The John Foulkes Jones Collection at the Egypt Centre

The blog post for this week is a guest entry by Dulcie Engel, a volunteer at the Egypt Centre who curated the exhibit Objects from a Victorian gentleman’s cabinet of curiosities. This was based on objects the Egypt Centre received in 2013, which belonged to the Welsh minister John Foulkes Jones.

John Foulkes Jones (fig. 1) was born in Machynlleth (Powys, Wales) on the 6th June 1826,  and was educated at the Calvinistic Methodist College in Bala (Gwynedd, Wales) before training for the ministry at Edinburgh University from 1844 to 1848. He worked in Methodist missions in North Wales, Liverpool, and Chester, and was ordained in 1856. Jones travelled to Egypt and Palestine in 1855, and published his book on his travels in 1860. He married Margaret Jones in 1861, and had five children. He became pastor of Maengwyn Church in Machynlleth in 1863, and died there on 14th April 1880. Jones was a highly sought after lecturer and respected preacher, whose volume of sermons (Owen 1884) was, for some time, one of the most widely read books in Welsh. He often gave lectures about his travels, and his book would reach out to an audience eager to hear of Biblical Egypt.

Fig. 1: John Foulkes Jones

The items that Jones collected on his travels remained in the family until a descendant contacted the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum in 2012. There, assistant keeper John Taylor examined and listed the artefacts, and in January 2013, he wrote to Carolyn Graves-Brown, curator of the Egypt Centre, regarding a home for the collection. The objects arrived at the Egypt Centre in May 2013. The twenty-four items, plus associated wrappings, were catalogued and conserved in suitable containers. They remained in storage until April 2017, when I was lucky enough to curate a selection for display in the House of Life (fig. 2).

Fig. 2: Current display of the Foulkes Jones collection.

In the case we display fourteen items, including original labels. Some of the items are definitely, or probably, fakes. The most blatant example is EC1920, a small metal cone labelled ‘Summit of Cheops’(fig. 3). It is in fact quite surprising to think that anyone would be taken in by this item, given the size and material, if not the very rough shape and condition. EC1924, the papyrus roll with writing on, is almost definitely fake as the ‘roll’ is in fact a bundle of dried plant stems to which tiny fragments of papyrus have been attached. It is possible that the bits of papyrus are ancient, as there are traces of cursive hieroglyphs. EC1923, the mummy hair, also raises questions of authenticity; without testing, it is impossible to date the hair any further back than when it was acquired in 1855.

Fig. 3: The “summit of Cheops” (EC1920)

Jones brought back both human (EC1918, 1919, 1921) and animal remains (EC1922, 1922a & b), which remain in storage. The human skull and mandible are even inscribed: EC1919, the skull, is labelled ‘Tombs of the Pharaohs at Thebes’(fig. 4); and EC1921, the mandible, is labelled by hand in pencil ‘Thebes’. Were these picked up by Jones or bought from a dealer, and then labelled by Jones? We will never know. Was the fact that the human remains belonged to pre-Christian ‘pagans’ an acceptable excuse for collection?

Fig. 4: Fragment of skull from the “tomb of the pharaohs at Thebes” (EC1919)

The items in Jones’ collection are of little monetary or archaeological value; they are however an excellent illustration of changing attitudes towards the legacy of ancient Egypt, and the ethics of collecting and exhibiting ancient artefacts.

Bibliography:

Goodridge, W. (2016) ‘What is the oddest job on campus?’. Times Higher Education Supplement (30/09/16).

Graves-Brown, C. (2017) Egypt Centre is proud to announce a new display case curated by its volunteers. Available at: http://www.egypt.swan.ac.uk/en/new-volunteer-display-case/.

Jones, J. F. (1860) Egypt in its Biblical relations and moral aspect. London: Smith, Elder and Co.,.

Owen, J. (1884) Cofiant a Llythyrau, nghyda Phregethau y Parch J. Foulkes-Jones. Machynlleth: J. Jones.

Thomas, W. J. (1959) ‘Jones, John Foulkes (1826–1880), Calvinistic Methodist minister’. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Available at: https://biography.wales/article/s-JONE-FOU-1826.