Turns out you can have your goose and eat it, but only if you can cook it first!

The blog post for this week is written by Sam Powell, a Masters student of Egyptology at Swansea University and Egypt Centre volunteer.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you may have seen my post back in July 2019 about a figure from a funerary model (W687) with a likely provenance of Beni Hasan (who I’m pleased to report has since regained his missing arm!). In the last six months, my research into the figures from funerary models has continued with lots of exciting developments (fig. 1).

Fig. 1: ‘Re-arming’ the funerary models

My MA thesis focuses on the Egypt Centre’s collection of figures from funerary models, and, with the Egypt Centre’s help, I have been trying to gather as much information about the figures as possible in order to try and figure out where and when they were made. We have made good efforts in reuniting several missing limbs with figures (fifteen arms, two feet, and one leg to be exact!). Thanks to a grant from AIM, the figures in question will be receiving conservation treatment at Cardiff University over the next few months, which will include reattaching missing limbs. Clues such as information on the Wellcome slips, old photographs in the object files, and examination in-person were all vital in this process.

 

Fig. 2: The squatting scribes

I have grouped together a series of five figures (fig. 2), which have thus far been referred to as the “squatting scribes”—a nickname I had given them due to their closely cropped hair and the left hand with a hole for holding what I assumed was a reed pen. Last week, as I was scrolling through images online, I spotted an image of a funerary model of a man roasting a goose on a brazier (fig. 3). I remembered seeing a “weird oar” (W699) in the box in the Egypt Centre stores containing arms and oars (and other “accessories”) from tomb models (fig. 4). Could the oar actually be a goose on a spit? Sure enough, the scale and type of wood seem to match our “squatting scribe” figures; who now may need to be renamed!!! We still can’t quite figure out why there’s a hole through the goose—any suggestions gratefully received. Ken used this object for “guess the object” on his Twitter feed.

      

Fig. 3: Figure now in Cairo Museum (CCG 245)

Fig. 4: “Weird oar” (W699), now thought to be a roasting goose.

Their Wellcome slips number from 114173 through to 114176. Whilst moving paperwork to the new archive room, Ken found a list of objects in case 6772 (fig. 5), which was likely made by David Dixon during his reorganisation of the Egyptian material in the Wellcome Institute during the early 1960s. This list also shows that 114172 was checked off as having arrived in our collection, thus meaning we now had five slips describing “figure of artisan”, all coming from the 1928 Sotheby’s sale of the Tabor Collection. These slips had been highlighted in my notes as not seeming to match the figures, in particular, the dimensions seemed out. Ken and I concluded that perhaps these sizes may have included bases on which the figures sat.

Fig. 5: List of figures in Case 6772 (126), Egypt Centre archive

Identifying bases for these figures can be really tricky; they’re often made of scrap wood, or reused material such as coffins, but we have several likely candidates in the stores that seem to fit the bill. With help from a measuring tape, we’ve managed to rejig the slips to correlate with the figures. Through the process of elimination, the elusive 114172 flimsy slip in all likelihood belongs to W446.

Fig. 6: Matching bases to figures with the help of the flimsy slips

Slip 114172 has a slightly different description than the other figures, being described as a “figure squatting before ? a milling stone”, which puzzled us slightly—was the millstone still there when the object was acquired? Does that mean the figure had a base to attach the millstone to? As we went through the “accessories” box, I noticed W697 and once again an image from trawling complete examples of funerary models popped into my head—this time of a figure in front of a brazier. The object was the right size and shape to be a brazier, and the texture of gesso on the top to represent the coals. It also has a peg in the bottom to secure it to a base—could the Wellcome cataloguer have mistaken a millstone for a brazier if the goose wasn’t in situ? Ken kindly, with his photography wizardry, managed to capture the reassembled scene (fig. 6)—figure (W446), an arm previously assigned to another figure (but which fits much better with this one), the goose (W699), and brazier (W697). We measured the scene as approximately matching the sizes stated on the flimsy slip (9" x 9 ½" x 4").

Fig. 7: The composite image of W446 roasting a goose

Although we can’t say for definite that these items go together (I need to continue researching to find more parallels), they do make a very sweet scene. I just hope we find the base!

Bibliography:

Borchardt, L. (1911) Statuen und Statuetten von Königen und Privatleuten I. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Berlin: Reichsdruckerei.
Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge (1922) Catalogue of the MacGregor Collection of Egyptian Antiquities. London: Davy.

——— (1928) Catalogue of antiquities, etc., comprising the collection of Prehistoric implements, the property of Miss Carey, Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities, etc., comprising the collection of the late C.J. Tabor, the property of Princess Ghika, the property of Mrs O. Gregory, the property of Mrs A. Belcher, the property of Mrs de Burley Wood, the property of W. Kennett, and other properties, including Indian and South American objects; which will be sold by auction by Sotheby and Co. ... on Monday, the 12th of November, 1928, and following day. London: Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge.

Tooley, A. M. J., 1989. Middle Kingdom burial customs. a study of wooden models and related materials. Unpublished thesis (PhD), University of Liverpool.