Egyptian Antiquities in the Petrie Museum of Egyptology, London

Established in 1892 primarily as a teaching tool for the new Department of Egyptology, University College’s Petrie Museum of Egyptology is tucked away in a rather obscure location off Gower Street. Were it not for a few colorful banners pointing the way, it would be difficult to find. Visiting hours are quite limited. Started with the donation of a few private collections, the Petrie’s holding grew enormously in the first few decades of the 20th Century through the prolific excavation work in Egypt of Sir William Flinders Petrie. Removed from London during the Second World War for safekeeping, the collections were returned in the 1950s and housed in a former stables building, where they remain today.

The Petrie’s collections are particularly rich in Pre-Dynastic and Early Dynastic materials, especially pottery, as well as textiles and costumes, glass and faience, papyri and inscribed architectural fragments, many with string colors remaining. Unusually, much of the material has clear provenance, having been obtained through controlled excavations with find spots recorded. Also rather unusual is the fact that the Museum’s collections cover not just Dynastic Egypt but also Roman, Byzantine / Coptic and early Islamic materials.

The immediate impression one receives upon getting clear of the small admissions area and entering the Museum itself is of the stereotypical “old fashioned” dark and dusty late 19th or early 20th Century museum experience. There is nothing nostalgic about this. The fact that the Museum is housed in what was once a stables now makes its impact. The spaces are very tight. There is very little room around most of the old fashioned, academic display cases for more than one or two visitors to look at the contents. The lighting is dim (though in some instances this is to help preserve light sensitive materials), making it difficult to enjoy even the most impressive pieces. Objects are stuffed together tightly in small cases, accompanied by descriptive labels that might be less than informative to a visitor with no background in Egyptology. In most instances, obtaining good photographs is nearly impossible due to the lighting conditions and highly reflective glass of the old cases. The overall impression left is one of frustration at not being able to adequately enjoy the many wonderful pieces on display, and of puzzlement as to why such an extraordinary collection has been relegated to such an inadequate space.

Having said all this, the Petrie is still very much worth a visit for anyone with more than a passing interest in ancient Egypt and the ancient Mediterranean world in general. The images below are intended to provide only a modest sample of what awaits the visitor. Enjoy!

Ancient glass from Egypt, dating from early Roman through Byzantine & early Islamic

Display of pre-dynastic and early dynastic pottery

Egyptian and Phoenician glass inlays and small objects, mainly Late Dynastic and Ptolemaic

Coptic period St Menas Flasks and pottery

Inscription from Pyramid of Pepi II, Saqarra, circa 2250 BC

Late Dynastic shabtis of exceptional quality

Painted wood funerary stele showing the deceased adoring Horus. Dynasty XXII or later.

Painted Wooden Stela of Neskhons, Queen of Pharaoh Pinezem II, Dynasty XXI. The deceased Queen adores Osiris whose green skin suggests regeneration and rebirth.

Middle Kingdom polychromed fragmentary funerary stela.

Collecting Ancient Coptic / Byzantine Textiles

The colorful textile above is a fragment from a Coptic Egyptian ecclesiastical garment depicting saints and biblical figures and dating to the 7th Century AD, now in The British Museum. Thanks to exceptionally dry conditions, many types of artifacts made from perishable materials that would not survive elsewhere are common finds on Egyptian archaeological sites. Between the late 18th and early 20th Century great numbers of ancient Egyptian textile fragments from all periods were retrieved by local Egyptian treasure hunters and artifacts dealers for sale to foreign visitors, by foreigners conducting their own ad-hoc “excavations” and by archaeologists, often excavating using methods that would by today’s standards be considered little more than treasure hunting.

While textiles of all types, from the most humble garments to the most elaborate, and from every period of Egypt’s long history have been preserved in the dry environment, Coptic textiles are a class unto themselves. In common parlance, use of the term “Coptic” here refers both to the time period from which these textiles date – corresponding to the roughly 300 year period of Byzantine rule in Egypt – and the Christian culture that created them, as the Coptic Church, still very much alive today in Egypt, gives its name to both the ancient and modern Coptic culture. This uniquely Coptic textile style continued on in Egypt long after the Islamic conquest of the 7th Century AD.

Many Coptic textile fragments, and in some cases entire garments, have since found their way into museum collections. This has somewhat reduced the number of high quality examples available on the legitimate art market. But many fine examples can be acquired from the major London and New York auction houses and reputable antiquities dealers in Europe and the North America.

Our own website offers a small but quality selection of Coptic textiles:

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i284.html

The example above is a large 5th-7th Century fragment featuring human, animal and geometric decorations. It has been sewn on a linen backing for mounting and custom framed. A brief description in modern Arabic from a late 19th – early 20th Century Cairo dealer enhances its value.

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i285.html

This 5th – 7th Century example, from the same old collection, is also framed and features complex foliate and geometric patterns.

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i176.html

Finally, this 4th – 7th Century example features a broad band of highly abstracted animal forms, including fish, birds and rabbits, with lovely deep red borders.

Some of the finest examples of Coptic weaving, which was generally made in linen and wool, were reserved for ecclesiastical garments. The 5th – 7th Century fragment pictured below, now in The British Museum, depicts a cross and bird; the bird may have been part of an allegory of the seasons, thus combining ancient pagan and the newer Christian iconography.


 
There are excellent print and online resources for the student or collector of ancient Coptic textiles.  The Coptic Tapestry Albums & The Archaeologist of Antinoe, Albert Gayet  by Nancy Arthur Hoskins, is a very accessible, lavishly color illustrated guide to the collection amassed by the controversial French psuedo-archaeologist Albert Gayet in the late 19th Century. It describes Coptic textile production techniques as well as offering insight into how collections of these objects were built in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Two online resources that we recommend are the Rietz Collection of Coptic textiles in the California Academy of Sciences – http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/anthropology/coptic/Collection.htm – and the Indiana University Museum’s small but excellent online collections – http://www.iub.edu/~iuam/online_modules/coptic/cophome.html.

Roman Bronze Brooches Revisited: Zoomorphic Types

 

In a blog post dated August 20 of last year we reviewed some examples of Roman bronze fibulae (brooches), a ubiquitous find both in controlled excavations and by metal detectorists. In this post we’d like to elaborate on the topic, focusing on zoomorphic brooch types.

The example pictured above, a horse brooch dating to the 1st to 3rd Centuries AD, while not unknown, is a very uncommon type. It has been modeled in the round rather than as a flat plate with pin on the reverse. For more details, it may be viewed here: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i475.html

 Far more typical of Roman brooches depicting mammals is the example above of a so-called “horse and rider” brooch. As is frequently the case, the schematically rendered rider has broken away but the Celtic style horse is well defined and shows a strong sense of movement. This type, dating to the 3rd or 4th Century, may have been closely associated with the Roman army. The bronze has been tinned to resemble silver. For more details on this example, go here: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i474.html

In addition to mammals (rabbits or hares, dogs, horses, etc.), birds were a popular source of inspiration for Roman craftsmen involved in making brooches. The superb example above, depicting a duck in resting posture with wings folded back, illustrates the use of enamel decoration on Roman brooches. In this case, the wings have a piriform cell containing blue enamel surrounded by red with another stretch of blue enamel around that. In addition, the animal itself is depicted in a highly naturalistic way; even the duck’s eye has been indicated with a tiny point of incision. For more on this example, go here: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i489.html

An uncommon type of bird brooch, dating to the 2nd or 3rd Century AD, is illustrated above. This example appears to depict a dove or small water bird. Unusually for zoomorphic brooches, it’s original pin and coil are intact. Unlike many zoomorphic types that were also popular on the European continent, this specific type appears to be unique to Roman Britain. More about this example here: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i476.html

For many more examples of brooches, mainly Roman, of many different types, visit the “Ancient Jewelry and Personal Adornment” section of our website at: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c19_p1.html

All the brooches presented above are individual UK metal detector finds, declared not treasure and legally exported.

For further study, we recommend the following sources:

Roman Brooches in Britain, a Technological and Typological Study Based on the Richborough Collection, The Society of Antiquaries of London, 2004

AND

A Visual Catalogue of Richard Hattat’s Ancient Brooches, Oxbow Books, Oxford, 2007

Clio Ancient Art and Antiquities: Provenance

Our second video, dealing this time with the importance of PROVENANCE in the antiquities trade. Questions and comments welcome, as always.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0b77JLavcA

The Ubiquitous Unguentarium

No other type of ancient Roman glass vessel is so widespread and common a find as the unguentarium (plural: unguentaria). As the name suggests, it was intended as a container for precious liquids, such as scented oils for personal or funerary use, medicinal creams and herbals for culinary use.

This type of vessel’s origins rest in the Hellenistic period and earlier, when roughly spindle shaped containers in ceramic were quite common. With the introduction of glass blowing on a large scale in the first century, AD, glass unguentaria rapidly replaced ceramic containers. Unlike pottery, glass has the advantage of imparting no taste or scent to its contents.

While the basic form — a bulbous lower body, long narrow neck, usually with a constriction somewhere along its length, and a flared rim — is common to all unguentaria, the range of specific forms is tremendous. The example illustrated above (Link: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i62.html) is a quite uncommon miniature example. More typical perhaps is this example: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i60.html

One particularly striking variation on the basic theme is the so-called candlestick unguentarium. Here are 2 variations on that theme: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i117.html and http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i81.html

Visitors to museums, when viewing displays of Roman glass, often ask where the lids or stoppers to these vessels are. In most cases, these were made from organic materials, including tightly wound plant fiber or wood. Examples excavated at Romano-Egyptian sites have been found with these organic materials intact, due to the extremely dry conditions.

There are many excellent sources we could recommend dealing with the ubiquitous unguentarium but here are two, in particular –
* Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, Volume One, David Whitehouse, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, 2007. This tremendous work includes 87 fully illustrated and described examples of unguentaria (author uses the term “Toilet Bottles).
* Roman Glass, Reflections of Everyday Life, Stuart J. Fleming, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 1997. This is a particularly good source for building an understanding of how these humble glass vessels were actually used in the lives of the ancient Romans.

Here are links to additional examples of ancient Roma glass unguentaria on our website –
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i397.html
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i59.html
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i415.html

For all types of ancient glass on our website, follow these links –
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c13_p1.html
and
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c24_p1.html

A Byzantine St Menas Flask and Spiritual Continuity in Egypt

Political and social turmoil is still very much in evidence in Egypt today, 16 months after Mubarak’s departure and 1 year after Morsi’s election as Egypt’s President. Some of this unrest has had religious overtones, involving friction between Egypt’s ancient Coptic community, now numbering perhaps 10% of the population or 8 million persons, and some elements of the Muslim majority.

In light of the rapid pace of social and political change seen in Egypt over the past couple of years, it may be easy to forget that the Coptic community has a remarkably long history, dating to St Mark’s introduction of the new faith in the 1st Century CE, and flourishing with the founding of monasticism in the 4th Century CE Egyptian desert by St Anthony, whose monastery still stands today. There is more than ample artifactual evidence for this continuity, including a “St Menas Flask” on our website (see the image above and the link here: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i386.html).

 The namesake of this mold-made pottery flask, dating to the 6th or 7th Century CE, is considered by Coptic Christians to be a miracle worker and martyr. Menas lived in the late 3rd to early 4th Century when Egypt was a province of the Roman Empire. He presumably was tortured and killed for his faith at a time shortly before Emperor Constantine’s Edict of Toleration, which ended persecution of Christians. He was buried at a spot in the Western Desert southwest of Alexandria. In the late 5th Century CE, the daughter of Emperor Zeno was said to have been cured of leprousy at Menas’ shrine, and great numbers of people began traveling to the spot seeking cures or Menas’ intercession.

The flask on our website is characteristic of a large body of related pottery vessels found not only in the Mediterranean Near East but as far away as Italy, France, Germany and even England. These were either carried back home by pilgrims returning from St Menas’ shrine or sending these objects back to their families. They were typically filled with holy oil or water from the shrine.

Even after the arrival of Islam in Egypt in 641 CE, when the shrine and cathedral was destroyed, and the region’s gradual conversion to a Muslim majority during the middle ages, the shrine continued as a place of pilgrimage. It has been completely rebuilt in the modern era is still a popular destination. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is on their “danger” list.

The iconography on our flask requires some explanation. Both sides show essentially the same scene, one side shown above, the other side shown here:

The figure of St Means is shown facing forward, wearing a soldier’s tunic and with arms extended in blessing. A simplified cross appears above each arm. To either side is a schematic rendering of a kneeling camel, taken from the legend that when his body was being transported into the desert at a particular spot the camels refused to go any further and this wast taken as a sign that his shrine should be erected on that spot. This imagery is enclosed by a circular border and again by another border of beads or dots.

For additional reading, we recommend:the UNESCO page for Abu Mena, including an excellent slideshow – http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/90

Here is an image we took at the Petrie Museum of Egyptology, University College, London, of several similar examples -

For more examples of Coptic antiquities from Egypt on our website -
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i284.html
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i285.html
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i176.html

Egyptian Faience Production and a Skullcap of Ptah on Our Website

One of the more extraordinary objects offered on our website is a Late Dynastic Egyptian blue skullcap detached from a statuette of the god Ptah. It may be viewed here: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i11.html.

We have described this antiquity as being made of “frit” — a term sometimes but erroneously used interchangeably for faience. But why did we choose this term? What is meant by the term “fit: and is this really the same material as faience?

We will examine here some characteristics of Egyptian faience, its production techniques and the range of materials that are broadly referred to as faience in relation to our object, which may well be a rather unusual variant.

Faience, which the Egyptians called tjehnet (meaning brilliant or shining) may have been developed as an alternative to lapis, an expensive deep blue stone whose main source was distant Afghanistan. Whatever the motivation, faience production began as early as 5000 BCE and continued through the late Roman period around 350 CE. Early faience involved simple glazing of stone objects such as beads. The primary component of faience was a readily available material, quartz. This was ground to powder and mixed with calcium oxide and natron (a type of salt commonly found in the Egyptian desert) and possibly other materials, including metallic oxides to provide coloring. Faience could be used to glaze other materials, such as soapstone, and later to create finished objects by pressing the mixture into molds. Some faience was “self-glazing” in that a hard shiny surface layer of salts would form on an object’s surface through efflorescence. Faience was fired in kilns at relatively high temperatures, up to 1000 degrees Centigrade.
Egyptian artisans combined long established skills and technologies from pottery making and metallurgy to perfect their craft. In the early New Kingdom, with the probable arrival of glass artisans from Mesopotamia, a new component was added to this skill set, and a number of variants on the basic formula emerged. These included frit, also known as Egyptian Blue, which had much in common with glass making, and so-called “glassy faience”. This is where our skullcap of Ptah comes in.

Close examination of the underside of this object -

reveals several unusual aspects. In the deeply recessed and therefore protected interior underside, which would have rested atop the statuette’s head, a shiny glass-like surface is revealed. Shiny examples of glassy faience are known to exist. Also, in two spots there are small breaks along the object’s edge that have fractured in a manner very much resembling flint or volcanic glass. Finally, the chips mentioned above reveal the interior of the object to be identical to that of the exterior, with no thin outer layer of efflorescence or glaze differing from the interior composition. This gives it more in common with blue frit than ordinary faience.

In the end, only a chemical analysis of our object will provide a more complete answer. However we might classify this material, the object itself is highly unusual.

For some comparable examples, we suggest -

* Gifts of the Nile, Ancient Egyptian Faience, Florence Dunn Friedman, Editor, with four examples of wigs and crowns from composite statuettes, and inlays in the form of wigs, dating from the New Kingdom and 3rd Intermediate Periods, pages 82-83 (we highly recommend this excellent book).

*  Stern & Schlick-Nolte, Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 BC – AD 50, Ernesto Wolf Collection, No. 26, for a small Egyptian male head, probably 10th-7th Century BC, made of “vitreous material” remarkably similar in color and texture.

* Lacovara, Trope & D’Auria, editors, The Collector’s Eye: Masterpieces of Egyptian Art from the Thalassic Collection, Ltd., Michael C. Carlos Museum, Atlanta, 2001, #29 for a large skullcap of Ptah in bright blue faience, as an inlay, dated to the New Kingdom.
 
For other examples of Egyptian faience objects on our website in a variety of colors -

* A string of discoid beads in bright blue faience of the Ptolemaic or Roman period: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i289.html

* An Eye of Horus amulet in green and black of the Late Dynastic period: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i407.html

* Another Eye of Horus amulet in pale blue and black of the New Kingdom: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i408.html

A few additional images of our skullcap -

Website Update - Ancient Coins & More!

Hello Customers, Friends & Fans of Clio Ancient Art:

Just a note to let you know we have updated our website’s Ancient Coins page to include some superb Roman Provincial, Elymais, early Islamic and Indian coins in bronze and silver. Along with Roman Imperial, Himyarite, Byzantine, Crusader and Armenian coins, we have a total of 16 specimens available -- http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c18_p1.html

Of course, we also have over 120 more examples of ancient art available, including –

·         Ancient Glass - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c13_p1.html and http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c24_p1.html

·         Ancient Oil Lamps - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c14_p1.html

·         Cypriot Ceramics - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c1_p1.html

·         Egyptian Antiquities - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c2_p1.html

·         Greek Antiquities - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c3_p1.html

·         Roman Antiquities - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c15_p1.html and  http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c16_p1.html and http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c17_p1.html

·         Byzantine, Near Eastern, early Islamic, Etruscan, Medieval and Migration Period antiquities - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c26_p1.html and http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c21_p1.html

We’ve also added several volumes to our Art, Books & Publications page - http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c25_p1.html  and we’ve updated our Sold Antiquities pages - http://www.clioancientart.com/id24.html and http://www.clioancientart.com/id25.html

Lastly, we’ve added a new Travelogues entry, a stroll through Herculaneum - http://www.clioancientart.com/id22.html

Do let us know if you find anything on our website to be of interest.

As always, thanks for looking and best wishes,

Chris M. Maupin

Clio Ancient Art & Antiquities

338 S. Sharon Amity Rd #407

Charlotte, NC 28211

704-293-3411 / chris@clioancientart.com

PS: Follow us on Facebook at - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clio-Ancient-Art-Antiquities/247378388593

A Bit of Egypt Beside the Thames

Egyptian Obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III, circa 1450 BCE. Victoria Embankment Gardens, London. This bit of Egypt beside the Thames has a remarkable history -- Erected by Thutmose at Heliopolis, inscribed 200 years later by Ramses II, moved to Alexandria in the Roman period, given as a gift to the United Kingdom by Mehmet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, lost in a storm in the Bay of Biscay on the way to England, salvaged and repaired in Spain, finally reaching London January, 1878. It has a twin in New York's Central Park. 180 tons, 68 feet, granite.

Additions to our Egyptian Antiquities Page

We've added the following items to our Egyptian Antiquities Page --

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i407.html

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i408.html

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i409.html