WATANI International
6 September 2009
Anchored by a colossus of one of Egypt’s most revered pharaohs, roughly 3,000 years of ancient Egypt will be on display at the Arkansas Arts Center in an exhibition that tells the stories of kings and sheds light on how people of lesser station lived.
“World of the Pharaohs” will feature more than 200 artefacts including mummies, jewellery, sculptures and funeral offerings, many of which date back to ancient Egypt between 2675BC to 2130BC. The exhibition will be at the museum in Little Rock from 25 September to 5 July.
Organisers say the time period covered by the exhibition makes it unique among ancient Egyptian exhibits now on tour, such as “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” which focuses solely on items from the tomb of the boy king.
In context
The exhibit coming to Arkansas, with a towering statue of Ramses II as its centrepiece, will provide depth because it reflects elements of daily life, said Arts Center Curator Joseph Lampo. “There is a lot more to Egyptian civilisation than one pharaoh,” Lampo said. “Here we have bread making, using a granary to store grain from which bread was made, a statuette of a woman kneading bread, examples of how men and women both applied cosmetics.”
Most items in the “World of the Pharaohs” were excavated by archaeologists who record key details, such as where the item was found. This helps provide a more complete history, said guest curator William Peck, who is also an archaeologist, Egyptologist, and art historian. “A lot of this would be lost if these objects had not been found in context,” Peck said, noting that the precise origin of an artefact is often absent from pieces acquired from antiquities dealers.
The exhibit is on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Peck noted that among the items set for display is a royal decree that released a community from having to provide labourers for a project.
“The object itself is just a piece of stone with a hieroglyphic inscription,” yet it sheds light on how labour was organised at a time of tremendous construction projects, he said.
Another artefact is an amulet of an Egyptian god, a figure with a ram’s head. The piece is in solid gold and its underside has an inscription of the name of a lesser-known king.
Well-advertised
“From my experience in the museum world, I’m surprised at the things Boston has let out on loan,” Peck said.
The exhibition is being heavily promoted. Marketing director Heather Haywood said the museum has the luxury of working to attract different groups at different times because the exhibition will be open for little less than a year.
Banners advertising the exhibition have been prominently displayed in Little Rock National Airport in hope of inspiring travellers to make a return trip, she said. The museum will use two galleries which customarily house travelling exhibits, and construction has begun to modify the space.
The Arkansas Arts Center, known for its impressionist collection, has hosted other large exhibitions, including works of Andy Warhol that concluded this year and glass works by Dale Chihuly in 2000.
An audio tour of the Egyptian exhibition will be available.