
Budge, got ideas about a headless god through talking with Crowley. Actually,
simply by reading Budge’s work it is easy to find out that this is not the
case, but never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
So how much of Beyon’s story holds weight? Many people regularly dined at the Bath Club. Maybe
Somerset Maugham was the killer! We don’t actually know what killed Bethell. He
could have had a heart attack.
And the Curse of Tutankhamun story, the claim that
those who disturbed the king’s tomb died from unnatural causes, is also highly
speculative. The vast majority of those involved in the excavation lived out a
natural lifespan.
Nevertheless, the link between Bethell, and Carter,
and the Burlington Fine Arts Club is all very interesting. And we have some of
Bethell’s objects. I haven’t seen it, but according to an online catalogue
there is a letter in Griffith Institute, Oxford which relates to Bethell
claiming to have to sell his Egyptian collection due to lack of money (Griffith Institute File NEWB2/068). A bit sad.
We have 21 items associated with Bethell. These are
interesting, but perhaps not great works of art. They include fragments of New
Year vases, dress ornaments and a Coptic cross. And, a faience inlay and
fragments of fish dishes from the royal site of Amarna (the place where
Nefertiti lived over 3000 years ago).
I have been particularly interested in the fish
dishes. The pieces are very pretty and there isn’t much known about them. I
haven’t been able to find any complete examples in any collections. Basically
what are these for?
A bit more about them here:
Both
the objects and their histories, the people who were associated with them, are
all interesting. At least I think so.
Carolyn
