New find made on 3000-year-old Egyptian objects at Melbourne’s NGV
More than 500 artefacts from the British Museum will go on show at the National Gallery of Victoria on Friday aimed at a ‘new generation’ and the curator is still making discoveries.
That the ancient world is full of surprises is a fact not lost on Marie Vandenbeusch.
Late last year, the British Museum’s curator of funerary culture of the Nile Valley was in conservation inspecting a monumental statue of 18th-dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep I dating to 1525-1504BCE when she noticed something she hadn’t seen before.
“I discovered, well I rediscovered, that there is actually a column of hieroglyphs at the back, which had not been properly documented or photographed,” Dr Vandenbeusch said of the artefact, whose obverse had been facing a wall in the London institution for “a generation”.
“I hadn’t seen it, and I don’t know who in the museum had. Something captivating that could be observed during conservation is how the original colour of the stone (was retrieved) as well as some of the original pigments that were not visible. Some blues, some red and some black. It’s quite exciting.”
Excavated from a tomb in Deir-El Bahrii near Luxor and depicting the king shrouded like the underworld god Osiris to show he was capable of regeneration, the object is just one of some 500 artefacts that comprise Pharaoh, a major exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria.
The show, which is curated by Dr Vandenbeusch and runs until October 6, is the largest exhibition of Egyptian antiquities ever seen in Australia.
Opening the exhibition on Thursday, director Tony Ellwood said the show spanned 3000 years and was unprecedented in its breadth, featuring sculptures, coffins, funerary objects and a large collection of jewellery.
“It will introduce a new generation of visitors to the fascinating visual culture of ancient Egypt,” he said, adding that the show “placed precedence on the exceptional craftsmanship of the ancient Egyptians”.
Dr Vandenbeusch said Pharaoh was the largest touring exhibition the British Museum had staged in its 270-year history.
“Logistically, it’s been an interesting challenge,” she said.
“Some of the pieces are absolutely incredible and incredibly important.”
Among the highlights is a 2.5m x 3m limestone wall, recovered from a mastaba tomb in the Valley of the Kings and bedecked in hieroglyphs.
The wall had for decades lain in pieces and has been painstakingly rebuilt by BM conservators for the NGV show. “We had an old photograph of it but it is amazing to see it in a new light,” Dr Vandenbeusch said.
Similarly monumental works include a 2m-tall relief of the great king Ramses II (1279-1213BC), whose fist also is represented in the form of a 1.5-tonne stone monolith.
Empire-builder king Tuthmose III is represented in a silk-smooth carved siltstone relief, while a stone lion bearing the remnants of King Tut’s cartouche and the imposing two-tonne Hathor Capital in red granite will make their home in Melbourne.
At the other end of the scale, a 5cm ivory label dedicated to King Den, ruler of the first dynasty, reveals the detailed craftmanship of ancient Egyptian artisans while a large selection of jewellery also will feature.
Pharaoh is the third major exhibition of ancient Egypt to open in Australia in the past year.
Ramses: Gold of the Pharaohs when it " title="In thrall of ancient codes">broke attendance records at the Australian Museum earlier this year, while the National Museum of Australia’s Discovering Ancient Egypt has received critical praise and runs until September.
Dr Vandenbeusch said public fascination with the subject revolved around new discoveries.
“With advances in technology, we still can learn a lot, even from objects we thought we knew a lot about,” she said.
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