21 minute read
considers the legacy of ancient Egypt on collectors
Tomb raiders
Ben Hinson, curator of an upcoming of an upcoming exhibition at the exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre, Sainsbury Centre, considers the legacy of ‘Tutmania’ on centuries of art and design
This year’s centenary of Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 is shining a light on Ancient Egypt not seen since the British Museum’s display of 50 objects from the tomb of the Boy King attracted 1.7m visitors in 1972.
A major exhibition on Ancient Egypt opens at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, with further exhibitions at the British Museum, Oxford and Bradford. Whether they will be enough to spark the second wave of ‘Tutmania’ as seen after the 1972 exhibition remains to be seen, but one thing is sure, it will reignite collectors fascination with Ancient Egypt.
Canopic jar, Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, 1790, V&A Museum
Egypt – or at least an idea of Egypt – has inspired Western artists and designers for centuries. It survived most prominently through Biblical stories; almost everyone in the Western world had heard of Egypt and its ancient rulers, even if the Bible associated them with despotism.
Artistic interest in Egypt re-emerged in medieval Italy, and peaked in the Renaissance. At this time, few people had travelled to Egypt – really only religious pilgrims – and so most encountered Egypt through monuments and objects seen in Rome, that had been looted in ancient times. This Egyptian material became part of the larger rediscovery of Classical antiquity, and so Egypt was seen through a Roman lens. Most commonly, artworks made by the Romans but in an ‘Egyptianising’ style were mistaken as genuine Egyptian objects.
Secret wisdom
Because hieroglyphs had not yet been deciphered, they were mistakenly believed to conceal secret wisdom. Many artists were inspired by this idea, even coming up with a new system of ‘neo-hieroglyphs’ where symbols stood for concepts and ideas.
The works of Renaissance artists like Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) frequently include such symbols, often hidden cryptically. Furthermore, Egypt was seen as the land where concepts like law and justice originated, and so religious elites co-opted Egyptian imagery as part of their identity, to legitimise their own rule. Some, such as Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo de Borgia) even went so far as to craft imaginary family genealogies stretching back to Egypt itself.
Imperial ambitions
In early 19th-century France and Britain, there was a wave of Egyptian-inspired art and design, particularly in elite and imperial contexts.
Egyptian art was popular because both countries wanted to occupy Egypt, and so adopting its visual culture was a proxy for physically controlling it.
In Britain, for example, crocodiles became very popular in art following the Battle of the Nile, where Nelson defeated Napoleon’s forces in Egypt. Here, crocodiles represented not just Egypt, but also referenced imperial victory.
Into the Victorian era, when Egypt became a British colony in all but name, the presence of Egyptian motifs in art and popular culture exploded even further. The use of Egypt in European art and design has often carried political or imperial undertones.
Despite the trajectory of European ‘rediscovery’ of Egypt, it was never lost to the Arabic-speaking world in the same way. Arabic geographers, scientists and historians had been travelling to Egypt for centuries before Europeans started to do so, engaging with its monuments and remains.
Above Thomas Hope (1769-1831) Gildedwood bench in the Egyptian style, before 1807. Hope’s 1807 Household Furniture and Interior Decoration was a great influence on contemporary taste, image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Below left Egyptian Chair William Holman Hunt, 1857, © Birmingham Museums on display at this month’s exhibition
Early adopters
At the same time, Josiah Wedgwood was pioneering an ‘Egyptian’ style in Britain, in Italy, the printmaker and antiquarian Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778) looked to a range of ancient sources, including Egyptian, Etruscan and Roman, reinventing them for modern living.
Piranesi was again inspired by the objects viewable in Rome. In both cases, their imagined designs had little to do with ancient Egypt in an academic sense, but introduced Egyptian motifs as a decorative style.
At this time, historians believed European art evolved from ancient Greece and Rome. Egypt was not seen as part of the same story, but rather a less advanced forerunner.
Therefore, designers like Wedgwood and Piranesi, who promoted an Egyptian style, consciously did so as a foil to this Classical narrative and, as a result, their designs were not always appreciated. It was only when hieroglyphs were deciphered, and Egypt’s history became ‘readable’, that the
place of Egypt in Western art history was re-considered.
Egypt was now placed not just at the beginning, but as the origin of Greek and Roman art itself. Egyptian art was much more ‘acceptable’ and found greater mainstream approval. Crucially, this also reinforced a belief that ancient Egypt was part of Western history, not African.
Right The Cartier advert was two years after King Tutankhamun’s discovery
Far right The Eye of Horus bracelet by Cartier was commissioned by Linda Lee Porter in 1928 (right). The scarab belt buckle brooch, also by Cartier, was commissioned by her in 1926
Below right A pectoral with lapis lazuli scarab found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1922
Below left Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (18361912) Pastime in Ancient Egypt, 1864, oil on canvas, © Harris Museum & Art Gallery, on display at this month’s exhibition
Bottom right Pharaoh Brooch, Gustave Baugrand, c. 1867, Egyptian Revival, Wartski Ltd., on display at this month’s exhibition
Ancient Egypt and art deco
Although the emergence of art deco was due to interest in a range of non-Western cultures, sparked by the flow of objects arriving in Paris from her colonies, France had had a long engagement with Egypt, and its visual culture was easily assimilated into the new language of art deco. The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 of course accelerated the saturation of Egypt into popular culture even further. French fashion houses took the lead in promoting the ‘Egyptian style’ among the fashionable and wealthy, through leading designers such as Paul Poiret.
Expensive beaded and embroidered garments were followed by more affordable printed fabrics, with British companies such as Steiner & Co. making both textile and furnishing fabrics indebted to Egyptian motifs. In jewellery, again French makers such as Van Cleef and Arpels and Cartier produced Egyptianinspired pieces. The lattéer in particular married a love of Egyptian style with the passion for acquiring Egyptian antiquities, by incorporating real artefacts into new objects.
Military campaigns
In the early 19th century, the French invasion of Egypt was a military disaster, but a scholarly success – grand publications like the Description de l’Égypte and Voyage dans la basse et la haute Égypte were hugely influential among taste makers. Across the Channel, furniture designer Thomas Hope (17691831) was among those making Egyptianising interiors fashionable.
WEDGWOOD’S EGYPTIAN DESIGNS
Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) was one of the earliest designers to pioneer an ‘Egyptian’ style in Britain, from the late 1700s onwards. He never visited Egypt relying on books – many of which were unreliable – as his main source of material. His canopic jars (originally made in the Egyptian city of Canopus and used to preserve the viscera of the deceased) were based on Plate CXXXII of Bernard de Montfaucon’s L’Antiquité Expliquée published in Paris in 1719. Another possible was Michel-Ange de la Chausse’s Museum Romanian, published in Rome in 1746.
Black basalt
Wedgwood basalt was a black vitrified stoneware made from refined ball clay, ironstone slag and ochre, which, when mixed together with manganese, coloured the clay to a dense black. It was developed in the late 1760s and considered of higher quality than previous black stonewares made in Staffordshire known as “Egyptian black”.
The second volume of Wedgwood’s 1777 Catalogue of Cameos describes it as “Having the Appearance of antique Bronze, and so nearly agreeing in Properties with the Basaltes of the Egyptians, no Substance can be better than this for Busts, Sphinxes, small Statues &c. and it seems to us to be of great Consequence to preserve as many fine Works of Antiquity and of the present Age as we can, in this Composition.”
Long production
Wedgwood’s Egyptian designs fall into three distinct phases: those produced during the Wedgwood and Bentley partnership from 17681780; those of Josiah Wedgwood II in the early 19th century incorporating hieroglyphic designs; and the later re-issues and revivals.
The Wedgwood/Bentley Egyptian wares include sphinxes, Egyptian deities, a Cleopatra, Canopic jars, candle-sticks, and cameos made in black basalt or blue-and-white jasperware.
The second group was mainly made up of pieces decorated with bogus hieroglyphs and various Egyptian motifs in black basalt on a rossoantico ground.
An 1805 ink-stand made of black basalt with red decorations, and a rosso antico teapot, cover and stand is on display in the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Left A detail from Wedgwood’s canopic jar, V&A Museum, on display at this month’s exhibition
Right Cairo, Egypt. (Arbuckle Bros.), 1891. Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd. organised its first tour to Egypt in 1869, and included a trip to the opening of the Suez Canal
Below right Medal Cabinet, Martin Guillame Biennais (maker) Charles Perciet (designer) 1810, V&A,on display at this month’s exhibition
Orientalist trend
In the later 19th century, increasing archaeological discoveries influenced a whole new generation of artists and designers, who looked to objects in museum collections for inspiration.
Orientalist artists such as Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Edwin Long and Edward Poynter painted huge genre paintings of scenes from Egyptian life, which were furnished with objects copied directly from museums. Similarly, furniture designers also closely studied Egyptian artefacts to inform their own work.
One inlaid stool in the British Museum was particularly influential. A chair, designed by the pre-Raphaelite William Holman Hunt, faithfully copied its shape and details. The department store Liberty & Co. advertised a ‘Thebes stool’ based on the same artefact, available in a range of sizes and materials. In terms of jewellery, the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867 was a crucial moment when jewellers looked to ancient Egyptian motifs. The beautiful jewellery from the tomb of Queen Aahotep was displayed at the exhibition, and captured the public’s imagination. Jewellers such as Mellerio dits Meller, Gustave Baugrand and Émile Philippe all participated in this trend, crafting spectacular pharaonic-inspired objects.
By the end of the 19th century, art nouveau designers like René Lalique had re-popularised Egyptianising designs, looking, in particular, to the scarab motif.
20th-century legacy
At the same time as Tutankhamun’s treasures saturated popular culture in Europe and North America, AfricanAmerican artists of the Harlem Renaissance wished to re-position Egypt as part of their heritage, to inspire pride in African-American culture at a time when, despite emancipation, many remained oppressed, disenfranchised and segregated.
Artists like Meta Warwick Fuller and Aaron Douglas drew upon ancient Egyptian visual culture to create powerful representations of the modern African American experience.
Similarly, in Egypt itself, a generation of artists who had trained in Europe also turned to Pharaonic imagery, to make their own statements about Egyptian identity and nationalism.
The unearthing of the king by a British archaeologist took on symbolic significance, as it coincided with the rise of nationalism and demands for independence from Britain. It spurred a political and artistic movement known as Pharaonism, which revived Pharaonic imagery to make direct links between ancient and modern Egypt.
Sculptors like Mahmoud Mokhtar and, later, Mahmoud Moussa, and painters like Mahmoud Said, modernists who had trained in Europe, turned to this theme in their works. These artists are little known and collected in the West, and their legacy therefore underappreciated outside of Egypt today.
Benjamin Hinson is one of the curators of Visions of Ancient Egypt which opens at the Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. It is on from September 3, until January 1, 2023, with more information available at www.sainsburycentre.ac.uk
Left Sir Lawrence AlmaTadema (1836-1912) An Egyptian in a Doorway, 1865, oil on canvas, image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Right Miniature broad collar, 332–246 B.C., part of the Metropolitan Museum of New York’s collection having been loaned to it by Mrs Joseph McKee Cook in 1920
Coming to the WEST
Collectors have had their sights on Ancient Egyptian artefacts for centuries
Egyptian sculptures were taken to Rome from ancient times and, when they were rediscovered in the Renaissance, became part of public and papal collections. Otherwise, small objects started making their way into Europe from the 1600s, purchased and brought back by travellers.
They were usually small, portable objects such as amulets and shabtis; this is partly because they were easy to transport, relatively common and cheap, but also because the traveller’s itinerary at this time focused on Cairo, Giza and Saqqara, where the largest known cemeteries were located. Saqqara (known as ‘the field of mummies’) was particularly infamous for looting, to the extent that even contemporary travellers commented on the destruction.
In the 19th century, huge monuments were increasingly brought back to Europe by consuls, to be displayed in national museums – especially for Britain and France where collecting for museums represented a proxy for the imperial battles to control Egypt itself.
In 1835, Egyptian legislation was brought into place to curtail the activity. However, it was ineffective and led to European powers claiming Egyptians unfit to look after their ancient heritage, reframing their own looting as being done in the interests of ‘preservation’.
With the development of formal archaeological excavations export legislation changed. A system of partage was developed, where Egyptian authorities selected the objects to remain in Egypt, and everything else was allowed to be exported and given to institutions abroad that had helped fund that years’ excavation.
However, while this system was legal in principle, at this point Egypt was an effective British colony and the Egyptian antiquities service was French-run, so the level of autonomy Egypt had in making these decisions is debatable.
GRAVE Concerns
For the collector, ancient Egyptian shabtis present an enticing prospect and starting a collection may be less expensive than you think
For centuries shabtis have been catnip to collectors. Often brightly coloured, covered in hieroglyphs and in the quintessentially pharaonic shape of a mummy, they are among the most easily recognisable and attractive Egyptian antiquities. Importantly, their small size makes them easily portable. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that shabtis were an early souvenir for tourists in Egypt, and among the first such objects to be forged.
What are they?
A shabti (also known as shawabti or ushabti) is a generally mummiform figurine of about 5-30cm found in many ancient Egyptian tombs. They are commonly made of blue Egyptian faience, but can also consist of stone, wood, clay,
Above Shabti box and shabtis of members of the Sennedjem tomb, New Kingdom, (c. 1279 BCE–1213 BCE), image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Below Shabti, limestone, New Kingdom (c. 1550–1295 BCE), image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art metal, and glass. The meaning of the Egyptian term is still debated, however one possible translation is ‘answerer’ , as they answered their master’s call to work in the afterlife.
Egyptians were great believers in public work and assumed in the afterlife the god of the dead, Osiris, would have his own projects (mostly agricultural) underway. Hence each shabti had its own specialism and seen holding baskets, hoes. mattocks or chisels. Because the number of shabtis you were buried with corresponded to personal wealth, archaeologists have been able determine the status of the tomb’s owner.
Temple of Ptah
Shabtis were made in their thousands by craftsmen in workshops attached to temples and palaces. Memphis, 31km south of the meeting of the White and Blue Nile. In the Middle Kingdom (2055 BCE-1700 BCE), shabtis were primarily made of faience – a ceramic material with a siliceous body and brightly-coloured, sun-like glaze –which was associated with the brilliance of eternity.
At the time figures depicting both sexes were common, and each of those figures was likely to have distinguishing features, including sculpted wigs and outfits of everyday Egyptian clothing.
The Third Intermediate Period (1100 BCE -728 BCE) brought a new style of shabti. It was no longer regarded as a replacement worker but more of a slave with a overseer required to keep charge of 10 shabtis. The most elaborate tombs saw 36 overseers for the 365 shabtis (one per Egyptian 10-day week).
Collecting shabtis
Researching shabtis elucidate some thrilling links to ancient Egypt and even the pharaohs. In 2018 Hansons sold a collection of 90 figures collected in the 1920s by Hans Moller Hansen during trips to Egypt and later inherited by his grandson, Hans Nielsen, in Denmark. One of the royal Shabti figures was made for Khaemwaset, fourth son of Rameses II. Hansons head of antiquities, James Brenchley, said: “A particularly rare triangle glyph (symbol) coulc be seen on the bottom of the piece, which could indicate it was a temple figure. Khaemwaset was born into a highly influential period of Egyptian history.”
Finely carved
While most were moulded, the finest versions were finished and carved by hands. In general the higher the quality of the carving then the greater the importance of its owner. Mayfair antiquities specialists Charles Ede has a collection of shabtis ranging in price from around £5,000-£60,000.
One especial highlight was discovered in the tomb of the 26th Dynasty Egyptian official Nefer-ib-re-saneith at Saqqara in 1929. Nefer-ib-re-sa-neith held the title of wab-priest, royal chancellor of Lower Egypt, and administrator of the palace during the reign of Ahmose II (c. 570-526 BCE). The shabti holds a hoe, pick, and seed sack with a divine braided beard and striated tripartite wig and was one of 336 shabtis found in it. Charles Ede’s director, Charis Tyndall, said: “These shabtis were meticulously carved, showing the details such as the striations of the beard the cosmetic lines of the eyes. The hieroglyphs were also finished by hand. The quality suggests they among the finest of the period.”
Finely carved
This month 24 lots of of shabtis in wood, faience and alabaster with estimates ranging from £50-£80 to £1,000£1,400 go under the hammer at Timeline Auctions in London and Essex. One shabti, made for the High Priest Pa-di-pepet from the Saqqara, dated to 664-595 BCE, has carries an adze and hoe in crossed hands, with a seed bag over the left shoulder.
Two columns of hieroglyphs reads: ‘Oh this ushabti, if the Osiris Padipepet, born to Basteiridis, is asked, you shall say: “Here (I am), true of voice.” Pa-di-pepet lived
‘Because the number of shabtis you were buried with corresponded to personal wealth, archaeologists have been able determine the status of the tomb’s owner. The poorest of tombs contain no shabtis but even those of modest size contain one or two and there have been tombs containing a shabti for every day of the year’
during the reign of Psamtek I or Necho in the early 26th Dynasty. His tomb was discovered in 1893 in Saqqara, west of the pyramid of Teti and east of that of Weserkaf. Soon after, his shabtis were officially sold to tourists at the Bulaq Museum (the predecessor of Cairo Museum). His alabaster canopic jars cane still be found in the museum with his shabtis ending up museums and private collections all over the world. Charis Tyndall, continued: “Shabtis are intriguing as single statues and highly evocative as a group.”
Above Shabtis are highly evocative when viewed as a group, image courtesy of Charles Ede
Right Shabti of Yuya (c. 1390–1352 BCE). As the parents of Queen Tiye (wife of Amenhotep III) Yuya and Tjuyu were granted burial in the Valley of the Kings and were provided with funerary equipment from the finest royal workshops, image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Reading the rune
Next month the British Museum unveils an exhibition marking the bicentenary of one of the most important moments in our understanding of ancient history: the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs. While the Rosetta Stone, written in hieroglyphs, demotic and the known language of ancient Greek, was discovered in 1799, it took another 23 years and an international race (including doctor British Thomas Young) before the code would be cracked unlocking 3,000 years of Egyptian history.
Central to the story is the French scholar Jean-François Champollion (1790-1832) who was aged eight when the Rosetta stone was discovered. A year later, aged nine, he had mastered Greek and Latin. At 12 he learned Hebrew and went on to study Aramaic, Arabic, Avestan, Chaldean, Chinese, Coptic, Ethiopian, Pahlevi, Persian, ancient Persian and Sanskrit.
Aged 18, he wrote: “Bring me the Chinese grammar, it will distract me a bit, I really need that. I know my Persian grammar inside out. The study of Zen and Pcheleri provides me with happy moments.”
While previous attempts believed hieroglyphs were ideograms – signs expressing ideas – Champollion realised they were neither strictly ideograms nor solely phonetic signs, but both.
Hieroglyphs: Unlocking Ancient Egypt runs from October 13 to February 9 2023 in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery at the British Museum.
Left Leon Cogniet (1794-1880) JeanFrancois Champollion (1790-1832), 1831
Right On show this month, a photograph an Egyptian boy wearing a heavy jewelled pectoral, Harry Burton © Griffith Institute, University of Oxford).
Below left The Rosetta Stone. Granodiorite; Rasid, Egypt; Ptolemaic, 196 BC © The Trustees of the British Museum
Below right View of the annexe during clearance. Harry Burton, © Griffith Institute, University of Oxford).
Discovering the Boy King
It was the Spring of 1320 BCE, when the young King of Egypt, Tutankhamun, was buried in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor in the south of Egypt. He had come to the throne of Egypt as a child after a period of religious and political changes, and his unexpected death at 19 meant that his burial had to be prepared hastily in a small re-used tomb.
He remained buried for some 3,000 years until November 4, 1922, after a seven-year search, the British archaeologist Howard Carter came across it – the first known intact royal burial from ancient Egypt. As well as ritual items used in the funeral and burial, there were also objects from the king’s daily life, ranging from clothes, jewellery, cosmetic equipment, weapons and furniture even to food provisions and flowers.
It was the first royal tomb to be discovered that was both undisturbed and well preserved, and it contained more than 5,000 objects.
Harry Burton
Over the next 10 years, the Lincolnshire-born photographer and Egyptologist Harry Burton (18791940) photographed many of the treasures from each of the four rooms, both in situ and in his studio, on some 1,400 glass-plate negatives. His photographs were used in countless newspapers around the world leading to his overnight fame. In addition to his work in black and white, Burton also photographed many objects in colour and made movies of the objects.
These photographs, along with letters, plans, drawings and diaries are on display until next year at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford as part of this year’s centenary celebrations. The archive was created by the excavators and presented to the Griffith Institute, University of Oxford after Carter’s death.
Tutankhamun: Excavating the Archive is on at The Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford until February 2023
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