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The Sphinx That Traveled to Philadelphia: The Story of the Colossal Sphinx in the Penn Museum PDF

252 Pages·2015·134.397 MB·English
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The Sphinx that Traveled to Philadelphia After years of waiting, it was before me at last. The great face was so sad, so earnest, so longing, so patient. There was a dignity not of earth in its mien, and in its countenance a benignity such as never any thing human wore. It was stone, but it seemed sentient. If ever image of stone thought, it was thinking. It was looking toward the verge of the landscape, yet looking at nothing—nothing but distance and vacancy. It was looking over and beyond every thing of the present, and far into the past. It was gazing out over the ocean of Time . . . — Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (1869) The Sphinx that Traveled to Philadelphia The Story of the Colossal Sphinx in the Penn Museum By Josef Wegner & Jennifer Houser Wegner Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wegner, Josef W. (Josef William), author. The sphinx that traveled to Philadelphia : the story of the colossal sphinx in the Penn Museum / Josef Wegner and Jennifer Houser Wegner. pages cm Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-934536-76-6 (hard cover : alk. paper) 1. University of Pennsylvania. University Museum—History. 2. Sphinxes (Mythology) 3. Excavations (Archaeology)—Egypt— Memphis (Extinct city) 4. Museums—Acquisitions—Pennsylvania—Philadelphia. 5. Memphis (Extinct city)—Antiquities. 6. Memphis (Extinct city)—Civilization. I. Wegner, Jennifer Houser, author. II. Title. DT62.S7W44 2015 932—dc23 2015012597 © 2015 University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Philadelphia, PA 19104-6324 Published for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology by the University of Pennsylvania Press. All rights reserved. Published 2015. Printed in People’s Republic of China on acid-free paper. For Elizabeth Jean Walker, Friend of Egyptology and the Penn Museum f S o T N E E L T B N A T o C IX ACkNoWLEDgMENTS XI PREfACE 1 CHAPTER oNE – Prelude to the Sphinx 19 CHAPTER TWo – The Discovery of the Sphinx 39 CHAPTER THREE – The Sphinx’s Journey to America 53 CHAPTER foUR – The Sphinx in Philadelphia 83 CHAPTER fIvE – A Royal Setting for the Sphinx 115 CHAPTER SIX – Ancient Memphis: The City of the Sphinx 147 CHAPTER SEvEN – The World of Egyptian Sphinxes 193 CHAPTER EIgHT – getting to know the Sphinx 238 SELECT BIBLIogRAPHy S This book on the Penn Museum’s Sphinx of Ramses the great T began some years ago, but in a quite different form from what you now see. When we started thinking about writing a book on the Sphinx to mark its centenary in N Philadelphia in 2013, it was our original intention to write a short history of the Sphinx E geared towards children. However, once we began researching the Sphinx, we were amazed at the wealth of information on the discovery of the Sphinx, the Museum’s M early excavations in Egypt, and the fascinating ties of the Sphinx with Philadelphia history. We decided this was a story best told in full. The Sphinx has been a captivating g object to research, and we are happy to be able to share its story. We would not have D been able to do this without the help of many individuals and we are grateful for their interest and support of this project. E Several individuals deserve particular thanks in bringing the book to fruition. We L would like to thank firstly Jennifer Quick, Senior Editor of Penn Museum Publications, W who copyedited the manuscript and produced a layout of the book. Her careful eye, hard work, and calm demeanor were very much appreciated by us. She was a joy to o work with. Anne Marie kane of Imogen Design worked on the final design and we greatly appreciate her careful attention to the graphic layout. In the production of the N book we are especially indebted to Jim Mathieu, Director of Publications, without whose efforts and expertise in publications, the Sphinx story would remain locked k away in folders in our desk drawer. Also in bringing out this book, we wish to thank C Julian Siggers, Williams Director of the Penn Museum, and Amanda Mitchell-Boyask, A Director of Development, for their support of the publication. We hope that the book will help in a small way to further interest in the remarkable history and mission of this great Museum. Assisting us at almost every step of the way in this undertaking was Alex Pezzati, the Penn Museum’s Senior Archivist. It is not an exaggeration to say that without Alex’s help, this project would not have come to fruition. Both Alex and Assistant Archivist Eric Schnittke spent many hours helping track down and reproduce the documents and images relating to the Sphinx. We are also grateful to Nancy R. Miller at the University of Pennsylvania Archives for assistance with locating additional archival information about the University’s connection to the Penn Museum Sphinx. francine Sarin and Jennifer Chiappardi of the Museum’s Photo Studio took many of the photographs of Egyptian Section objects seen in this book, as well as scanned almost all of the original documents relating the Sphinx. We would like to thank our friends and colleagues in the Egyptian Section, David P. Silverman and Steve Phillips, for their interest in this project. Jean Walker graciously read and commented on early versions of the book. Jean also took many of the photos of the Penn Museum objects in this book. Many other colleagues at the Penn Museum have assisted us throughout the course of this project. katy Blanchard, fowler-van Santvoord keeper of the Near East Section, and Lynn Makowsky, Devries keeper of the Mediterranean Section, both helped in locating objects with sphinx iconography in their collections. As part of the 2013 centenary celebration of the Sphinx’s arrival at the Penn Museum, the Museum’s Exhibitions Department worked with us to set up a small display of sphinx-related “kitsch” from our personal collection, and that of the Curator-in-Charge of the Egyptian Section, David P. Silverman. We are grateful to kate Quinn and her staff, Ben Neiditz, Courtney o’Brien, Tara Poag, kevin Schott, and yuan yao, for their work on this special exhibition. The celebration also included a special “Hijinks with the Sphinx” day at the Penn Museum and we are grateful to Tena Thomason and Rachelle kaspin of the Public Programs Department for their Josef Wegner & Jennifer Houser Wegner IX

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