Now here's another weird thing!

What is he holding?

This is a black granite or granodiorite sculpture of male holding two long objects. We do not know what the items are and assume them to be vases. We know of no comparable examples.

The object is probably Middle Kingdom (c.2030-1640 BC).

From the side it appears that the figure is kneeling, which is compatible with figures shown holding vessels (though not usually ones quite like this).

That this is made from hard stone suggests that this item belonged to a noble and indeed the inscription on back states that the man is the Steward Iwf.

This was formerly part of the Rustafjaell collection purchased by Sir Henry Wellcome at auction in December 19^th-20^th 1906, lot 219. Published in Malek (1999, 382). For more information on Middle Kingdom art see Bourriau (1988).

Further reading

Bourriau, J. 1988. Pharaohs and Mortals. Egyptian Art in the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Malek, J.,  Magee, D. and Miles, E. 1999. Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings, VIII, Objects of Provenance Not Known, Part 1. Royal Statues. Private Statues (Predynastic to Dynasty XVII). Oxford: Griffith Institute.

Russmann, E.R. 2001. Eternal Egypt. Masterworks of Ancient Egyptian Art from the British Museum. London: British Museum Press.

Early Dynastic Status Symbols- stone in funerary contexts

W401b is a squat, breccia round-based bowl with lugs. It measures 18cm in height. The lugs have no holes through them, which may suggest that the vessel was unfinished, or its purpose was symbolic.

Vessels such of these would have been laborious to make and their manufacture may well have been a royal monopoly. Thus, it has been suggested that they are status symbols or ‘powerfacts’. They are only found in the graves of the wealthy and some even have gold leaf on them. A number are inscribed with the names of kings and from the names it appears that some kings took vessels of other kings for their own funerary complexes. It is also seems likely that kings may have given gifts of stone vessels to courtiers and members of their family.

This type of vessel dates from the Predynastic Naqada II Period to the 5^th Dynasty, though is most common during the 1^st to 3^rd Dynasties, the heyday of Egyptian stone vessel production. It has been estimated that more than 40,000 stone vessels were put in the step pyramid at Saqqara alone! Large numbers have also been found at Abydos and smaller numbers elsewhere in Egypt. You can see more vessels of this date elsewhere in this gallery.

This example is made from limestone breccia. Pottery vessels are sometimes found with spiral patterns, like the one on the right, suggesting that they were copying breccia examples.

It is sometimes said that the reason why so many stone vessels are found in graves, particularly in the Early Dynastic Period, is because stone is an eternal material. It is therefore particularly suitable for burials. The vessels do not seem to have had an ‘everyday’ purpose. A number are not properly drilled out suggesting that they are only symbolic.

Red breccia is found at several sites on the west bank of the Nile. It’s use seems to have declined from the 4^th Dynasty. It is only used occasionally in later periods. For the manufacture of stone vessels see Stocks 2013.

We do not know where in Egypt this object came from. Sir Henry Wellcome purchased it at auction in 1906 from the collection of Robert de Rustafjaell.

If you are interested in other stone vessels in the Egypt Centre, and even a podcast about ancient Egyptian stoneworking,  click here.

Further Reading

Aston, B. G. 1994. Ancient Egyptian Stone Vessels. Studien zur Archäologie und Geschichte Altägyptens 5. Heidelberg

el-Khouli, A. Egyptian Stone Vessels. Predynastic Period to Dynasty III. Typology and Analysis, Mainz am Rhein, 1978 (3 vols.)

Stocks, D.A. 2013. Experiments in Egyptian Archaeology: Stoneworking Technology in Ancient Egypt

Lions and beds

Big thank you to Alison and Phil John for restoring our lion bed to its former glory.

Here are a few pics of its reinstatement:

Our lion bed is used to support Bob, the dummy mummy's, journey to the afterlife.

The ancient Egyptians decorated furniture such as beds with the legs of lions and some were made even more lion like by the addition of heads and tails.

The Egypt Centre has a couple of legs in the Egypt Centre which are in the shape of lions:

W1309a, right, is on display in the woodworking case upstairs. Doesn't he look splendid? Lions are associated with rebirth and thus were often used to decorate funerary beds from the New Kingdom. If you look at our replica you might notice a strong resemblance between the golden funerary beds of a well known New Kingdom Egyptian king!

And here we have a close up of a stela in the Egypt Centre showing Anubis (or a priest with Anubis mask) carrying out a mummification rite on a body which is on a lion bed:

Winifred Needler gives a good outline of such lion beds.

Needler, W. 1963. An Egyptian Funerary Bed of the Roman Period in the Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto.

Daemons 'playing drums', mummy bandages and sky journeys

Very interested to read Rita Lucarelli's article yesterday. I'm certainly not an expert on the Book of the Dead, not indeed daemons, so advance apologies to Rita if I misinterpret her. Her paper can be seen by clicking here.

Basically, it is about mound 14 from the Book of the Dead Spell 149. This mound is one of several illustrated on copies of Book of the Dead Spell 149, and one through which the deceased had to travel in order to get to the afterworld. Rita compares demons from the Book of the Dead papyri with other daemons which appear to be very similar from elsewhere. She concludes that the daemons seem to be very similar to those describing the journey of the sun boat across the sky, a means by which the deceased shared in the sun god's daily rebirth and the annual Inundation of the Nile, another rebirth trope.

So, we haven't got a mound 14 on any of our Book of the Dead fragments, but we have got a fragment of mummy bandage showing Spell 149, and the first 5 mounds. That's it on the picture above. It shows 5 mounds, each with a daemon. The one second from the right looks like he is playing a drum! More about the fragment here.

I am wondering if  the other mounds in this Spell too, show any comparison with journeys across the sky? Certainly the Four Sons of Horus, which you can see on the far right of our papyrus, are associated with the Northern Sky, and rebirth. In Book of the Dead 17 the Four Sons of Horus are associated with the bull's leg in the sky (the ancient Egyptian constellation Msxtyw). The Northern Sky is, in its turn associated with the Inundation, the Imperishable ones, as well as the vigil of Osiris, all rejuvenating factors.

I understand Rita is writing up an article on the other daemons in Spell 149, when it's published expect another blog on this piece!

Scantily clad dancers again - red in tooth and claw!

Recently writing a review of Wofram Grajetzki'sTomb Treasures of the Late Middle Kingdom. The Archaeology of Female Burials. And very good it is too. He discusses Middle Kingdom elite female burials and divides them into groups. One group, largely of young women who have the title 'King's Daughter' are very often found with some rather special jewellery. Claw amulets are one element, like EC1025 which we have in the Egypt Centre (shown here, left). They were worn on the ankles of the women.

I did wonder if these type of burials are associated with the khener (a particular type of dancer) and paddle dolls (we have one in the Centre) as written about by Ellen Morris. The only known depiction of a woman wearing them seems to come from the tomb of Wakhai II, at Qau el-Qebir. She seems to be a dancer.

That aside, the claw amulets are not only pretty but intriguing. Are they associated with birds of prey, or with felines? An argument could be made either way. I have put a bit more about them here.

Bits and bobs from Amarna - excavating in the stores

Following from last Saturday's visit by Carl Graves from the Egypt Exploration Society (EES), I have been having a quick look at the material he has put up on flickr, archive cards from the EES. And, guess what, I have found one or two bits and bobs that we have in our collection which are from Amarna. Some I didn't even know were from Amarna.

For example: This faience pulley/spool, EC492. If you click on this link, you will see the EES card for it.

And, looking in the 1951 Pendlebury volume (The City of Akhenaten III, Text, page 137) shows that it was believed to have come from an area considered to be the military and police headquarters. The cards show several other pulley like objects, mainly of pottery from Amarna.

Something else I noticed just browsing through the EES cards. Doesn't Bes look Syrian at Amarna?

Faience fish dishes: Cosmetic palettes, tableware, or something else?

Preparing for the joint Amarna handling session with the Egypt Exploration Society which takes place tomorrow. I thought we could have a look at some of my favourite objects from Amarna- the fragments of fish dish. Here is one, W1269: It is part of a faience dish in the shape of a fish, glazed inside and out with the fins acting as handles. It's very much like the stone and wood examples, of which we have examples in the Egypt Centre, and which are usually considered cosmetic bowls. Some examples are also made of travertine. These fish dishes belong to a wider group which includes trussed gazelles, ducks, etc. Click on the link here for information on the stone and wood fish examples.

We also have other pieces, and the Petrie Museum has several too (e.g. UC473, UC474, UC478, UC23079, UC23081, UC23082, UC23083, UC23084, UC23085).

The ones in the Egypt Centre came to us in 1978, as a donation from the British Museum. We know they are from Amarna as they still bear the excavation numbers which show they came from the state apartments of the Great Palace (Pendlebury 1951, 74).

Previously, Petrie had also found fragments of faience fish dishes, together with faience tiles and shallow dishes in the shape of gourds in the Palace store-rooms (Petrie 1894, 12, 28). Petrie suggested that these were table dishes and that they were gathered together so that the pieces could be reused.

But, can other explanations be plausible?

As stated above, they are very similar to the stone and wood palettes of the 18th Dynasty. The stone and wood examples are usually found in temple and tomb contexts suggesting a ritual function and they are usually said to be cosmetic palettes rather than table dishes. But, I don't know of any studies showing what they actually contained. I would be glad if someone could tell me. Friedman (1998, 223) has also suggested that these faience types could be 'cosmetic palettes'.

The fish dishes also bear a strong resemblance to the late Middle Kingdom to Second Intermediate Period Marl fish dishes found on such sites as Kahun (Petrie 1891), Tell el Dab'a (Bader 2001) and Dashur (Allen 2011). Like the faience fish dish fragments, the marl examples are often found broken in groups, suggesting to Allen, some ritual significance. This is reinforced by the fact that the marl dishes are often, though not exclusively, found in temple and funerary contexts. The Middle Kingdom examples are in the shape of shallow fish and often have a raised rectangular area (unlike the Amarna faience ones).

Incidentally, it has been suggested that the s-'tiles' as identified at Petrie, alongside the shallow dishes were actually the lids of the fish dishes (Müller 1964, Friedman 1998, 223 and 236 notes 68 and 69).

It has also been noted that both the Middle Kingdom Marl dishes and the Amarna faience dishes have some resemblance to the faience marsh dishes - round dishes in blue faience often with aquatic scenes (Kronig 1934).

Why the fish? The fish is the bulti fish (Tilipa nilotica) which seems to have been a manifestation of the sun-god. The fish keeps the fertilized eggs in its mouth until they are fry and spits them out. It therefore appears to be swallowing them and giving birth to them.

Fish-shaped cosmetic palettes would make sense either for temple contexts (anointing statues) or in burial contexts. In either case rebirth symbolism would be apposite. Eye-paints and ointment were essential to resurrection. Before appearing in the 'Hall of Justice' the individual had to purify her/himself, dress in white clothing, make-up their eyes and anoint themselves. Applying eye paint also seems to have been part of everyday cult rituals. Depictions of cows destined for ritual slaughter are sometimes shown wearing eye-paint!

So then, elite tableware, cosmetic palettes, or something else?




Bibliography
Allen, J.S. 2011. Fish dishes at Dashur. In Aston, D. Bader, B., Gallorini, C., Nicholson, P. and Buckingham, S, (eds.). Under the Potter’s Tree. Studies on Ancient Egypt Presented to Janine Bourriau on the Occasion of her 70^th Birthday. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 3-15.

Bader, B. 2001. Tell el-Dab`a XIII. Typologie und chronologie der Mergel C-ton keramik. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Friedman, F.D. ed. 1998. Gifts of the Nile . Ancient Egyptian Faience. London : Thames and Hudson.

Krönig, W., 1934. ‘Ägyptische Faience-Schalen des Neuen Reiches. Eine motivgeschichtliche Untersuchung’, MDAIK 5, 144-166.

Müller, H. 1964. Ägyptische Kunstwerke, Kleinfund und Glas in der Sammlung E, und M. Kofler-Trunger (MÄS 5). Berlin.

Pendlebury, J.D.S. 1951 The City of Akhenaten Part III The Central City and Official Quarters, Volume I. London : Egypt Exploration Society.

Petrie, W.M.F. 1891. Illahun, Kahun and Gurob 1889–1890. London: D. Nutt.

Petrie, W.M.F. 1894. Tell El Amarna. Warminster: Aris and Phillips.