Fig. 1: Statue fragment (W154) |
The archives in the Wellcome Library reveal that W154 was transferred to the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in August 1932,
as part of the distribution of EES finds (Frankfort & Pendlebury 1933, 119).
The transfer of objects was in receipt of the financial contribution made by
Sir Henry Wellcome to the Society. The Egyptian material collected by Wellcome (approximately 20,000 objects) was distributed in 1971 to five
main institutions: The
Petrie Museum, The
Oriental Museum (Durham), World
Museum (Liverpool), Birmingham
Museum and Art Gallery, and Swansea University (now housed in The Egypt
Centre). A substantial quantity of material transferred to Swansea originates from the EES excavations at Amarna. In total, the Egypt Centre has over 300
objects from the site, including a large quantity of pottery
and some painted
plaster.
Fig. 2: EES object card for W154 (TA.OC.31-32.511) |
While researching W154 for my handling
class, I came across a fragment in the World Museum in Liverpool that looked quite
similar to our piece. 1973.1.475 is a small sandstone fragment containing the
carved fingers of a person, also from a statue (fig. 3). The EES object card
(fig. 4) and publication (Pendlebury 1951, 88) indicate that it was discovered
on the 3 January 1932, less than two weeks after the Swansea fragment was
excavated. The find spot is recorded as P. 42.1, which relates to the king’s
house to the north of the Small Aten Temple (Kemp 2013, 123–35; Pendlebury 1951,
86–89). Like the Swansea fragment, 1973.1.475 was transferred to the Wellcome
Historical Medical Museum in August 1932.
Fig. 3: 1973.1.475 (World Museum, Liverpool. Courtesy of Ashley Cooke) |
Fig. 4: EES object card for 1973.1.475 (TA.OC.31-32.584) |
New photographs and measurements of 1973.1.475
were kindly supplied by Ashley Cooke, the Senior Curator of Antiquities at
Liverpool. With the help of Photoshop, I attempted to virtually join these two
fragments (fig. 5). Excitingly, they line up fairly well along the crack lines. However, the differences in measurements suggests that they do not belong together. In order to check for sure, a resin cast of W154 will be produced by the Engineering Department at
Swansea University to send to Liverpool. While it seems unlikely at this stage that they do join, a recent article published in Horizon, the
newsletter of the Amarna Trust,
describes the potential of matching statue fragments through 3D printing (Anonymous
2019). In addition to W154, the Egypt Centre possesses around twenty statue fragment
from Amarna, most originating from the EES excavations, which may join with fragments in other collections!
Fig. 5: Photoshop join of the two statue fragments |
At the end of January, I’ll be starting
a new Egypt Centre course on the Amarna Period, which will include weekly
handling sessions (fig. 6). As with the history course, the students will write
guest blog posts on the objects in the Egypt Centre collection!
Fig. 6: Flyer for new Amarna course |
Anonymous
(2019) ‘Matching
statue fragments by means of 3D printing’. Horizon: The Amarna Project
and Amarna Trust Newsletter 20: 5–7.
Bierbrier,
M. L. (2019) Who was who in Egyptology. London: The Egypt Exploration
Society. 5th edition.
Bosse-Griffiths,
K. (2001) ‘Incense for the Aten’. In Amarna studies and other selected papers, ed. J. G. Griffiths. Freiburg (Schweiz); Göttingen: Universitätsverlag;
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 131–134.
Frankfort,
H. and J. D. S. Pendlebury (1933) The city of Akhenaten. Part II: The north suburb and the desert altars. The excavations at Tell el Amarna during the seasons 1926–1932. Excavation Memoirs 40. London: Egypt Exploration
Society.
Kemp,
B. J. (2013) The city of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and its people.
London: Thames & Hudson.
Pendlebury,
J. D. S. (1951) The city of Akhenaten. Part III: The central city and the official quarters. The excavations at Tell el-Amarna during the season 1926–1927 and 1931–1936. 2 vols. Excavation Memoirs 44. London: Egypt Exploration
Society.
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