Metropolitan Museum of Art Acquires Egyptian Artifacts Withdrawn from Auction
- October 08, 2014 12:44
A group of 4,000-year-old Egyptian artifacts, valued at about $200,000, was withdrawn from a Bonhams auction last week after historians complained that their sale could take important cultural artifacts from the public realm into private hands. The Metropolitan Museum of Art stepped up to acquire the group for an undisclosed amount.
In a statement, the Met describes the objects as: four alabaster vessels; a small stone cosmetic spoon with its handle in the shape of an ankh, the hieroglyph meaning life; seven cowrie-shell beads and 14 shell pendants in silver, inlaid with patterned shell imported from the Red Sea; and 11 silver elements inlaid with semi-precious stones, including depictions of hieroglyphs, plants, and animals, that constituted parts of several pieces of elite jewelry. Some of the elements once belonged to a pectoral, which is a large and symbolically laden pendant. As this pectoral was for private use, it is one of only three of these known anywhere that dates to the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2051-1650 B.C.), and the only one in silver, which was a precious metal in ancient Egypt.
Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art said: “We are delighted to have acquired such a significant group of objects of outstanding quality to enhance further the Met’s rich holdings of Middle Kingdom art, the finest outside Egypt. This acquisition allows works from a single tomb with known archaeological history to remain together in a public institution, where they can be readily accessible to scholars and the public.”
“The objects are not only lovely, but they are quite important to the study of ancient Egyptian culture,” added Diana Craig Patch, the Museum’s Lila Acheson Wallace Curator in Charge of the Department of Egyptian Art. “They come from a peak period in ancient Egyptian personal arts, and are a rare reflection on the type of interaction taking place between the king and the high-status inhabitants of a town outside the capital. Many of these objects are quite rare or unique, and we are looking forward to studying them before putting them on view in the context of the Met’s extensive galleries for Egyptian art.”
The Haraga Tomb Group
In 1913-14, the British School of Archaeology in Egypt (BSAE) sponsored an excavation at the site of Haraga directed by Egyptologist Reginald Engelbach. The ancient remains at Haraga comprised several cemeteries with important burials of people from different social levels living between 1850 and 1750 B.C. during the Middle Kingdom. The people using these cemeteries most likely resided in a nearby town close to the entrance of the Fayum, a region about 60 miles south of Cairo.
The 37 vessels and jewelry ornaments were excavated in Egypt in 1913-14 at the site of Haraga, near the entrance to the Fayum region. Discovered by British archaeologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the collection was partly dispersed to St. Louis underwriters of his expedition and was owned by the St. Louis Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. The St. Louis Art Museum and Washington University in St. Louis housed the items before they were placed in private storage two years ago.
Historians argued that the archaeologists had an agreement with the underwriters to keep the artifacts available for public display. The auction was halted last Thursday.
In a statement, the Met describes the objects as: four alabaster vessels; a small stone cosmetic spoon with its handle in the shape of an ankh, the hieroglyph meaning life; seven cowrie-shell beads and 14 shell pendants in silver, inlaid with patterned shell imported from the Red Sea; and 11 silver elements inlaid with semi-precious stones, including depictions of hieroglyphs, plants, and animals, that constituted parts of several pieces of elite jewelry. Some of the elements once belonged to a pectoral, which is a large and symbolically laden pendant. As this pectoral was for private use, it is one of only three of these known anywhere that dates to the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2051-1650 B.C.), and the only one in silver, which was a precious metal in ancient Egypt.
Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art said: “We are delighted to have acquired such a significant group of objects of outstanding quality to enhance further the Met’s rich holdings of Middle Kingdom art, the finest outside Egypt. This acquisition allows works from a single tomb with known archaeological history to remain together in a public institution, where they can be readily accessible to scholars and the public.”
“The objects are not only lovely, but they are quite important to the study of ancient Egyptian culture,” added Diana Craig Patch, the Museum’s Lila Acheson Wallace Curator in Charge of the Department of Egyptian Art. “They come from a peak period in ancient Egyptian personal arts, and are a rare reflection on the type of interaction taking place between the king and the high-status inhabitants of a town outside the capital. Many of these objects are quite rare or unique, and we are looking forward to studying them before putting them on view in the context of the Met’s extensive galleries for Egyptian art.”
The Haraga Tomb Group
In 1913-14, the British School of Archaeology in Egypt (BSAE) sponsored an excavation at the site of Haraga directed by Egyptologist Reginald Engelbach. The ancient remains at Haraga comprised several cemeteries with important burials of people from different social levels living between 1850 and 1750 B.C. during the Middle Kingdom. The people using these cemeteries most likely resided in a nearby town close to the entrance of the Fayum, a region about 60 miles south of Cairo.
Tomb 124, which had been
looted in antiquity, was discovered during the excavations. The surviving grave
goods included the objects in the Metropolitan Museum’s current acquisition.
