132-A4-5 | UNI Museum @ Rod Library

Displaying 1 - 5 of 5

	Catalog #	Name	Description
1	1965.51.1	Statue	Cat. Original greenish bronze, Egyptian, 663-332 B. C. in Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Md. Alva Replica C-4.
2	1971.0034	Statue	Plaster replica of Queen Nefertiti, Egyptian 18th Dynasty, about 1350 B. C. Black finish with blue decorations on headpiece.
3	1978.44.3	Figurine	This figurine depicts a man of low social and economic standing who once would have served as a boatman in Egyptian society. These boatmen would often push small watercraft through city waterways or along the more shallow portions of the Nile River in order to transport goods or people from one place to another. Most often, this role would have been performed by either a very poor foreign laborer or slave. The arms of this piece were once broken off either by accident or deliberately. This damage occurred so long ago that it has been mended in its authentic culture. The right arm of the figure has been repainted over in the same paint as the rest of the figurine, indicating that the work was done by an indigenous artisan. The figure's left arm shows prominent cockroach damage, which would not appear in any forgeries. This indicates that the piece is indeed culturally authentic and most likely originates from either the late Middle Kingdom or New Kingdom periods of Egyptian history. In a religious sense, figurines of boatmen such as this one were often created as funerary adornments to help the deceased pass into the afterlife. This particular figurine would originally have been placed on a solar barge to deliver the deceased into the care of the Sun deity Ra, who served as the patriarch of the Ancient Egyptian religious pantheon. With this in mind, this piece can be seen as being representative of both the practical and religious values of Ancient Egyptian civilization. The bottom of the figure has been attached to a wooden base by an unknown modern owner with a combination of beeswax and heated glue. The beeswax was likely applied to prevent the glue from seeping in and damaging the authentic wood of the piece, but this is no longer recommended museum procedure for mounting objects. According to David Depuma from the University of Iowa, the prominent thick lips and facial features of the figurine indicate that it depicts a Nubian male. This suggests that the piece may originate from a time when Nubia, then known as Kush, was under the cultural or political control of the Egyptian dynasties. The figure has been inscribed on the back above its feet with the code: "CY97". The figure consists primarily of pink, white, brown, and black paint applied over a wooden construction.
4	1978.44.9	Mask	The mask is carved with a painted pink face and white and black eyes. The eyebrows are also painted black. The head has been sawn off above the brow and below the chin, where it would have originally fitted into the fittings for an authentic sarcophagus. The piece is solid wood, with the back of head sawed flat. Four diagonal holes for wooden pegs have been drilled about 1/4" to 3/8" in diameter at points on the back. This mask used to be mounted on sarcophagus in Ancient Egypt as an image of the person who was entombed in the specific site. Each of the diagonal holes in the back functioned to attach the mask to the surface of the sarcophagus. This was used mainly as a funerary piece with the practice originating in Pre-Dynastic Egypt (c. 3100 BCE and earlier) and ending at the close of the Ptolemaic Period (c. 30 BCE). The quality of the mask indicates that it was most likely carved for an individual of modest social and economic standing. More famous sarcophagus "death masks" include the solid gold mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, which is representative of the high social and economic status that the rulers of Ancient Egypt once wielded. The wooden construction of this particular mask and the level of paint deterioration indicates that it may have been carved for a lesser priest, craftsman, or bureaucrat within the society of the New Kingdom. The subject was likely an ethnic Lower Egyptian, as outsiders oftentimes were not of high enough status to merit a sarcophagus mask.
5	1979.13	Sculpture	This piece is typical of limestone reliefs that would have adorned private altars in Ancient Egypt, according to David Depuma of the University of Iowa. This particular piece is interesting because of its peculiarities when compared to others of its kind. It is odd in that it depicts a human as occupying a space very near the top of the image. This was rare in Egyptian art, as the top space of any relief was often reserved for the Sun or other deities to show their religious significance. It is also interesting in that it is an inverted version of a typical limestone relief from the Amarna period of Egyptian history. During this time, images were carved into limestone rather than out of them. These details, as well as the lack of a proper headdress for the individual, may suggest that this piece is a forgery produced to capitalize on popular interest in Amarna period studies. The Amarna Period itself was a time of great religious upheaval for Ancient Egyptian society. The Pharaoh Amenhotep IV came to power and radically changed the polytheistic religious system of civilization into a monotheistic religion based solely around the Sun god Aten. The Pharaoh then took the name Akhenaten and proceeded to enforce bans on the depiction of any other deities besides Aten. The greatest works during this brief period of monotheism were the great temple complexes established in modern-day Amarna by Akhenaten near the end of his reign. These temples and their ruins provide some of the greatest insight into the state of Egyptian religion during the New Kingdom. After Akhenaten's death, Egypt reverted back to its traditional religious roots and deemed the teachings of the Aten cult to be heretical. Egyptian temple type limestone cut block relief; yellow-tan colored stone, black painted designs & accents; relief of human head, wearing decorative headdress, large facial features, nose, eyes, ears & mouth, right-side of block; relief of stone pillar decorative black lines, left-side of block; rimmed edge on top; relief attached to black painted wooden stand, green felt covered base, brass metal pegs; bottom of stand marked "4., 670, A8025 Egypt, Amarna Period"; right & left sides of relief are rough, uneven stone; black wooden stand. Limestone cut block relief; yellow-tan colored stone, black painted designs and accents; relief of human head, wearing decorative headdress, large facial features, nose, eyes, ears and mouth, right side of block; relief of stone pillar, decorative black lines, left side of block; rimmed edge on top; relief attached to black painted wooden stand, green felt covered base, brass metal pegs; bottom of stand marked "4., 70, A8025 Egypt, Amarna Period"; right and left sides of relief are rough, uneven stone; top is carved flat.