The blog post for this week has been written by Egypt Centre volunteer and University of Birmingham student, Sam Powell, whose visit to Harrogate Museum in July 2022 led to the loan of the collection to the Egypt Centre.
For this week’s blog
post, given the exciting recent news about the Harrogate
loan to the Egypt Centre, I’d like to give you an overview of the wooden
funerary figure I was visiting, which sparked the beginning of the discussions
to bring the Harrogate material to Swansea for study. As part of my ongoing PhD
research, which attempts to catalogue all known ancient Egyptian wooden
funerary figures in UK institutions, I was fortunate to visit the Mercer Art
Gallery and Pump room in July 2022 to examine HARGM7673 (fig.1), acquired by
Benjamin William John Kent and bequeathed to the museum in 1969. Whilst there,
I chatted with the staff about future research on their ancient Egyptian
collection and recommended the Egypt Centre as the ideal place for this collection
to get the attention it deserves!
Fig. 1: Wooden funerary model |
Wooden tomb models are found in elite burials from the end of the Old Kingdom (2350 BCE) to the late Middle Kingdom (1802 BCE). These models include scenes of food production in various guises, offering bearers, model boats, and manufacture amongst other themes. The most famous examples being the extensive collection of models found in the tomb of Meketre (TT280, Sheikh Abd el-Qurna). Meketre served as the chancellor and high steward during the reigns of Montuhotep II, Montuhotep III, and possibly also Amememhat (c. 2060–1962 BCE) and was buried with a set of twenty-four exquisite tomb models. These models are interpreted as a means of magically providing ‘sustenance’ for the deceased. My research focuses on the human figures originating from these models (which I refer to as wooden funerary figures). The aim is to use the stylistic traits of examples from a known provenance to identify the likely origins of the vast number of unprovenanced figures, which are more often than not isolated from their original models.
HARGM7673, as with many
of the figures I have studied, is very unassuming at first glance; a nude
female figure, with the left arm and lower portion of the left leg now lost.
The arms are carved separately and attached to the torso with small dowels,
whilst the legs would have been pegged into a base. Her skin is painted pale yellow,
she wears a black tripartite wig, and she has large triangular eyes outlined in
kohl and emphasized with a cosmetic line to the outer corner. The eyebrows are
painted black and the mouth is indicated with a slit. The breasts and hips
are defined, and the nipples, navel, and pubic region are highlighted with
black paint (fig. 2).
The staining, particularly to the reverse around the waist, suggests that the
figure may have once worn a skirt of linen.
Fig. 2: Examining the funerary figure |
Looking at the wear to the left side of the body, it is likely this arm was raised upwards, and the dowel holes in the top of the head are indicative of something attached to the head of the figure, likely a basket. Given these stylistic traits, the figure is very likely an offering bearer. Offering bearers are figures that can appear on individual bases, or in procession. They are typically female, although male examples do exist. They are usually carrying food and drink to magically provide sustenance for the deceased in the afterlife. Female figures such as this often carry a basket upon their heads, supported by the left arm, and sometimes hold a fowl in the right hand (this is not the case for this figure).
Turning to the origins of
the figure, the skin tone, large eyes, and proportions are very similar to
examples coming from the site of Beni Hasan from around the Twelfth Dynasty
when production of these figures reached its zenith. I was fortunate to be
allowed to visit the stores of the Harrogate collection and found a box with the
old display base that belongs to the offering bearer, which states that she did
indeed come from Beni Hasan, dates to the Twelfth Dynasty, and most
interestingly, was part of the Kennard collection (fig. 3) before being acquired by Kent.
Fig 3: Old display bases can often reveal tantalising clues |
Henry Martyn Kennard
(1833–1911) owned a vast collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities, which were
sold at auction between the 16th and 19th July 1912 by
Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge. There are sixteen lots relating to wooden figures
and tomb models within the sale, some of which can be omitted as they have
already been allocated to other figures. The most likely match to the Harrogate
offering bearer is lot 503, given the description and size provided are an
exact match (the catalogue states the smaller of the two figures within the lot
as 7 inches, which perfectly matches my measurement of 178mm (fig. 4)!
Fig. 4: Lot 503 of the 1912 sale of the Kennard collection |
The lot describes an
additional larger figure, which I have not yet identified. It is unclear
whether Kent bought this figure from the 1912 sale directly, or if the figure
passed through another collector prior to being purchased by Kent (although
fig. 5 showing the listing in the Kent catalogue (fig. 5) seems to suggest it was purchased from the
Kennard auction in 1912. It is also unclear what happened to the larger figure,
which does not appear in the Kent catalogue—I’m still hopeful as I enter the
analytical phase of my research that the other figure may emerge from my
catalogue!
Fig. 5: Entry for the figure from Kent's catalogue |
Those of you who have
read blog posts I have previously written about the Egypt Centre figures may
remember that sometimes, particularly with figures from Beni Hasan, a tomb
number is painted on the back of the figure (as seen on W687). Unfortunately, this is not the case
for the Harrogate figure. There are several figures within the grave register
included in Garstang’s ‘Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt’, which details his
excavations between 1902 and 1904, which could with more research prove to be a
match.
Fig. 6: Click on the link for a 3D model of the figure (https://skfb.ly/oFvNy) |
In summary, I feel there’s enough evidence to be confident in identifying HARGM7673 as an offering bearer, in addition to describing her as from Beni Hasan, particularly the stylistic traits, which are backed up by the listings in both the Kennard auction and Kent catalogue. Hopefully, as my research continues, further clues may come to light to tell us more about this gorgeous figure—I can’t wait to see her on display in the Egypt Centre!
The Harrogate collection
has only been in Swansea for a few short weeks, but already the amount of
research taking place with the collection is truly astounding and will all be
accessible later this year in the new online catalogue created by Abaset
Collections.
I enjoyed reading this. Thank you
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