The four magic bricks

The four magic bricks

At the time of the burial of the king or a notable, four of these unbaked bricks are placed in niches of the vault at the four cardinal points. They serve as support for four specific amulets: in the west, the pillar Djed; in the east, the recumbent Anubis; in the south, the flame; and in the north, a mummiform figure on a pedestal, which also underwent the opening ritual of the mouth. These amulets are associated with chapter 151 of the Book of the Dead, whose vignette represents them, and whose text is written in hieratic or hieroglyphic on the bricks. The text specifies how the amulets should be made, which direction they should lie, and what role they should play in protecting against the dangers coming from the four cardinal points. The earliest examples date from the eighteenth dynasty: the first niches appear in the royal tomb of Amenhotep II. The latest examples are known from the reign of Nectanebo I, after a hiatus of some centuries between the XXI dynasty and the Late Period.

picture: Sennefer TT96A

osirisnet.net

TT82, the tomb of Amenemhat

TT82, the tomb of Amenemhat

This tomb can be distinguished from the other tombs of the time by the quality of the realization of the scenes, as depicted in the scenes of offering to ancestors and artists (see bs-38021), or the offering table before Amenemhat. The composition is airy, balanced, the drawing is very regular and precise, and the colours are particularly well chosen in certain scenes, as they are complementary, with brick red and Verona green for example. The scenes are well composed, even though they are as banal as the representations of offerings and banquets, which are very numerous in Amenemhat’s tomb.

But like all Egyptian artists, the one of the tomb shows great accuracy in the observation of animals, especially the observation of their gait, which seems even more natural than that of men

TT82, the tomb of Amenemhat

osirisnet.net

Book of the Dead of the Goldworker of Amun, Sobekmose,

Book of the Dead of the Goldworker of Amun, Sobekmose,

 probably reign of Thutmose III to reign of Amunhotep II, circa 1479-1400 B.C.E., Saqqara, Egypt, Papyrus, ink

Brooklyn Museum

Nebsen and Nebet-Ta

Pair statue of husband and wife Nebsen and Nebet-Ta. New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII, reign of Thutmose IV or Amenhotep III, c. 1400-1352 BCE

Brooklyn Museum

Beat net dress

beat net dress

This dress was excavated by Guy Brunton at Qau in 1923-24. In 1994 and 1995 two conservators, Alexandra Seth-Smith and Alison Lister, re-constructed the dress.


The dress may have been worn for dancing in Dynasty 5 (c. 2400 BC). Each of the 127 shells around the fringe are plugged with a small stone so that it would have emitted a rattling sound when the wearer moved. When it was being conserved, it was thought to fit a girl of about 12 and to be worn naked.
Guy Brunton commented that the dress reminds us of the story of King Sneferu going on a sailing trip on the palace lake, recorded on a papyrus dating from around 1800 BC. The King gets twenty young women to row a boat and, to relieve his boredom, orders:

"Let there be brought to me twenty women with the shapeliest bodies, breasts and braids, who have not yet given birth. And let there be brought to me 20 nets. Give those nets to these women in place of their clothes!"

The point of the story is that the behaviour of the King is outrageous rather than normal, but this tale has been used to make the bead-net dress into an erotic and exotic garment.
When Janet Johnstone, an Ancient Egyptian clothing consultant, made a replica of this dress she found that the bead-net dress was too heavy to be worn when placed directly on the naked body. Janet also discovered that due to its ‘netting’ structure it could fit women of all shapes and ages.
Is it therefore our imaginative reading of the dress that makes it erotic?

^Petrie Museum
 https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/petrie-museum/bead-net-dress

Templo de Abidos

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology: Characters and Collections

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology: Characters and Collections 

format: 255x192mm

Paperback

ISBN: 978-1-910634-04-2

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology first opened its doors in 1915, and since then has attracted visitors from all over the world as well as providing valuable teaching resources. Named after its founder, the pioneering archaeologist Flinders Petrie, the Museum holds more than 80,000 objects and is one of the largest and finest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology in the world. Richly illustrated and engagingly written, the book moves back and forth between recent history and the ancient past, between objects and people. Experts discuss the discovery, history and care of key objects in the collections such as the Koptos lions and Roman era panel portraits. The rich and varied history of the Petrie Museum is revealed by the secrets that sit on its shelves. 

About the author

Alice Stevenson is the Curator of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL. She was previously Researcher in World Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Her academic specialisation is Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egyptian archaeology, but she has a broad range of interests including the history of archaeology, anthropology and museums. She has written and co-edited many works.