EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
petals, even though Petrie meticulously notes that number next to his rosette drawings. Furthermore, the drawings themselves seem variable, raising the question whether inconsistencies are due to execution by different hands. Petrie speaks of ‘many smaller differences’; he does not explain his criteria for selection. By relocating the material objects, researchers have a new chance to assess directly the evidence from Akhetaten, the city, as opposed to Tell el Amarna, the book. For the museum, this provides an opportunity to point out gaps in the existing evidence; complications of collection history are revealed in the fusion of 1891-2 excavation finds and purchased objects, the distribution to other collections, and the purchases made by Petrie every year he travelled to Egypt between 1880 and 1924. Comparing his typology with more recent ones, we can observe that Petrie did not miss many categories. On the other hand, Petrie’s statement that he was ‘rejecting large quantities of the commonest’ (Tell el Amarna, 1894: 30) might explain why such common amulets as wedjat-eyes are so strikingly underrepresented. Beside these research gains, a primary objective of our project was public access. The research by Marie Vandenbeusch provided the basis for Gianluca Miniaci and Stephen Quirke to prepare a display exactly in the form of the 1894 plates. Provisional supports were created by Petrie Museum Assistant Pia Edqvist, and the re-assembled ‘material plates’ can now be seen, perhaps for the first time since Petrie sorted them himself, in the main gallery of the Petrie Museum.
In the material sequence, moulds dominate in their bulk and colour. Yet the gloss and bold polychromy of the products still shine through, even where the objects are tiny amulets. The multi-coloured composition of the series and the variety of its patterns amply testify to the vitality of the Amarna period. The museum can thus offer a vivid new connection through Petrie to the makers of Akhetaten to general as well as research visitors.
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