Egypt recovers Stolen relief of King Seti I from London

A New Kingdom relief illegally smuggled out of the country has been retrieved from England

By Nevine El-Aref , Sunday 4 Oct 2015

Photocredit: Ahram Online

A limestone relief dating back to the New Kingdom period, between the 16th and 11th centuries BC, was recovered Sunday from an auction hall in London after two weeks of negotiations.

Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty told Ahram Online that the ministry was informed about the relief by the curator at the British Museum, Marcel Mary.

Mary sent a photograph of the piece to the ministry asking for its authenticity, as the piece was put on display in an auction hall in London.

Eldamaty assigned an archeological committee to inspect the relief. The committee later confirmed its authenticity. 

A report was then filed at Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities police and a similar one was sent to Interpol in order to stop the sale of the relief.

Ali Ahmed, Director of the Recuperation Antiquities Department, explained that the relief was then confiscated by the British police and is due to come home next week.

He explained that the relief was stolen due to illegal excavations. The relief is engraved with a scene depicting the 19th dynasty King Seti I before goddess Hathor and god Web Wawat. It also bears hieroglyphic text and the names of several ancient Egyptian deities of Assiut governorate in Upper Egypt.

“It is a very important relief as it depicts a not yet discovered temple of king Seti I in Assiut,” Ahmed pointed out.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/152042/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Egypt-recovers-Stolen-relief-of-King-Seti-I-from-L.aspx

Two engraved reliefs unearthed on Red Sea coastline

The two 4,000 year old reliefs were discovered at the Ptolemaic royal port of Queen Berenice on the Red Sea coast 

By Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 22 Jul 2015 

During excavation works carried out by a Polish archaeological mission of Warsaw University at Berenice Port on the Red Sea coast, two engraved stony reliefs as well as coffins from different historic eras were unearthed.

Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty told Ahram Online that studies carried out revealed that the first relief belongs to the Middle Kindom because it bears the cartouche of the seventh king of the 12th Dynasty, King Amenemhat IV, whose reign was characterised by exploration for precious turquoise and amethyst on Punt Island. Meanwhile the second relief, which is in a bad conservation condition, can be dated to the Second Intermediate Period. After restoration, Eldamaty said, more information on the relief would be revealed.

Three Roman burials and parts of Berenice Temple's façade were also uncovered as well as a number of blocks of stone engraved with lotus and papyrus flowers, a standing goddess, and Greek texts. These texts, Eldamaty explains, are words of offering to the temple's gods.

After analysing satellite footage of the port and its surrounding area, scientists of the Polish mission uncovered the existence of a new archaeological site near the seaport of Berenice containing the of a long and narrow building with three platforms. Until now, said Eldamaty, no one can say for sure what the building was, but that further excavation would reveal more.

Berenice Port was established at the beginning of the 3rd century AD by King Ptolemy II who ordered campaigns to the East African coast to capture elephants to be used in battles. 

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/135962/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Two-engraved-reliefs-unearthed-on-Red-Sea-coastlin.aspx

 

Museum Pieces - Tomb Relief

Tomb relief with an inscription in raised relief: rp´ h3tj-´ (sd3wtj) bjtj.

Photocredit: Medelhavsmuseet 2013

 
Titles and status were important. This relief fragment tells that the tomb owner was a nobleman, a member of the elite and a governor. The bee at the bottom of the column hints at a connection with the king, which was very prestigious.

Photocredit: Medelhavsmuseet 2013

Inventory number: MM 11433

Object: Relief

Material: Limestone; Stone

Period: 25th Dynasty (c.735-656 BC), Late Period

Dimensions: H. 36,5 cm, W. 25 cm, D. 4 cm

The ancient Egyptian Bee (hieroglyph), Gardiner sign listed no. L2, is the representation of a honeybee. The bee figures prominently throughout Ancient Egyptian history, and started in the early Protodynastic Period, for example with Pharaoh Den. His timeperiod famously produced 20 tomb-labels (tags) that recorded events, and told short stories, with the first use of hieroglyphs, that by 2900 BC time had included biliterals, some triliterals, and the Egyptian hieroglyphic uniliterals.

The form of the bee on Den's labels, and others in the timeperiod (Semerkhet), show similar form, a flying bee, at an angle. The later forms are more "horizontal, wings outspread".

 

The bee became the symbol for "King of the North" (the Nile Delta (Lower Egypt), and northern Egypt); the sedge (hieroglyph)

represented the opposite: the "King of the South" (the King of Upper Egypt). A combined form also came to be used: the "King of the South & and the King of the North".

Sources:
http://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-mhm/web/object/3013029
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_(hieroglyph)

Museum Pieces - Sunk Relief Representation of Ptolemy II

Sunk Relief Representation of Ptolemy II

Although the Ptolemaic Period ushered in a long period of foreign rule, the Macedonian kings of that dynasty did not interfere with the Egyptian artistic traditions of the preceding three milennia. Ptolemy II Philadelphos, like his father Ptolemy I Soter, the founder of the dynasty, continued the practice of building and decorating temples in traditional Egyptian fashion.

While this is not to say that the Macedonian rulers did not have Greek artists portray them according to Greek artistic conventions, here the Greek ruler is shown in a purely Egyptian guise, wearing the traditional nemes-headdress of the pharaoh. The style of the relief, including the deeply cut navel, the horizontal treatment of the torso muscles, the "golf ball" chin, and the upturned smile, is common in representations from Dynasties XXIX and XXX (circa 399–342 B.C.) and was readily adopted by the Ptolemies into their iconographic program. Visible behind the king is the figure of a goddess in another scene.

Medium: Granite

Place Made: Behbeit el Higra, Egypt

Dates: 285 or 282-246 B.C.E.

Period: Ptolemaic Period

Dimensions: 27 3/16 x 23 5/8 x 2 3/8 in. (69 x 60 x 6 cm) (show scale)

Accession Number: 72.127

Credit Line: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Rights Statement: Creative Commons-BY

Pharaonic Rock Carvings Found in Egypt

JAN 7, 2015 06:30 PM ET // BY ROSSELLA LORENZI

A rare wall relief showing an unidentified pharaoh has been discovered within the sandstone quarries of Gebel el Silsila, north of Aswan.

Carved into the vertical face of the quarry wall, some 5 feet above the ground, the stela depicts the pharaoh presenting offerings to Thoth, the ancient god of wisdom, and Amun-Ra, the king among gods.

“It’s particularly rare for these two deities to be portrayed together,” Lund University archaeologist Maria Nilsson, director of the Gebel el Silsila Survey Project, told Discovery News.

She added the three figures are rather poorly preserved, although some details can be made out.

“We can see the characteristic double feather crown of Amun-Ra, and the moon disc of the ibis-headed Thoth,” Nilsson said. “Unfortunately, the item presented by the pharaoh is no longer discernible.”

Preliminary study suggests the stela dates to the late dynastic period, perhaps the Third Intermediate Period, which began with the death of pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1070 B.C. and ended with the foundation of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty by Psamtik I in 664 BC.

Readable inscriptions on the stela are merely titles of the gods, “Amun-Ra, King of the Gods, Lord of (-)”, and “Thoth, Twice Great, Lord of (-)”.

Museum Pieces - Relief of Ptolemy II with Ptah and Sekhmet

Photocredit: Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam

Relief of Ptolemy II with Ptah and Sekhmet

Present location: ALLARD PIERSON MUSEUM [06/002] AMSTERDAM
Inventorynr: APM 8795
Dating: PTOLEMY II PHILADELPHUS
Archaeological Site: UNKNOWN
Category: RELIEF
Material: LIMESTONE
Height: 44 cm
Width: 65 cm


Panel A shows Ptolemy II Philadelphus standing before Ptah, adoring him and presenting with his right hand a statuette of Ma'at to the god. The king wears the nemes-head dress with uraeus and the ceremonial beard. He is adorned with the wesekh-collar, bracelets and armlets. His clothing is a short, smooth kilt with a belt. Panel B shows the god Ptah standing in a shrine, wearing his usual tight-fitting garment and skull cap. He too wears the ceremonial beard and a collier with a counterpoise on his back. With both hands he holds a staff, of which the top is formed by the hieroglyphs meaning "prosperity", "life" and "durability". The goddess Sekhmet, on panel C, wears a long dress with shoulder bands, a long wig, a collier, two armlets and two bracelets. On her head is the sun disk with a uraeus. In her left hand she holds a staff which ends in a papyrus flower, in her right hand an ankh-sign. The three figures are finely carved, in contrast to the hieroglyphic inscriptions.

Translation
(1) Offering Ma'at (truth) to his father, that he may give life.

(2) [Horus] of Edfu, the great god, lord of the sky.

(3) Userkare-[meramen] ("Mighty is the soul of Re, beloved of Amun"),
(4) [Ptolem]y, may he live eternally.
(5) May all protection, life and prosperity be behind him like Re.

(6) Ptah, lord of Ma'at, king of the Two Lands,
(7) fair of face, who is upon the great throne,
(8) the [great] god, who is in Dendera.

(9) I give you an eternity as king of the Two Lands.

(10) [Sekhmet, ...] of the Two Lands, mistress of all foreign lands,
(11) [..., the great], beloved of Ptah, mistress of the sky.

(12) I give you all joy like Re.

Bibliography
W.A. van Leer, MVEOL, 3, 1936, 12-13/pl. III (nr. 7-8)
B. Porter, R.L.B. Moss, Topographical bibliography, VI, 1939, 110
W.M. van Haarlem (ed.), CAA Allard Pierson Museum Amsterdam, Fasc. 1, 1986, 51-53
R.A. Lunsingh Scheurleer, W.M. van Haarlem, Gids voor de afdeling Egypte, Allard Pierson Museum Amsterdam, 1986, 28, 30/fig. 11 (nr. 9)
W.M. van Haarlem, De Egyptische staatsgodsdienst, MVAPM 44 (september 1988), 8-16: 12, 14/fig. 29
R.A. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Egypte, geschenk van de Nijl, 1992, 104, 103/fig. 70

Sources:
http://dpc.uba.uva.nl
http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/detail.aspx?id=12565

Museum Pieces - Relief fragment with the head of a lady

Relief fragment with the head of a lady

Egyptian 
New Kingdom 
19th Dynasty, early 13th century BC 
Location: Location unknown

Limestone

H 22.6 cm, W 25.6 cm, D 4.4 cm 

This relief fragment probably originates from the wall of a private tomb. It shows a left-turned head of a woman. She wears a wig made of strands and braids, which partially obscure the disc-shaped earrings. To the woman's head a decorated band is wound. At the woman's forehead is a lotus flower. On the eye and brow makeup lines are attached. Under the eye with fine lines are well reproduced tears. Typical for the period of the relief is the representation of wrinkles on the neck.

Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Egyptian - Oriental Collection

Inv.-Nr. AE_INV_73
Provenance: 
1821 purchase by EA Burghart in Egypt

Source: http://bilddatenbank.khm.at/viewArtefact?id=324215&image=AE_INV_73.jpg

Stolen 18th dynasty relief returns from Germany

A painted limestone relief that was stolen and illegally smuggled to Germany during the last century arrives back in Egypt

By Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 23 Jul 2014

Egypt on Wednesday received from Germany a painted limestone relief that was stolen in the last century from the tomb of 18th dynasty high priest Sobekhotep in the Nobles necropolis on Luxor’s west bank.

Photocredit: Ahram Online

Minister of Antiquities and Heritage Mamdouh El-Damati told Ahram Online that the recovery of the relief started a few months ago when he was Egypt’s cultural attaché in Germany and curators at Bonn University Museum were working hard to organise a temporary exhibition there.

During preparations, a curator at the museum spotted the relief and it was confirmed that it was stolen and had been taken from the 18th dynasty tomb of Sobekhotep, a high priest during the reign of King Tuthmose IV.

The limestone relief is in very good condition. It is 30cm tall and 40cm wide. It depicts two figures of Sobehotep standing and making offerings to deities.

The owners of the relief, a German couple, did not know it was stolen because they brought from a British private collection in 1986 and offered it to Bonn University Museum so it could be displayed at the temporary exhibition.

When they found out it was a stolen and illegally smuggled artefact, said El-Damati, they admitted Egypt’s possession of the relief but asked for it to remain in Germany at the Friderish Museum for Ancient Egyptian Artefacts in Al-Rin area in Bonn. Egypt rejected the demand and said it should be returned under antiquities law 117 of 1983 and its amendment in 2010.

Hence the couple agreed to return the relief after putting it on display for three weeks at the exhibition in Bonn.

Egypt’s embassy in Germany stated on its website that Ambassador Mohamed Hegazy held a celebration on the occasion of returning the artefact and praised the couple for returning it.

Hegazy called on antiquities collectors to return the Egyptian artefacts they own voluntarily to where they belong.

He also called on German authorities to cooperate with Egyptian authorities to protect its cultural and archaeological heritage in accordance with the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing Illicit Import.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/106876/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Stolen-th-dynasty-relief-returns-from-Germany.aspx

Museum Pieces - The Mourners of Merymery

(Photocredit: RMO Leiden)

THE MOURNERS OF MERYMERY

Merymery was custodian of the treasury of Memphis. This part of the relief shows the procession of mourners during the funeral of Merymery.

Inventorynr: AP 6-a
Date: 1388 - 1351 BC, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty
Find: Saqqara

Source: http://www.rmo.nl/collectie/-topstukken-/?1098

A limestone relief found beneath a residential area in Al-Qantara East

A limestone relief engraved with Greek text was uncovered under a residential house in Al-Qantara East town in Ismailia governorate

by Nevine El-Aref , Monday 2 Dec 2013

In an unusual turn of events, authorities pursuing a gang of antiquities smugglers along the Suez Canal have accidently stumbled across a Greek limestone relief beneath a residential house in the city of Al-Qantara East.

The Tourism and Antiquities Police (TAP) discovered the relief within the walls of an underground, ancient tomb. It was recovered today in coordination with the Ministry of State Antiquities (MSA), according to minister Mohamed Ibrahim.

Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, Head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Section at the MSA, said that the relief is 40 cm tall and 20cm large, and engraved with four lines of Greek text, with a winged sun disk displayed at the top. The relief is now under restoration for future display in the town's storage museum.

The tomb is in a very poor state of preservation, but it was reported to contain remains of human skeletons and bones as well as clay pots and fragments.

Abdel Maqsoud believes that the tomb could be part of a Graeco-Roman necropolis, or city of the dead, that has since been built over and turned into a residential area.

The city of Al-Qantara East is located on the eastern side of the Suez Canal, about 160 kilometers northeast of Cairo and 50 kilometers south of Port Said.

Al-Qantara East has a rich history, dating back to the pharaonic era. Ahmose I, a pharaoh who founded the 18th century, waged many important wars in the area, most notably against the Hyksos, Seti, and Ramses II.

In modern times, it was the site of numerous World War I battles between the Allies and Turkish forces, as well the main base of the Australian Light Horse operations in Sinai from 1916 until 1920.

It was also the site of a massive warehouse and hospital centre, which were used again in World War II.

The city was captured by Israel during the 1967 War, but subsequently won back in 1973 after the 6 October War.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/41/88083/Heritage/GrecoRoman/A-limestone-relief-found-beneath-a-residential-are.aspx

Museum Pieces - Tomb relief of Kheti

This relief carries a depiction of the funerary offering in a naive kind of sunk relief, still with most of its colours preserved. A standing couple is shown receiving an ox leg from a man standing opposite. In front of the pair is an offering table laden with gifts, and next to the woman some toilet articles are depicted. The father Kheti [Akhtúy] and his son Montu-hetepu [Menthútpe] are depicted with short hair, without wigs, as well as collars and short kilts. The woman is called Henet; she is wearing a dress suspended by two shoulder straps. Upon the offering table are the following items: a wild goose, a closed ceramic jug, a bunch of grapes, a calf's head, an unidentified white object with white stripes, a round cake, a bunch of spring onions, a flat dish with figs, and a gherkin covered by a palm leaf. Beneath the table a closed jar and a plate on a stand are shown. The toilet articles of the woman consist of a mirror in a slip case and a box with an eye-paint container and a jar of ointment. The entire scene has been overlaid with a grid according to the classical canon of proportions, which divides the standing human figure into eighteen hand widths between the soles of the feet and the brow. The stela dates to the early Middle Kingdom, when this version of the canon had only recently been introduced.

Present location: KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM [09/001] VIENNA
Inventory number: 202
Dating: 11TH DYNASTY (not before); 11TH DYNASTY ?; 12TH DYNASTY (not after)
Archaeological Site: UNKNOWN
Category: RELIEF
Material: LIMESTONE
Technique: HEWN; CARVED
Height: 44 cm
Width: 77.2 cm
Depth: 11 cm

Translation

(1) An offering which the king gives, thousands of bread and beer, meat and poultry, for the Ka of the venerable Kheti, born of Ibi; his wife, whom he loves, Henet, born of Senet true of voice.
(2) His son whom he loves Montu-hetepu, born of Henet.

Bibliography

Satzinger, H., Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. museum (1987) 13.
Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM), Wien. Führer durch die Sammlungen (1988) 24.
Hein, I. & H. Satzinger, Stelen des Mittleren Reiches einschließlich der I. und II. Zwischenzeit, Teil II. Corpus Antiquitatum Aegyptiacarum (CAA).
Satzinger, H., Das Kunsthistorische Museum in Wien. Die Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung. Zaberns Bildbände zur Archäologie 14. Mainz. 1994.
Seipel, W. (ed.), Götter Menschen Pharaonen, Speyer (1993) = Dioses, Hombres, Faraones, Ciudad de México (1993) = Das Vermächtnis der Pharaonen, Zürich (1994).

Sources: http://bilddatenbank.khm.at/viewArtefact?id=317926
               http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/detail.aspx?id=4773