domingo, 30 de noviembre de 2014

Champollion

Aunque sólo fuera por el gran templo de Abu Simbel, valdría la pena el viaje a Nubia: es una maravilla que hasta en Tebas considerarían algo bellísimo. El trabajo que costó esta excavación desafía la imaginación. La fachada está decorada con cuatro estatuas sedentes colosales, de altura no inferior a los dieciocho metros. Las cuatro, obras de soberbia artesanía, representan a Ramsés el Grande: sus caras son retratos y guardan un parecido perfecto con las imágenes de este rey que hay en Menfis, en Tebas y en cualquier otro lugar. También lo es la entrada; el interior es totalmente digno de visitarse, pero hacerlo supone una ardua tarea. A nuestra llegada la arena y los nubios encargados de trasladarla habían bloqueado la entrada. Hicimos que la despejaran de manera que abrieran un pequeño hueco y tomamos entonces todas las precauciones que pudimos contra la arena que caía, que en Egipto, así como en Nubia, amenaza con sepultarlo todo. Yo iba casi completamente desnudo; sólo llevaba mi camisa árabe y los calzones de algodón, y avancé reptando sobre el estómago hacia el pequeño umbral de una puerta, que, de haber estado despejada, habría medido por lo menos siete metros y medio de alto. Pensé que avanzaba hacia la boca de un horno y, deslizándome hacia el interior del templo, me encontré en una atmósfera a 52ºC de temperatura... Tras pasarme dos horas y media admirándolo todo y haber visto todos los relieves, se impuso la necesidad de respirar un poco de aire puro y me fue necesario volver a la entrada del horno.

Champollion, 1828

Kheruef tomb, TT192

This is a little better preserved, and the deceased possibly holds a sekhem sceptre. Kheruef has still been destroyed from the waist up. The colours are exquisite. The preserved text gives the name of the mother of Kheruef, Ruiu ".... Kheruef, justified, born of the royal adornment, singer of Isis the God's Mother, and Lady of the House, Ruiu, justified"
Kheruef tomb, TT192

lintel.

FOtos de Osirisnet.net

Nehemes-Ra-tawy

Grave Stela of Nehemes-Ra-tawy, ca. 760-656 B.C.E. Limestone, paint, 10 3/8 x 8 3/8 x 2 1/2 in. (26.4 x 21.3 x 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.588E

Abu Simbel

ostracon

MM 14139 :: Artist's sketch, Ostracon

Object description: Ostracon, irregularly shaped. Sketches on both sides, one in black, the other in red. On one side, there are two male heads on the left hand side of the piece, with two hieroglyphs in the top left hand corner. In the middle is an ear with a pierced earlobe. To the right is a falcon head with a hieroglyph underneath it. On the reverse of the piece, outlined in black and red, is a jackal, lying down. The head is no longer visible. Limestone

http://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-mhm/web/object/3005994

ostracon

Ostracon with Figural Depiction
Egypt, possibly Roman Period (30 BCE - 200 CE)

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

ostracon

The front of this ostracon shows a preparatory drawing for a funerary ritual scene, while the back has sketches of vessels and cult objects
Walters Art Museum

public domain

ostraca

Ostracon with sketch of a calf

Period: Late Period, Saite

Dynasty: Dynasty 26

Reign: reign of Psamtik I

Date: 664–610 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Tomb of Nespakashuty (TT 312, MMA 509a), MMA 1922–1923

Medium: Limestone, ink

Dimensions: 11 x 9 cm

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1923

Accession Number: 23.3.27

Period: New Kingdom, Ramesside

Dynasty: Dynasty 19–20

Date: ca. 1295–1070 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, Valley of the Kings, Davis excavations, before 1913

Medium: Limestone, ink

Dimensions: l. 9 cm (3 9/16 in); w. 17 cm (6 11/16 in)

Credit Line: Gift of Theodore M. Davis, 1914

Accession Number: 14.6.219

Period: New Kingdom, Ramesside

Dynasty: Dynasty 19–20

Date: ca. 1295–1070 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, Valley of the Kings

Medium: Limestone, ink

Dimensions: H. 14 cm (5 1/2 in.); W. 23 cm (9 1/16 in.)

Credit Line: Gift of Theodore M. Davis, 1914

Accession Number: 14.6.193

Ostracon

Period: New Kingdom

Dynasty: Dynasty 18

Reign: Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III

Date: ca. 1479–1458 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Hatshepsut Hole, MMA 1922–1923

Medium: Limestone, ink

Dimensions: H. 9.5 cm (3 3/4 in.); 4.4 cm (1 3/4 in.)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1923

Accession Number: 23.3.17

MET MUSEUM

metmuseum.org: SOURCE

ostraca Met Museum

Ostracon Depicting a Queen Holding a Sistrum

Period: New Kingdom, Ramesside

Dynasty: Dynasty 19–20

Date: ca. 1295–1070 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, Valley of the Kings, Workmen's Huts near KV 55 (site 18) or Btwn 18/21, Davis/Ayrton 1907–1908

Medium: Limestone, paint

Dimensions: H. 27.4 × w. 9.4 × d. 2.5 cm (9 3/4 × 3 11/16 × 1 in.)

Credit Line: Gift of Theodore M. Davis, 1909

Accession Number: 09.184.197

MetMuseum

Ostracon with a donkey

Period: New Kingdom

Dynasty: Dynasty 18

Reign: Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III

Date: ca. 1479–1458 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Hatshepsut Hole, MMA 1922–1923

Medium: Limestone, ink

Dimensions: h. 8 cm (3 1/8 in); w. 7.6 cm (3 in); th. 3 cm (1 3/16 in)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1923

Accession Number: 23.3.8

Period: New Kingdom, Ramesside

Dynasty: Dynasty 19–20

Date: ca. 1295–1070 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, el-Asasif, East of Pabasa, Radim, MMA 1918–1919

Medium: Limestone, ink

Dimensions: 7.5 x 14.5 x 3.8 cm (2 15/16 x 5 11/16 x 1 1/2 in.)

Ostracon with sketch of a running lion

Period: Late Period, Saite

Dynasty: Dynasty 26

Reign: reign of Psamtik I

Date: 664–610 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Tomb of Nespakashuty (TT 312, MMA 509a), MMA 1922–1923

Medium: Limestone, ink

Dimensions: H. 12.8 cm x W. 16 cm

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1923

Accession Number: 23.3.28

SOURCE. METMUSEUM.ORG

museum´s website

Smendes palette

Palette inscribed for Smendes, High Priest of Amun

Period: Third Intermediate Period

Dynasty: Dynasty 21

Reign: Reign of High Priest of Amun Menkheperre

Date: ca. 1045–992 B.C.

Geography: Probably from Upper Egypt; Thebes; From Egypt

Medium: Wood, ink, reed

Dimensions: L. of palette 48.6 cm (19 1/8 in); W. 7.2 cm (2 13/16 in.); Th. 1.1 cm (7/16 in.) L. of pens 16.5–18 cm (6 1/2 in–7 1/16 in)

Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1947

Accession Number: 47.123a–g

Egyptian scribes perfected their skill in the art of writing as apprentices. They would copy hieroglyphs and phrases on chips of stone and fragments of pottery (ostraca), or on whitewashed writing boards (see 28.9.5).
A scribe would have owned a writing palette like this one, which provides space for two colors of ink and a slot for reed brushes (Egyptian scribes used brushes, not pens).

Met Museum

http://www.metmuseum.org/

sábado, 29 de noviembre de 2014

Mummy of a cat

Roman Period, perhaps 1st century AD

Abydos

Animals associated with deities were regularly mummified in the later periods of Egyptian history. The main concentration of cat burials was at sites with an association with a feline deity. The cat is associated with the goddess Bastet, whose cult centre was at Bubastis in the Delta, but there were other feline deities elsewhere in Egypt.
This cat was very elaborately wrapped, following a style which is common in the Greek and Roman periods in ancient Egypt. A lot of effort was frequently spent on the wrapping and external appearance, while the remains inside are often incomplete. It seems likely that many cats did not die a natural death; examination at The British Museum has shown many to have been aged less than one year old. Presumably a cull was made periodically in the temple catteries to provide subjects for mummification and sale to the pious.
The purchase and burial of an animal mummy in a specially designed catacomb was seen as a pious act towards the deity represented by the animal.
Unfortunately, many cat cemeteries were plundered before archaeologists could work in them: A shipment of as many as 180,000 mummified cats was brought to Britain at the end of the nineteenth century to be processed into fertiliser.
J. Malek, The cat in ancient Egypt (London, The British Museum Press, 1993)
C.A.R. Andrews, Egyptian mummies (London, The British Museum Press, 1984)

funerary plaque

Funerary plaque, ca. 520–510 b.c.; Archaic, black-figure
Greek, Attic
Terracotta

H. 10 1/4 in. (26.04 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1954 (54.11.5)

In the late sixth century B.C., terracotta plaques like this one often decorated the walls of tombs. Typically, they were decorated with images that evoked myths and customs of ancient Greek funerary practices. A prothesis, or laying out of the dead, is depicted in the upper main register of this plaque. After having been bathed and clothed, the deceased has been laid out on a high bier with his feet set facing the door, as was customary in ancient Greece. The two cushions under his head would have prevented his jaws from sagging open. Mourners standing on either side of the bier gesture with their hands and pull at their hair. In the lower register, three quadrigas (four-horse chariots) race to the right. Each of the charioteers wears a belted white chiton.
The chariot race is a recurrent theme in Attic funerary art. Its iconography may evoke the funeral games held in honor of legendary heroes, such as those described in Book 23 of the Iliad, when Achilles honors his deceased friend Patrokles.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/54.11.5

A sketch in rust-red drawn

http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=2615

A sketch in rust-red drawn on a limestone ostracon

represents the self-portrait of the scribe, Sesh, wearing a knee-length kilt, his arms raised to present a papyrus roll and possibly a writing pallette. The sketch is signed with the hieroglyph of "scribe", consisting of a palette with wells for red and black ink, shoulder strap, water pot and reed pen. Measuring 11 x 12 cm, it was created in Deir-el-Medina

, Western Thebes, 19th or 20th dynasty, and excavated there, circa 1975. It is preserved in the Schøyen Collection (MS 1695)

.
Deir-el-Medina was occupied by the community of workmen who constructed and decorated the tombs in the Valley of the Kings

and the Valley of the Queens

. Many pieces, mostly dating from the 19th and 20th Dynasties were recovered from this site—mostly detailed drafts for specific details of a tomb's decoration

TT335

Egiptomaníacos, aquí tenemo la imagen de Nut en el techo de la tumba TT335 del escultor Nakhtamon que trabajaba en Deir el Medina.
La tumba fue descubierta por Bernard Bruyère el 16 de noviembre del año 1925.

la fuente de esta imagen es Osiris.net net,

ostraca

Museum number

EA8508

Description

Full: Front
Limestone ostracon: on one side only, a scene painted in red and black depicting the workman Pennub adoring the goddess Meresger in the shape of a woman-headed snake. There is a hieroglyphic text above, perhaps a votive offering.
© The Trustees of the British Museum

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details

Petrie Museum, UCL UC33200
Fighting bulls
New Kingdom, 1550-1350 BC
Limestone
Black pigment
Drawing of two bulls facing each other. Their heads are down and their horns are interlocked. The ground is indicated by a line. Above the bull on the right side, there is a man facing left, striding out, his right arm raised. He wears a short kilt. His head is missing.
Height: 13.1 cm
Width: 16 cm

For more information on figured ostraka in museum collections follow the link to www.st-maat.org
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29001398@N00/2427747010

Figured ostrakon
Petrie Museum, London UC33199
Bull-god?
Limestone
Black ink
The bull is standing and facing right. There is a sun-disk between his horns. The disk is drawn frontally. Smudged beneath the body. The drawing is very crude and it is difficult to establish which bull-god is represented here.
Height: 11.3 cm
Width: 14.4 cm

To find out more about the ostraka collection from Deir el-Medina, go to www.st-maat.org and follow the link to Museum & private collections

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29001398@N00/2425376208

Figured ostrakon Petrie Museum, London UC26937
Galloping horse
New Kingdom, dynasty 18th until dynasty 19th, 1550-1186 BC
Terracotta
Red and black pigment
Figure of a galloping horse, facing left. The horse is painted with red pigment. The legs of the animal are missing. Behind the horse there is a drawing in black of part of a chariot and reins that lead the horse.
Height: 10.7 cm
Width: 16.5 cm

To find out more about the ostraka collection from Deir el-Medina, go to www.st-maat.org and follow the link to Museum & private collections
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29001398@N00/2425378562

Deir el Medina ostraca - Sketches on two sides. On one side are several animals, in the top right hand corner a vulture, below it a monkey walking on all four legs towards the left. Underneath the monkey is a lion, lying down and facing right. Underneath the lion is a Seth-animal. In the upper left hand corner is a young bird, facing right, and underneath that another monkey, walking on all four legs towards the right. From Deir el Medina, New Kingdom, 19th-20th dynasty.

(MM 14052, MM 14136, MM 14096)

Medellhavsmuseet, Stockholm

Heidi K.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24729615@N00/6830361347

Ostracon with a scene of sex:

Ostracon with a scene of sex: limestone ostracon with black-painted scene showing a man having sexual intercourse with a woman. There is a hieroglyphic caption in front of the woman.
© The Trustees of the British Museum

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/c

Ancient Egyptian Ostraca: A Reevaluation

Jennifer Babcock, 2009–2011 Hagop Kevorkian Curatorial Fellow, Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art

Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2012

«Although I am an Egyptologist, I recently worked for two years in the Museum's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art as the 2009–2011 Hagop Kevorkian Curatorial Fellow. The experience was invaluable, not only for its curatorial training, but also for the opportunity to approach my dissertation topic—ancient Egyptian ostraca—from a cross-disciplinary perspective.»
Ostraca are flakes of limestone that were used as "notepads" for private letters, laundry lists, records of purchases, and copies of literary works. My research focused specifically on the "figured," or illustrated, ostraca that some Egyptologists interpret as visual parodies of Egyptian social hierarchy.1 These images portray animals acting as humans, as well as "topsy-turvy worlds" in which everything is the reverse of how it occurs in nature.

Ostracon, New Kingdom, Ramesside, Dynasty 19–20, ca. 1295–1070 B.C. Egypt. Limestone, paint. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Anonymous Gift, 1960 (60.158)

For example, in the upper register of an ostracon from the Met's collection (shown above), a seated monkey is depicted interacting with a bipedal cat—an indication that these animals are to be understood as having human characteristics. Other ostraca of this type portray anthropomorphized animals in different but equally nonsencial roles, such as mice being waited on by their cat servants. These types of figured ostraca are all approximately palm sized, and typically depict a single image or event without any accompanying text. Many were found in or are believed to be from Deir el-Medina,2 a New Kingdom (1150–1070 B.C.) village that housed the draughtsmen, carvers, and painters for the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.
Imagery of animals acting as humans is prevalent in ancient Near Eastern art as well, particularly during the Proto-Elamite period (3200–2700 B.C.). At first glance, however, it seems that these types of images in the Near East occupied a more elite sphere than those from ancient Egypt. For instance, there is a silver statuette of a kneeling bull offering a vessel in the Met's collection that demonstrates a masterful blend of human and animal traits, and careful articulation of textile pattern. The bull's material and high level of craftsmanship suggests that it was officially commissioned.

http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/now-at-the-met/features/2012/ancient-egyptian-ostraca

jueves, 27 de noviembre de 2014

Tomb of Pairy

Funeral Procession, Tomb of Pairy

Nina de Garis Davies
(1881–1965)

Period: New Kingdom

Dynasty: Dynasty 18

Reign: reign of Amenhotep III

Date: ca. 1390–1352 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, Tomb of Pairy (TT 139)

Medium: Tempera on paper

Dimensions: facsimile: h. 48.5 cm (19 1/8 in); w. 192 cm (75 9/16 in) scale 1:1 framed: h. 52/1 cm (20 1/2 in); w. 195.6 cm (77 in)

Met Museum

source:metmuseum.org

miércoles, 26 de noviembre de 2014

The mummiform coffin of Kheb-Khons-nadiri

The mummiform coffin of Kheb-Khons-nadiri dates from the 3rd Intermediate Period. The beard is missing. The coffin contains a female mummy.

KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM [09

globalegyptianmuseum

Amenmosi Mosi and wife

Davies MSS. 10.56.1
(pencil tracing)
Amenmosi Mosi and wife standing in front of registers I-II,
PM i², 338

Theban tomb tracings
made by Norman and Nina de Garis Davies

Concept and direction: Jaromir Malek
Catalogue: Helen Murray, Elizabeth Fleming and Alison Hobby
Editing: Hana Navrátilová and Jaromir Malek
Scanning: Jenni Navratil, assisted by Hana Navrátilová
Photo-editing: Jenni Navratil
Coordination: Elizabeth Fleming