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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
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In general in class we're doing a better job of hitting big points than doing very close specific observation, and being in the museum will be a great chance for us to redress the balance a bit. (I don't consider this a problem - the kinds of big picture thinking we've been doing are excellent and necessary - but I do want us to develop our observation muscles as well.) So in choosing pieces pick one piece (or at most two similar things), look at every detail, treat it as an art object as well as a piece of evidence for behavior and belief. You can make general points about the category of object to which it belongs - you need to be able to do that - but most of your energy should be spent on the specifics of your piece, and you should be requiring us in the museum to observe minutely. If you want to show some other piece, either in the museum or on a printed picture you bring with you, for comparison's sake, that is fine.
Amanda: Middle Kingdom wooden models from tombs, looking at one or two in specific
Arts of Ancient Egypt, MFA Highlights-This was a fantastic source for a very specific discussion on the Djehutynakht pieces themselves, the granaries, the brick-makers, the offering bearers and the boats are discussed here as well as brief accounts of the history of their discovery and the reconstructive efforts that went into these works, this also contained detailed descriptions of the iconography of the offering bearers, the relationship between the females and the personification of estates from the Old Kingdom as well as where these were situated within the tomb. She also cogently presented the granary wooden tomb model which is apparently no longer on display at the MFA but useful in understanding the economic and domestic spheres of life in MK Egypt.
Robins, Gay. The Art of Ancient Egypt. Revised Edition. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1997-What I found most useful about Robins' account of tomb models was her description of these models as a whole group, rather than as one in particular, which I got from the Arts of Ancient Egypt book, this helped situated the pieces within their broader contexts within Middle Kingdom funerary religion which was most lacking in the specific study.
Winlock, Herbert Eustis. Models of daily life in ancient Egypt, from the tomb of Meket-Rēʻ at Thebes. Cambridge, Published for the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Harvard University Press, 1955-I found this source convenient when looking at comparanda for the Djehutynakht offering bearers as well as the model granaries, this was a study entirely devoted to the tomb models that came from the tomb of Meket-Re from around the same period as those from Tomb 10A at Bersha, and as these are the most well-known examples of wooden tomb models it was especially useful in seeing similarities and differences between the two. Apparently, Djehutynakht's models were found in the substructure next to the coffin and Meket-re's might have actually had their own niches within his tomb.
Tooley, Angela M.J. Egyptian models and scenes. Princes Risborough : Shire, 1995
Tooley, Angela M. J. Middle Kingdom burial customs : a study of wooden models and related materials. S.l. : s.n., 1989. These two sources from Tooley were fundamental to my understanding of tomb models and especially the materials used and methods of construction, and the relationship between functions of limestone servant statuettes and these later MK models, while they are in many ways very different, there are legitimate comparisons that can be made on the grounds that both were intended to work for the purpose of sustaining the ka of the deceased person, though wooden models are more accurately "scenes" of multiple people rather than one servant grinding grain for instance, but in many ways this idea of having a figurine or a statue work in some way to benefit the dead person continues on with the later MK introduction of shabtis, which of course, also deviate from these two examples as they are designed to literally work in the place of the deceased in the afterlife owing to the invocation of magic spells written on figures themselves. Tooley also makes the comparison between OK personification of estates and the female offering bearers in her works.
Smith, William Stevenson. The art and architecture of ancient Egypt. Revised Edition. New York : Penguin Books, 1981. Smith provided a useful discussion of the artistic styles that went in to wooden tomb models again with the examples of Meket-re's tomb, he also comments on what these tomb models can actually tell us about domestic and economic life in FIP-MK Egypt and how legitimate it is to read these as how a granary actually looked or as the actual appearance of a Middle Kingdom nomarch's house, based on houses that have been excavated from this period there is enough evidence to suggest that these are not simply works of the imagination but are actual depictions of many of the activities taking place.
Dodson, Aidan and Ikram, Salima. The Tomb in Ancient Egypt: royal and private sepulchres from the early dynastic period to the Romans. London ; New York : Thames & Hudson, 2008.-This was a relevant source for my presentation as it contained a discussion of how these tomb models functioned in the funerary religion of the FIP-MK as sustenance for the deceased person's ka and where these have been found within tombs, in many cases these were found in the substructures in the burial chambers which means they were in all likelihood never meant to be seen by living eyes and made fundamentally for funerary purposes.
Egypt: The world of the Pharaohs. edited by Regine Schulz and Matthias Seidel. Köln : Könemann, c1998-This was again an excellent source in looking at wooden tomb models of the FIP-MK as a whole group rather than as a specific study that I got from the Arts of Ancient Egypt, MFA Highlights book, this also briefly discussed the issue of dating these, as many of them, including those of Djehutynakht and Meket-re are now dated to the 12th dynasty rather than the vague area of the 11th-12th dynasty period. There is also a discussion here on how "life-like" these appear in comparison to reliefs and how the three-dimensionality of these pieces gives these a more realistic tone, the nature of "anonymous" offering bearers and servants with no names is also included here.
Emily: outer coffin of the nomarch Djehutynakht
Rita Freed, The Secrets of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 BC (2009)
Susanne Gänsicke, et al., "The Ancient Egyptian Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Part 1, A Review of Treatments in the Field and their Consequences" in Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 42.2 (2003): 167 - 192
Kathryn: bust of Prince Ankhhaf
Dows Dunham, "The Portrait Bust of Prince Ankh-haf", BMFA 37, 43, 1939. Basic description with excellent photographs and plan of the tomb.
John William Pye, "What did you do in the war, Ankh-haf?", KMT 9,1 (1998). Describes the adventures of Ankhhaf during the second world war when he was evacuated from the MFA to western Massachussetts.
Peter Lacovara, "A New Look at Ankhhaf", EA 9, 1996. Uses the MFA's archives to show how post-excavation conservation has changed the appearance of Ankhhaf from when he was found. Also attempts a very scary looking reconstruction of how he would have looked when first made.
Andrey Bolshakov, "What did the bust of Ankh-haf originally look like?" JMFA 3, 1991. Interesting attempt to explain why Ankhhaf is so unique in form by looking at his original function within the tomb and using comparanda from other OK (though slightly later) tombs. Promising methodology but I think flawed conclusions.
Jan Assman, "Preservation and Presentation of Self in Ancient Egyptian Portraiture", in Studies in Honor of William Kelly Simpson. Mentions Ankhhaf in passing. Assman brings his very distinctive style to bear on the subject of art instead of religion. Interesting in that he focuses more on the purposes of portraiture and its function rather than whether it looked like the person it depicted (probably a more productive approach). I could think of many counter arguments to a lot of his points- it could make a good discussion piece in class?
Dows Dunham, "An Experiment with an Egyptian Portrait: Ankh-haf in modern dress", BMFA 243, 1943. Just a bit of fun but a wonderful picture of Ankhhaf in Dunham's work clothes.
For other sources on Ankhhaf's tomb, the excavation diaries etc see the Giza Archives Project website.
Julia : statue of Snedjemibmehy
MFA Highlights, p94-95. Good introduction to object with some analysis of technique and depiction.
Harvey, Julia. Wooden Statues of the Old Kingdom: A Typological Study, Leiden - Boston - Köln, Brill-Styx, 2001 = Egyptological Memoirs, 2. (17 x 24 cm; IX, 666 p., fig., ill.).
Brovarski, Edward. Giza Mastabas Vol. 7:The Senedjemib Complex, Part 1. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 2000.
Report of the excavation of the mastaba in which this wooden statue was theoretically originally located
Giza Archive Online http://www.gizapyramids.org/code/emuseum.asp?newvalues=1&emu_action=advsearch&rawsearch=ClassificationID/,/greater%20than%20or%20equal%20to/,/7/,/false/,/true/,/FullTextSearch/,/contains/,/RENDERTOKEN4 */,/false/,/true&module=Objects&profile=objects&newsearchdesc=[3466]*&newstyle=text&aggregatesearch=0
gives location of true findspot (among stones in sloping passage to Tomb G2378A aka Senedjemib Mehy) and provides additional publications with references to this statue. Please see LINK ABOVE for PDF access to the rest of the mentioned reference below. I have not been able to go through all of these. They are mostly a quick one line or image reference to the statue. I have annotated where it discusses the piece in more detail.
Bothmer, Bernard V. "A Wooden Statue of Dynasty VI." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 46, No. 264 (June 1948), p. 30.
Brovarski, Edward. "A Triad for Pehenptah." Warsaw Egyptological Studies I. Essays in honour of Prof. Dr. Jadwiga Lipinska. Warsaw: National Museum "Pro-Egipt," 1997, p. 271, note 43.
Discussion of identification of statue as either Snedjemib Mehy or of an unidentified mastaba owner near by as propose by Reisner.
Dunham, Dows. The Egyptian Department and its Excavations. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1958, pp. 45, 47, fig. 28.
Freed, Rita E., Lawrence M. Berman, and Denise M. Doxey. Arts of Ancient Egypt. MFA Highlights. Boston: MFA Publications, 2003, pp. 94-95.
Reisner, George A. "A Family of Builders of the Sixth Dynasty, about 2600 B.C." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 11, No. 66 (November 1913), p. 63, fig. 19.
Russmann, Edna. "A Second Style in Egyptian Art of the Old Kingdom." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 51 (1995), pp. 275, 276.
this article does not go into too much depth about this statue, but is an important piece for anyone looking at late Old Kingdom art for their paper. Important development in the interpretation of Old Kingdom artistic styles - especially at the end of this period which is proposed as a 'second style.
Sanborn, Ashton. "New Installation of Egyptian Sculpture." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 23, No. 140 (December 1925), p. 73.
Smith, William Stevenson. "The Judge Goes Fishing." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 56, No. 304 (Summer 1958), p. 61, fig. 4.
Smith, William Stevenson. Ancient Egypt as Represented in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1960 (6th ed.), pp. 54-55, fig. 30.
Müge - Bowl inscribed for King Teti
Allen, S. 2006. “Miniature and Model Vessels in Ancient Egypt.” In Bárta, M. (ed.) The Old Kingdom Art and Archaeology. Prague: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences, pp. 19-25.
In this chapter, Allen discusses the symbology of miniature and model vessels in a variety of media; including stone, pottery and metal. Although she puts more emphasis on pottery vessels, this chapter was important in terms of tracing the continuity of the forms of the Old Kingdom miniature vessels in the Early Dynastic Period full-sized vessels rather than the contemporary period. Allen also discusses these miniature vessels within funerary and mortuary complexes, which is helpful in terms of audience and function.
Brovarski, E. J. 1979. “The Senedjemib Complex at Giza: An Interim Report.” In L’Égyptologie en 1979: Axes Prioritaires de Recherches Tome II. Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
This chapter lies out all the mastabas from the Senedjemib family complex at Giza, introduces the individuals with their posts for the palace. Most useful for family connections and the delicacies of the office of the vizier.
Giza Archives (available online at www.gizapyramids.org)
As usual, includes extremely useful information including unpublished field diaries, which yielded an illustration of the gneiss bowl in this particular case. Also has catalog information and accompanying visual material.
Greene, B. A. 1989. Ancient Egyptian Stone Vessels: Materials and Forms. PhD Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley.
An extremely useful diachronic study of Egyptian stone vessels from the Predynastic period up to the Roman period. Covers the whole range of materials and forms that were used. Although this source may be regarded as out-dated in terms of its bibliography and descriptive approach, it is a very important first step to come to terms with typology and dating.
Quarryscapes Project (available online at www.quaryscapes.no)
“Quarryscapes” is an initiative established by Elizabeth Bloxam (UCL), Per Storemyr (NGU) and Tom Heldal (NGU); with the aim of recording ancient quarries and raising an awareness towards their preservation. Gebel el-Asr (i.e. Chepren’s Quarry) is included within this project, as the source of the “Chepren Gneiss”, a greyish type with dark spots. The project database includes important information regarding the use of the site during the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
Reisner, G. A. 1913. “New Acquisitions of the Egyptian Department,” in MFA Bulletin XI / 66 Although a short and informal publication, this article introduces the findspot and original context of the gneiss bowl within the Senedjemib Complex at Giza. Useful background information for the excavation season and the finds from the surrounding mastabas, also belonging to the members of the same family.
Shaw, I., Bloxam, E., Heldal, T., and P. Storemyr. 2010. “Quarrying and Landscape at Gebel el-Asr in the Old and Middle Kingdoms.” In F. Raffaele, M. Nuzzolo and I. Incordino (eds.) Recent Discoveries and Latest Researches in Egyptology. Proceedings of the First Neapolitan Confress of Egyptology. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
This article introduces important insights into the Old and Middle Kingdom quarrying in Egypt. In the specific example of Gebel el-Asr, Shaw et al discuss the natural resources (i.e. the type of stone coming from the different parts of the quarry), while also looking at the evidence of “quarry settlements”, places where the workers were residing. This is an important aspect for the dating of these quarries to the Old and Middle Kingdom, since the quarry settlements left behind pottery record. All in all, this is an interesting article as a prelude to the stone vessels, by focusing on the beginning of the production cycle.
Stevenson, A. 2011. “Material Culture of the Predynastic Period.” In E. Teeter (ed.) Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization (OI Museum Publications 33) Chicago: Oriental Institute Publications.
Stevenson goes through different media (e.g. pottery, stone, lithics, ivory, etc.) and analyzes the use and craftsmanship of each material during the Predynastic and the Early Dynastic Period. The section about stone is not very extensive, but highlights the different usage patterns of stone vessels between the Naqada II-III and the beginning of the First Dynasty.
Oren: Pseudo-group statue of Penmeru
Oliver: Relief and reserve head (sorry for the late change, but I just thought this would be more interesting)
Peter: Soul Houses
Mike: Offering chapel of Kayemnofret
William Stevenson Smith, Ancient Egypt as represented in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - This book offers a discussion of each of the time periods in Egyptian history with reference to the artifacts found in the MFA. It tries to include at least one picture of each artifact discussed, but for the most part it frustratingly lacks in this area. The book talks about the chapel of Kayemnofret in reference to some of the other displays in the exhibit, particularly the chapel of Sekhem-ankh-ptah, which offers a nice comparative look. It is necessary to turn to other sources in order actually go into any depth though.
William Stevenson Smith, A history of Egyptian sculpture and painting in the old kingdom - Because of it's high-quality drawings, this book has restricted access and I wasn't able to look at it for long. It has many drawings that are very helpful, but it jumps around a lot and deals with artifacts very sporadically, which can get confusing.
Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 55, No. 4 - This book contains a review of William Kelly Simpson's The Offering Chapel of Kayemnofret in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Since Simpson's book itself is hard to get a hold of, this review was useful because it highlighted some of the book's main points. That being said, it did make it all the more frustrating not to have Simpson's book. The review also listed a handful of other sources on the topic I could turn to, which was very helpful.
William Kelly Simpson, The Offering Chapel of Sekhem-ankh-ptah in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Simpson's book on the chapel of Kayemnofret was not available, but since the two are often discussed together this book was helpful. It offers an introduction which talks about Fifth Dynasty mastabas in general and then dives into analyzing each wall of the offering chapel. Large fold-out drawings come near the end of the book, which were helpful to look at because of the supposed similarity with the reliefs in Kayemnofret's chapel.
Emily Teeter, Techniques and Terminology of Rope-Making in Ancient Egypt - This article analyzes Egyptian rope-making techniques based on eleven scenes that span Egyptian history (but are mostly from the Old Kingdom). The article refers to plates which could have been very helpful, but they are not shown on the JSTOR version of this article. In terms of the chapel of Kayemnofret, this article was very helpful because Kayemnofret seems to be the odd one out compared to other depictions, so it was given special attention.
Dows Dunham, A Palimpsest on an Egyptian Mastaba Wall - This article has great images, separating and superimposing the different stages of the palimpsest. The text, however, is mostly a straightforward description of the scenes and doesn't offer much insight or reason why the change may have occurred.