Another Dynasty 19 Double Statue

Fig. 1 - Neje and his mother

     Not all Egyptian double statues show a husband and wife. The one shown here is a statue of a priest named Neje and his mother Mutnefret. The statue is carved from limestone and is artistically, fairly similar to the one shown in the previous post.

     Neje wears the stiffly pleated kilt popular in the Ramessside Period, as well as a broad collar that adorns his throat and the top of his chest. His elaborate wig is the same as that worn by Sibe in the statue shown in the previous post. Mutnefret wears a tight sheath dress and an elaborate wig that is very similar to that of Sibe's wife. She has her left arm around her son's back in a pose that has by this point in history long since become one of the cliches of Egyptian art.

Fig. 2 - Another view of the Statue of Neje and his Mother 

     This statue, unlike that of Sibe and his wife, has a fair amount of the paint that originally covered it preserved. The wigs were painted black and there is also paint on the decorative device on the top of Mutnefret's forehead (probably part of a diadem that is hidden by the wig). The faces and feet of the two figures also have some paint preserved on them.The rest of the statue was likely also painted, but some colors made by the Egyptians are more likely to be preserved than others (it depends on the materials used to make the color).



All photos copyright (c) 2014 by John Freed

Husband and Wife Statue in Munich

Fig. 1 - Sibe and Wife, Limestone, Dyn. 19

     Sibe was an Egyptian official in the Nineteenth Dynasty. This nice limestone statue of he and his wife is typical of this kind of statue. Similar statues from this time can be found in many museums around the world.

Fig. 2 - Sibe holding a handkerchief in his hand

     The husband is shown wearing a fashionable wig of the time period and a thin garment that covers his upper body as well as his hips. Contrast this to Old Kingdom representations of officials in which the nobleman is usually shown wearing a kilt (only) and a far less elaborate wig. Also notice the cloth in Sibe's right hand. Many statues show this handkerchief (?) which may be carried to wipe sweat away from the forehead. Sibe's wife also wears a heavy wig and a long dress and is shown with her right arm wrapped around her husband's back.

Fig. 3 - the back of the statue showing husband and wife

     The rear of the statue is a bit distinctive when compared to similar paired statues. Sibe and his wife are shown seated together giving flowers to each other. This would seem to be a carryover from the Amarna Period, when even the King and Queen could be shown displaying affection for one another. It particularly reminds me of some of the scenes on a gold shrine found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen where the King and Queen are shown in casual settings seemingly enjoying being with each other and away from the cares of their responsibilities.

   

State Museum of Egyptian Art - Munich

Figure 1 - A gallery in the State Museum of Egyptian Art in Munich

     After leaving Spain we headed for Munich. One of the things on my "to-do" list was a visit to the brand new State Museum of Egyptian Art (Staatliches Museum Aegyptischer Kunst). This is the new home of the Egyptian art formerly held in the Residenz, which was the palace of the Bavarian Kings many years ago.

Figure 2 - First gallery from above, the entrance ramp is on the left

     The museum has only recently opened and has a very modern design. It is clean and fresh looking and quite well designed and installed. The object labels are in both German and English. You enter the museum at ground level and then walk down a long ramp to the actual exhibits.

     One of the things I liked was the fact that you can "see" the museum from balconies on the floor above the displays. This gives you a chance to get a feel for the museum's layout that you will miss as you wander among the objects themselves. I could not resist a few photos from above as you can tell from the pictures here.

     I will do a fair number of posts over the next little while showing the objects in this lovely museum.


All photos copyright (c) 2014 by John Freed

An Egyptian Temple in Madrid

Figure 1 - the Temple of Debod in Madrid

     Its now time to leave the Egyptian collection in Barcelona behind and take a look at the Debod temple in Madrid.

     This temple, originally built in the second century B. C., would have been permanently flooded by the Aswan dam if it had been left in its original location (about 15 kilometers south of Aswan), and so, like the Temple of Dendur in New York, it was donated to a foreign country in return for that country's help with the salvage archaeology that preceded the building of the dam.

     Debod temple seems to have had two pylons in front of it, the stone doorways of which can be seen in figure two. These pylons seem to have been re-erected in Madrid in the wrong order. Photos of the original site seem to show the pylon that is now further away from the main temple building as originally closer to the temple.

Figure 2 - the stone pylon gates in front of the temple

     The temple's construction was started by a Nubian Pharaoh as a simple shrine to Amun. Later, during the Ptolemaic period, it was expanded into a full temple. The final decoration of the temple was completed by the Roman Emperors Augustus and Tiberius.

     The Debod temple has been re-erected in a small park near the royal palace (Palacio Real).



Photos Copyright (c) 2014 by John Freed

Figure 3 - the capital of one of the columns in the temple of Debod

Middle Kingdom Burial of Khnumhotep

Figure 1 - Coffin of Khnumhotep in Barcelona

     The funerary goods from the tomb of the Middle Kingdom official Khnumhotep are typical of the period. Figure 1 shows the nobleman's coffin with the offering formula ("A gift given by the King....." etc.) along the top of the coffin's side, while the vertical columns of text tell us that the deceased is one honored by each of the four sons of Horus. Also note the paired "Eyes of Horus" (see Figure 4) which allowed the deceased to magically look out of their coffin into their tomb.

Figure 2 - Necklaces and wooden staves of Khnumhotep

     Other items from the burial are displayed on top of the coffin and include a headrest (on the far right end of the lid), some wooden staves which showed that Khnumhotep had achieved an important rank within Egyptian society, a cosmetic pot, canonic jar and a mirror. Additionally, several necklaces (figure 2) and wooden sandals (figure 3) were found in this burial.

Figure 3 - Wooden Sandals from the Burial

     This burial does remind me of the burial of Senebtisi, which is also from the Middle Kingdom and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Senebtisi's tomb was found in the Winter of 1907 - 1907 and published by Arthur Mace and Herbert Winlock (Mace, Arthur and Herbert Winlock, The Tomb of Senebtisi at Lisht, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1916). Senebtisi's burial was more elaborate than Khnumhotep's. For instance, Senebtisi was buried in three coffins (an anthropoid coffin and two rectangular ones.

Figure 4 - the "Eyes of Horus" on the side of the Coffin

Photos Copyright (c) 2014 by John Freed

One Last Terracotta Coffin in Barcelona

Figure 1 - Roman Period Terracotta coffin

     Terracotta coffins continued to be used in Egypt for the burials of persons of humble origins until the end of Pharaonic culture. This one is from the 3rd or 4th century A. D. and is unusual in so many ways, particularly in that the head of the deceased has been modeled in terra-cotta on top of the coffin.

Figure 2 - Face of the Coffin

     As we saw in the previous post to this blog, terra-cotta coffins were sometimes brightly painted, as is this one. The modeled female head is shown with its hair tied up into a knot on the top of the deceased's head. Around her neck is what looks like a representation of a floral collar of some sort. The purple decorations might be bunches of grapes (but I am not sure of that).

     In figure 2 we get a close up view of the deceased's face. She is shown as having bright red cheeks, red lips and long eyelashes. Her nose is poorly modeled and the whole effect is to make the coffin look odd, rather than to make it look nicer.


 All photos copyright (c) 2014 by John Freed

Terracotta Coffins

     Terracotta coffins (sometimes called "slipper" coffins) were often used by Egyptians who were less well off and could not afford one or more elaborate wooden coffins. The coffin in figure 1 is a fairly typical example of these funerary objects. Note the simplistic modeling of the face, arms and ears of the deceased. The remainder of the coffin is undecorated, although it may have been painted when originally used. This example is from Barcelona, but a similar coffin can be found in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (see my post in this blog from October 26, 2012).

Figure 1 - Terracotta Coffin, Dynasty 19 or 20, Barcelona

Figure 2 - Terracotta Face of a Man, Dynasty 19 or 20

     The faces from terra-cotta coffins in figures 2 and 3 are very different. These faces (figure 2 is a man and figure 3 is a woman) are a bit more elaborately modeled and have details painted on, such as the bead necklaces shown as simple lines of different colors around the necks of the deceased. These items are so unusual that my first reaction upon seeing them was to wonder if they were authentic. 

     All three of these objects are in the Egyptian Museum in Barcelona.

Figure 3 - Terracotta Face of a Woman, Dynasty 19 or 20

All photos copyright (c) 2014 by John Freed