From Harrogate to Swansea: A Wooden Funerary Figure from the Harrogate Collection

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 16^th and 19^th 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.