Highlights of the Egypt Centre: Results!

This past Wednesday, as part of Volunteers’ Week, we announced the results of our selection process for the highlights of the Egypt Centre. Voters were asked to select up to fifteen objects currently on display in each of our galleries (House of Death and House of Life). While many of the objects selected were expected, we were surprised by some of the objects that missed out. From the House of Death, a Greek mummy label (W549), stela of Isis-Thermouthis and Serapis-Agathadaimon (W56), and the head of an unidentified Ptolemaic queen (W194) were just some of the objects that weren’t selected (fig. 1). In the House of Life, the lintel of Tjenti (W491) and the painted plaster fragment of Akhenaten’s elbow (W802), two objects that featured in recent blogs, missed out.  

Fig. 1: Unidentified Ptolemaic Queen (W194)

The chosen objects from each gallery is as follows.

Objects from the House of Death (fig. 2) are:

Number	EC number	Title
1	W1982	Coffin of the Chantress of Amun, Iwesemhesetmut
2	W867	Book of Dead papyrus of Ankh-hapi
3	W1013	Cartonnage coffin with foetus
4	W164	Reserve head
5	W379	Overseer shabti of Ptahhotep
6	AB110	Cippus
7	W1283	Bes pot
8	W529	Cat mummy mask
9	W927	Khabekhenet wall relief
10	W429	Ba-bird
11	W918	Gilded cartonnage mask
12	W1041	Edfu stela of Pasherienimhotep
13	W481	Pottery offering tray
14	W1377	Eighteenth Dynasty Theban tomb painting
15	W1367a & b	Sarcophagus fragments of Amenhotep son of Hapu

Fig. 2: Objects from the House of Death

Objects from the House of Life (fig. 3) consist of:

Number	EC number	Title
16	W581	Middle Kingdom battle axe
17	W277	Carnelian anklet with snake heads
18	W1376	Temple relief of Neferure
19	W921	Statue of Aba
20	W957	Paneb’s offering stand
21	W946 bis	Commodus stela
22	W9	Amarna collar with Beset
23	AR50/3540	Miniature Quran
24	W500	Faience wall tiles
25	W793	Amethyst scarab bracelet
26	W769	Paddle doll
27	W5308	D-Ware pot
28	WK44	Bes bell
29	W967	Book of Esther
30	W952	Cuneiform brick of Nebuchadnezzar II

Fig. 3: Objects from the House of Life

We are grateful to the 108 people who participated in the selection process over the past five weeks. Over the coming months, those highlights that haven’t already featured on this blog will be presented. Additionally, Dulcie Engel, one of our volunteers, will be writing a short catalogue entry for each of the objects, which will form part of a small booklet featuring these thirty highlights!