A guide to the Egyptian collections in the British MuseumBritish Museum. Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities
History
A guide to the Egyptian collections in the British Museum
British Museum. Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities
Egypt -- Antiquities
The =glass-maker’s= craft is a very old one in Egypt, and it is probable
that the Phoenicians borrowed it from that country. Fine specimens of it
in the British Museum are the turquoise-blue opaque glass jar of Thothmes
III (Table-case H, No. 50, Third Egyptian Room), a blue glass bowl, and a
variegated glass bowl from the tomb of Ȧmen-ḥetep II (Nos. 57, 59, in the
same case), and an opaque glass stibium pot with a gold rim (Wall-cases
182-187, No. 29). The =porcelain maker= produced the little figures,
amulets, bowls, vases, ushabtiu-figures, tiles, beads, pendants, etc.,
in the beautiful blue, green, purple, violet, and brown glazed ware to
which the name =Egyptian porcelain= is usually given. An exceedingly
fine collection of objects in this material is exhibited in Wall-cases
Nos. 151-156 in the Fourth Egyptian Room. The =leather worker= prepared
parchments for writing materials, and made the harness for horses and
trappings for chariots, soldiers’ belts (Table-case B, No. 193), sheaths
for daggers (No. 37), nets of fine meshes (Wall-case No. 187, Fourth
Egyptian Room), seats for chairs (No. 5 Standard-case L, same room), bags
in which barbers carried their razors, etc. (Wall-case No. 184, Fourth
Egyptian Room.) Examples of the tools of the =carpenter=, =blacksmith=
and =coppersmith=, =stonemason=, =house-painter= and =decorator=, etc.,
will be found in Table-case K and Wall-case 103 in the Third Egyptian
Room.
Of the =brickmaker’s= work specimens belonging to the reigns of
Ȧmen-ḥetep III, Thothmes I, Thothmes III, and Rameses II are exhibited
in Wall-case 175, Fourth Egyptian Room. Examples of the craft of the
=furniture maker= in the form of tables, chairs, stools, couches, toilet
boxes, altar-stands, etc., are seen in Standard-case L and Wall-case
No. 190 in the Fourth Egyptian Room. The work of the =ivory carver=
went hand in hand with that of the carpenter as regards the inlaying of
chair frames, jewel-boxes, etc. (see Nos. 13 and 16 in Standard-case L).
Specimens of the highest form of his skill are seen in the chair-legs,
human figures, spoons, etc., in Table-case A in the Fourth Egyptian Room.
The =caster-in-metal= produced the splendid series of figures of the gods
in Wall-cases 119-132 and Table-case H in the Third Egyptian Room; fine
examples are the =silver figure of Ȧmen-Rā= (No. 42), =gold figures= of
Thoth, Ptaḥ and Rā, (Nos. 21, 25, 26), and the gold figure of Osiris (No.
34). The =wood-carver= made the models of men, boats, animals, etc.,
which were placed in the tombs (see Wall-case Nos. 192, 193, Fourth
Egyptian Room), and =dolls= and =children’s toys= (see Standard-case C,
Fourth Egyptian Room). The =dyer= produced the salmon-coloured linen
coverings for mummies (see Case L, First Egyptian Room), the brown
mummy-swathings (see Wall-cases 93-96, Third Egyptian Room), and coloured
wearing apparel (see Table-case E, Third Egyptian Room), etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account