Collecting Egypt

Professor David Gill receives International Awards

2012-01-31T16:41:00.003Z

The Collecting Egypt blog has taken a break over the last year due to busy schedules, thesis writing and change of jobs! We are pleased to report that the blog will now be back in regular contact with information and updates about the world of Egyptian antiquity collecting.

It is with pleasure that our first post of the year is to report that Professor David Gill, Head of the Division of Humanities and Professor of Archaeological Heritage at UCS, has been honoured with two awards for his contribution to highlighting public awareness and understanding within the field of archaeology. Professor Gill has received the prestigious Outstanding Public Service Award from the Archaeological Institute of America and he has also been honoured with the Saving Antiquities for Everyone 2012 Beacon Award for his research on the impact of the illicit antiquities trade.

Congratulations on two well deserved awards!

For full details:

http://www.ucs.ac.uk/About/News/2012/20120123_DavidGill.aspx

The Reverend William MacGregor

2010-08-18T09:08:00.000+01:00

Beverley Rogers has published "The Reverend William MacGregor: an early industrialist collector", Antiquity 84, issue 325, September 2010 [Project Gallery].

Looting Matters: Egypt Puts Pressure on French Museum

2009-10-09T17:54:00.000+01:00

Looting Matters: Egypt Puts Pressure on French Museum

Major Harry Hartley Southey (1871 - 1917)

2009-05-13T11:07:00.000+01:00

A small but interesting collection of Egyptian antiques can be found at Cyfarthfa Castle Museum in Merthyr Tydfil, Mid Glamorgan. This 1825 property houses a number of collections from different periods and representing several different subjects. The Egyptian display was acquired by Major Harry Hartley Southey, a member of a local newspaper family. His army career took him to Egypt where he was able to acquire a number of objects which were donated by his family after his death. The collection includes small statues, amulets, canopic chests and jars, sections of coffins, head rests and a mummy mask.

Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery Site

Other links:

Francis Wallace Grenfell

2009-05-12T11:03:00.003+01:00

F.W. Grenfell (1841 - 1925) was born in Maesteg House in Swansea on 29th April 1859. He served in the army in Egypt and the Sudan between 1882-9. He developed an interest in Egyptology and the collecting of antiquities and is known to have carried out excavations at Aswan. His collection of artefacts was sold at Sotheby’s 12 - 14 November 1917. There were 479 lots in the sale.

Bibliography

Dawson, W. R. & Uphill, E. (1972). Who Was Who in Egyptology. London: The Egypt Exploration Society, 125

de Watteville, H and Rev revised by Falkner, J. ‘Grenfell, Francis Wallace’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography On-Line. Accessed 24th March 2009.

Sir John Gardner Wilkinson

2009-03-21T22:17:00.003Z

The grave of Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (1797–1875), Egyptologist, can be found in the graveyard of Llandingat on the outskirts of Llandovery in Carmarthenshire. Wilkinson was returning from the family estate at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire.

ODNB (Athens password required)

Image
© David Gill, 2009

Unwrapping mummies in Paris

2009-03-10T21:30:00.004Z

Two mummies from the Passalacqua collection were opened in Paris in 1827. The first was in the Egyptian Galleries of the Louvre on March 12, 1827 (The Times March 16, 1827). The opening was attended by numerous dignitaries including the ambassadors of Prussia, Bavaria and Tuscany.

The second unwrapping took place at the Sorbonne on April 26 (The Times May 1, 1827). It was one of the pieces sold to the King of Prussia by Passalacqua.

Joseph Sams (1784-1860)

2009-03-09T22:46:00.004Z

Sams created a collection of Egyptian antiquities during the 1820s partly during this travels. His first collection was sold to the British Museum in 1834 for £2500. A second collection pieces derived from the dispersal of the Henry Salt collection. This was the subject of Ancient Egypt. Objects of antiquity, forming part of the extensive & rich collections from ancient Egypt, brought to England by & now in the possession of J. Sams (London 1839) [WorldCat]. This was sold to Joseph Mayer of Liverpool around 1850.

Reference
M. L. Bierbrier, ‘Sams, Joseph (1784–1860)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/24598]

Sydney Cockerell, Cambridge and Egyptian Antiquities

2009-03-04T18:35:00.003Z

The Fitzwilliam Museum is celebrating the directorship of Sydney Cockerell with an exhibition, 'I turned it into a palace' [Exhibition Catalogue].

A number of Egyptian objects feature:

New Kingdom papyrus: Book of the Dead (E.2.1922)
Head of Senusret III (E.37.1930)

The discussion of the antiquities includes mention of Wallis Budge who purchased on the museum's behalf. This period was dominated by Frederick William Green, honorary keeper of Egyptian Antiquities (1910-49). (His counterpart for Greek and Roman antiquities was Winifred Lamb.)

The museum's Egyptian holdings were further supplemented by the Charles Shannon bequest in 1937.

History of Egyptology: Bibliography

2009-01-10T22:37:00.000Z

A bibliography for the History of Egyptology can be found on WorldCat.

Please leave suggests as a comment to this post and we will add them to the list.

William Randolph Hearst and Egyptian Antiquities

2009-01-10T22:19:00.005Z

The current exhibition, "Hearst the Collector", at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) includes three Egyptian pieces. (See also the excellent exhibition catalogue prepared by Mary Levkoff [WorldCat].)

no. 90: Seated figure of Neith. Late Period. LACMA inv. no. 50.14.1.
no. 91: Wadjet. 26th Dynasty. LACMA inv. no. 50.37.14. Formerly in the Lionel Edwards collection.
no. 92: Head, possibly of Nectanebo I. LACMA inv. no. 49.23.7. Purchased from the Brummer Gallery, New York (1929).

Kingston Lacy and the obelisk from Philae

2009-01-09T22:21:00.005Z

William John Bankes discovered an obelisk at Philae in 1816. This had been erected by Ptolemy Physcon. Belzoni arranged for the obelisk to be sent to England and in 1819 it was erected in the grounds of Bankes' home at Kingston Lacy near Wimborne, Dorset.

The text was transcribed and a copy sent to Champollion in early 1822.

Bibliography
T.G.H. James, Egyptian antiquities at Kingston Lacy, Dorset : the collection of William John Bankes. [WorldCat]
Anne Sebba, The exiled collector: William Bankes and the making of an English country house (London: John Murray, 2004) [WorldCat]

Image
© David Gill

Collecting Egyptian Antiquity

2009-01-09T21:55:00.004Z

These posts will explore the people who have collected - indeed still collect - Egyptian material culture. It will develop a bibliography for the collecting of Egyptian antiquities. Our initial interest is in some of the late Victorian collectors of Egyptology, notably the Revd William MacGregor. However the Egypt Centre at Swansea University, where we are based, holds material collected by Sir Henry Wellcome including objects from older and now dispersed collections.

Image
The Egypt Centre, Swansea University. © David Gill