Egyptian Antiquities Egyptian Archaeology

REZULTATE PRELIMINARE ALE CERCETĂRII COLECȚIEI DE ANTICHITĂȚI EGIPTENE A INSTITUTULUI DE ARHEOLOGIE „VASILE PÂRVAN” DIN BUCUREȘTI
ABSTRACT
The “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology in Bucharest, through its integrated sector, entitled the National Museum of Antiquities (hereinafter, the NMA), has a minor collection of 151 ancient Egyptian artefacts. Between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century the collection was established and developed through the donations of the Romanian private collectors. The study of this collection will give a more in‑depth insight into issues such as: the stages of its formation, the interests of collectors regarding the purchase of antiquities in general and of Egyptian antiquities especially during the previously mentioned period; the types and categories of Egyptian artefacts.
Broadly speaking, the artefacts can be dated to the Predynastic Period, the First Intermediate Period, the Second Intermediate Period (the Hyksos Domination), the New Kingdom (the Empire), the Third Intermediate Period, the Late Period (from the 26th Dynast onwards), the Roman Period.
Most of the artefacts have a good conservation state. However, there is also a number of fragmentary pieces (statues of funerary servants, Osiris statues, statues of deities, wooden objects, amulets, mummies, lapidary pieces, a fragment of a mummy cartonnage, a mummy funerary mask), some of which have been restored in the laboratory.
The artefacts are made of different materials, specific to each type and period in which they were made: wood, painted wood, rocks – limestone (alabaster), sandstone, serpentine, basalt, granite, breccia, black stone – ceramics, glazed faience, terracotta, glass paste.
Regarding the typology of the artefacts, the collection includes the followings: lapidarium fragments, epigraphic and anepigraphic shabti, shawabti, ushebti mummiform statuettes, scarabs, statuettes of gods, amulets, necklaces, vases, mummies of birds and a fragment of a human mummy (a hand), Predynastic points and blades, a shabti box, a mummy mask, a fragment of a mummy cartonnage, a headrest, a fragment of a stela/cippus of Horus.

Keywords: Egyptian antiquities, artefact, National Museum of Antiquities, “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, shabti, scarab, mummy, cartonnage, amulet, cippus, headrest, serekh

REZUMAT
Institutul de Arheologie „Vasile Pârvan” din București, prin sectorul său integrat numit Muzeul Național de Antichități, deține o colecție minoră de antichități egiptene (151 de piese), constituită din donațiile unor colecționari particulari români, în intervalul acoperind a doua jumătate a secolului al XIX‑lea – prima jumătate a secolului XX. Analiza acesteia oferă posibilitatea de a prezenta etapele constituirii ei, care au fost interesele colecționarilor în privința achiziției de antichități în general și a antichităților egiptene în special în perioada menționată, precum și tipurile și categoriile de artefacte egiptene și egiptizate.

Cuvinte‑cheie: antichități egiptene, Muzeul Național de Antichități, shabti, scarabeu, mumie, cartonaj, amuletă, cippus, suport pentru cap, serekh

Tatomir, R. 2019, Rezultate preliminare ale cercetării colecției de antichități egiptene a Institutului de Arheologie „Vasile Pârvan” din Bucureşti, SCIVA, tomul 70, nr. 1–4, București, 2019, pp. 143-150