The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt

257 Pages·2002·92.176 MB·English

by  Erik Hornung (editor), Betsy Morrell Bryan (editor)

The Quest for Immortality

The Quest for
Immortality
Treasures of
Ancient Egypt
Erik Hornung and National Gallery of Art,
Betsy M. Bryan, editors Washington,
and
Contributions by
United Exhibits Group,
Betsy M. Bryan, Terence Copenhagen
DuQuesne, Fayza Haikal,
and Erik Hornung
The exhibition is organized by United Library of Congress
Exhibits Group, Copenhagen, and the Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
National Gallery of Art, Washington,
Hornung, Erik.
in association with the Supreme Council
The quest for immortality: treasures
of Antiquities, Cairo.
of ancient Egypt/Erik Hornung. Betsy M.
Bryan.
Exhibition dates
p. cm.
12 May - 2 September 2002 National
Gallery of Art, Washington Catologue of an exhibition at the
National Gallery of Art. Includes
The exhibition travels to museums
bibliographical references and index.
throughout North America between
2002 and 2007 1. Art, Ancient —Egypt. 2. Art, Egyptian.
I. Bryan, Betsy Morell. II. National Gallery
of Art (U.S.) III. Title.
Copyright © 2002 Board of Trustees,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, N5350 .H67 2002
and United Exhibits Group. AH rights 709' .32W4753 - dc21 2002018847
reserved. This book may not be repro-
ISBN 3-7913-2735-6 (alk. cloth)
duced, in whole or in part (beyond
ISBN 0-89468-303-9 (alk. paper)
that copying permitted by Sections 107
and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers from the public The clothbound edition is published
press), without written permission from by the National Gallery of Art and
the publishers. United Exhibits Group in association
with Prestel Publishers. Munich.
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The book was produced by the
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Cover: (front) Osiris resurrecting,
cat. 85; (back) Canop/c chest of Queen
Nedjmet, cat. 75
Interior details: (pp. ii-iii) Sarcophagus
of Khonsu, cat. 68: (p. viii) Sphinx of
Thutmose III, cat. 3: (p. xvi) Statue of
(sis, cat. 79; (pp. 4. 6-7) Offering table
of Thutmose III, cat. 6; (pp. 24.26-27)
Cold pectoral with solar boat, cat. 48;
(pp. 52. 54-55) Ushebti box of Djed-
Maat-iuesankh (cat. 104)
vi 1 214
Forewords Introduction: The Facing the Gods:
Quest for Immortality Selected Guide
Director, National Gallery of Art
President, United Exhibits Group
Betsy M. Bryan Terence DuOuesne
ix
4 221
Acknowledgments
Thutmose III Chronology of
and the Glory of the Ancient Egypt
xi
New Kingdom
Prologue
224
Fayza Haikal
Glossary
XV
24
Map
Exploring the Beyond
227
The Tomb of a Pharaoh Bibliography
The Amduat
The Litany of Re
Erik Hornung
234
52 Index
Art for the Afterlife
240
Betsy M. Bryan
Illustration Credits
74
Catalogue
The King and Society in the
New Kingdom (1-16)
The Royal Tomb (17-51)
The Tomb of a Noble (52-75)
Realm of the Gods and the
Amduat (76 -107)
Forewords
• Some twenty-five years ago the National Gallery of Art for its continuation. In The Quest for Immortality we see
was pleased to introduce the exhibition of The Treasures sculpture, sarcophagi, and reliefs—objects that facilitated
of Tutankhamun to North America. Since then only one communication with deities, kings, and other intermedi-
exhibition consisting entirely of objects coming from aries—made in the hope of guaranteeing an eternal and
Egypt—Ramasses the Great—has visited our shores. At organized world. Religion and magic enabled people to
this time we are excited to welcome a new exhibition partake of the gods' daily encounters with chaos and to
of Egyptian art, a perfect successor to the great Tut, and attain for themselves a home in the afterworld. As we gaze
we are grateful to the Supreme Council of Antiquities, with awe at the gold funerary masks of these kings and
Cairo, and United Exhibits Group, Copenhagen, for crucial aristocrats who have not walked the earth for three thou-
collaboration in preparing the exhibition. The Quest for sand years, we see that the artifacts preserve not only
Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt combines aestheti- the faith of these ancient peoples, but the hope we all have
cally fine objects of Egyptian art with a fascinating glimpse for the continuation of civilization.
into what the ancient Egyptians believed would occur The great tombs in the Valley of the Kings are
in the world to which they journeyed after death. The carved in rock, sculpted, and painted with depictions of the
remarkable tomb preparations undertaken by those ancient Egyptian conception of the afterworld. Visitors pour into
peoples begin to make sense as we comprehend their the monuments daily and experience firsthand the beauty
hope in the sun god and his victory each night over dark- of the sites, as they have for more than two thousand
vi ness and evil. years. But these inspiring tombs are now threatened by the
When we visit the pyramids or the tombs in the attention and by the changing natural environment
Valley of the Kings, we are impressed by the grandeur of in southern Egypt. We hope that all who visit The Quest
these monuments, but as the story of ancient Egyptian for Immortality appreciate the generosity of the Egyptian
funerary religion unfolds, we see the confident accomplish- government in lending these treasures to the United
ments of this great early civilization as the product of a States and see in this gesture their belief that today's
culture like our own—full of faith and fear. The remark- world must maintain the legacy of this great civilization.
able gifts of the Nile Valley, with its annual flood and
unparalleled fertility, encouraged the Egyptians to believe Earl A. Powell III
that order could be created and maintained while intermit- Director, National Gallery of Art
tent famine, destruction, and disease reminded the popu-
lation that order was neither automatic nor continuous.
Only the action of the gods could ensure the harmony
of the world; those who created it were also responsible
• The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt The successful merging of creative and planning skills
presents the largest collection of objects ever to leave brought to the project by the scientific committee of
Egypt for a single North American exhibition. Highlight- United Exhibits Group has also been vital to accomplish-
ing masterpieces from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, ing the goals of this exhibition. We extend our gratitude to
the Luxor Museum, and other collections in Egypt, the members of that committee, headed by Erik Hornung,
the exhibition includes several works that have not been professor emeritus of Egyptology at the University of
on display in public before and many that have never Basel; Dr. Theodor Abt of the Federal Institute of Tech-
been shown outside Egypt. nology in Zurich; Fayza Haikal, professor of Egyptology at
At the core of the exhibition is a reconstruction the American University in Cairo; and Betsy M. Bryan,
of the sarcophagus chamber in the tomb of Thutmose III professor of Egyptian art and archaeology at Johns Hop-
(1479-1425 BCE). On the original walls of this chamber kins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
appeared for the first time the complete text of the Amduat, The successful realization of the project in North
the oldest Book of the Netherworld. The walls are repli- America is due in large part to the expert and willing
cated here, allowing visitors to track the sun god Re on his cooperation of the National Gallery of Art in Washington,
nocturnal journey and to gain insight into the burial of under the leadership of its director, Earl A. Powell III.
a pharaoh and the journey of the deceased through the The Quest for Immortality travels to several museums in
twelve hours of the night. The exhibition affords visitors a North America prior to an extended tour in Europe.
truly unique opportunity to learn about the religion and It is our hope that visitors on both continents experience vii
burial customs of the ancient Eygptians through the treas- the enormous scope and power of this ancient but not
ures, tomb decorations, and artifacts they left behind. lost civilization.
The exhibition has been made possible by the
wonderful cooperation and support of His Excellency Teit Ritzau
Ambassador Nabil Fahmy; the Egyptian Minister of Cul- President, United Exhibits Group
ture, His Excellency Farouk Hosni; and the Supreme Coun-
cil of Antiquities in Cairo, formerly headed by Caballa A.
Caballa. The concept for the exhibition was inspired
by years of preparatory work by the Swiss-based Society of
the Friends of the Royal Tombs of Egypt, which together
with its Egyptian sister society, is dedicated to preserving
the endangered royal tombs of Egypt and to making the
values of the pharaonic culture accessible to a wide public.

Acknowledgments
• We are grateful to so many people who have helped Brooklyn Museum of Art; Rita E. Freed, Museum of Fine
bring this exhibition and catalogue together in a very brief Arts, Boston; Richard Jasnow, Johns Hopkins University;
time. Foremost, our thanks go'to those who have worked Adel Mahmoud, Egyptian Museum, Cairo; Ibrahim El-
on the project from its beginnings, including Fayza Haikal Nawawy, Supreme Council of Antiquities, Cairo; Ann Macy
of the American University in Cairo and Theodor Abt of Roth, Howard University; Edna R. Russman, Brooklyn
the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and of course Museum of Art; Emily Teeter, Oriental Institute Museum,
Teit Ritzau, president of United Exhibits Group. Caballa University of Chicago. In addition we thank the members
A. Caballa, former secretary general of the Supreme Council of Betsy Bryan's seminar who wrote entries for the volume:
of Antiquities in Cairo, has been supportive all along and Fatma Ismail, Tammy Krygier, Yasmin El Shazly, Elaine
took his valuable time to see that the exhibition was suc- Sullivan, and Elizabeth A. Waraksa.
cessfully completed. Dr. Sabry Abdel Aziz, general director A special thanks goes to David Roscoe, translator
of Upper Egyptian Monuments, was extremely supportive of Erik Hornung's essay, and to James VanRensselaer,
of the project, as was Dr. Mohamed el Bialy, general director photographer for Johns Hopkins University's Homewood
for Luxor Monuments, West Bank, and Ibrahim Soliman, Campus, who traveled to Egypt to reshoot nearly thirty
director of monuments for the Valley of the Kings. We objects on a tight deadline. Owing to his generosity and
thank also the entire staff of the Egyptian Museum in talent, and to the special courier skills of Daniel Shay
Cairo, especially Dr. Mamdouh El-Damaty, general director, at the National Gallery, we have a complete catalogue of
ix
and Adel Mahmoud, curator of New Kingdom art. With- fine photographs.
out their help and that of all the curators and conserva- In Cairo the staff of the American Research Center
tors, this exhibition would not have been possible. Every in Egypt greatly assisted us with various arrangements
time we needed something, they willingly took their time and handled communications between the National Gallery
to help. In Washington, the exhibition would not have of Art and the Supreme Council of Antiquities. We are
taken shape without the full energy and support of the particularly grateful to Robert Springborg and Amira
National Gallery of Art and its director, Earl A. Powell III. Khattab. Our colleagues at other institutions have been
We also thank those who wrote entries for the highly supportive. They include Nancy Thomas at the Los
book on a pressured timetable: James Allen, Metropolitan Angeles County Museum of Art and Kenneth Bohac at
Museum of Art; Lawrence M. Berman, Museum of Fine the Cleveland Museum of Art. We thank Dorothea Arnold,
Arts, Boston; Mamdouh El-Damaty, Egyptian Museum, director of the the department of Egyptian art at the
Cairo; Terence DuQuesne, London; Richard Fazzini, Metropolitan Museum of Art, who kindly offered help in
securing photographs from a vast archive. Kent Weeks
provided assistance in accessing both plans and photographs
of monuments from Thebes. Edwin Brock kindly replied
to queries we had early on regarding royal sarcophagi.