Egypt in London – Summer 2003

by Anthony Holmes

On 21 June 2003, the Egypt Exploration Society held a Study Day at the School of Oriental and African Studies, situated close to the British Museum, entitled The Lord of the Two Lands: Aspects of Egyptian Kingship. Members were invited to attend four intriguing topics: The Man in the God, Symbols of Egyptian Kingship, Lord of Bow-Land and The Gods’ Wives of Amun. An array of four Doctors of Archaeology and Ancient History made the presentations. Although the subjects were of interest, I found the presentations dry and academic. I was reminded of the maxim that a lecturer talks to his subject while a speaker talks to his audience. These were lectures! Comparison to TESSA’s Day School was inevitable and TESSA won hands down.

Readers of SHEMU will know that the painting “The Subsiding of the Nile” by Frederick Goodall, R.A. painted in 1872, has been the subject of recent research by TESSA. The 4m x 2m painting that hung for years in our City Hall was taken down, loaned to the South African Cultural History Museum where it has remained crated, pending a decision on its future. I visited the Guildhall Art Gallery in the City of London where hangs a painting by Goodall under the same title. This beautiful painting, which the Guildhall Gallery considered to be the only original until recently, is about one third of the size of the Cape Town work. The Guildhall version was painted by Goodall in 1873, a year after he completed the larger one. The Gallery is now aware of the existence of the earlier painting and the notice describing their painting refers to the larger and earlier original work in Cape Town.

In the course of further research I found that a third later version exists in the Russell Coates Gallery in Bournemouth. The Guildhall Gallery curator said that prior to printed reproductions, artists themselves painted smaller copies of their works to be hung in homes. The curator thought that the large original was still on show in Cape Town and she was saddened to hear that such an important painting is currently in a crate. More work needs to be done to get the Cape Town painting displayed.

The Petrie Museum was on our list of places to visit in London this trip and duly protected against the vagaries of the English summer (sun lotion and umbrella) my friend and I arrived on the doorstep on a Monday morning to find that the Museum is closed on Mondays! Students and archaeologists were working with the collection, but with great understanding the guard let us in and for two hours we were the only visitors to one of the richest Egyptian archaeological collections in the world. The 70,000 items, still categorised according to Petrie’s own and slightly obscure method will soon be moved to a new home where we were assured both the display and the system will be improved. It is a fascinating collection of mostly small pieces.

Previous visits to London always included the British Museum, and this visit was no exception. 2003 marks the 250th Anniversary of the Museum and one of the celebratory activities was a two-day colloquium on ancient Egypt plus an evening lecture on recent developments delivered by Dr. Zahi Hawass. It was a must for an Egyptophile! The first morning of the colloquium presented information about beautiful artwork in the tomb-chapel of Nebamun (c.1390BC), the conservation of the art and an analysis of pigments used involving new methodology. We then were given a more light-hearted look at Egyptian haircuts! In the afternoon we saw the most amazing interactive three-dimensional study of the mummy of Nesperennub, still undisturbed in his coffin. The final presentation of the day showed pictures of items in the British Museum’s loan exhibition currently touring the USA.

The evening of day one featured the Hawass lecture. I would like to relate the good fortune we had to obtain tickets for the Hawass lecture that was oversold weeks before I applied, but it would take too much space in SHEMU. Suffice to say that we ended up sitting on the steps of the lecture hall about two metres from arguably the most famous Egyptologist extant, and even managed to have a few words with the man. He is a charismatic speaker and his 90-minute talk was wide ranging, covering many matters not yet in the public domain. We were spellbound by the latest finds at Giza and Saqqara and the programme of exploration envisaged for next season. The evening reception was held in the Egyptian Hall where we had cocktails under the stern gazes of Amunhotep and Rameses.

The second day’s colloquium was equally fascinating, particularly the work on the tomb of Sobeknakht, a governor of Elkab in the latter part of the XVIIth Dynasty (c.1550 BC).

Cleaning has revealed previously undocumented information about an incursion into Egypt by the Kushites, supported by Wawat, Punt and Medjaw that extended as far north as Elkab (just south of Thebes). We were then treated to a video on the rescue of the Taharqa wall painting from Qasr Ibrim. The excavation of Theban Tomb 99 concluded the programme.

EDITOR’S COMMENT: Thanks Tony, for your efforts as TESSA’s Ambassador in London, and for an interesting article. Also, your kind remark about the TESSA Day Schools is greatly appreciated.
It was in June 1997 that I pointed out to the Royal Academy of Arts in London, that they were mistaken in thinking the original painting “The Subsiding of the Nile” was held in London. Even Frederick Goodall’s nephew in Canada considered the Guildhall copy to be the original.