Society for the Promotion of the Egyptian Museum Berlin

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Egyptology, Egyptomania

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Room 1.11: Egyptology, Egyptomania

Berlin has played a major role in archaeological explorations in the Nile Valley. The scientific documentation of the antiquities of Egypt and the Sudan by the Prussian expedition of Richard Lepsius (1842-1845) is the most extensive research of its kind to this day. The excavations undertaken by the German Oriental Society in Abusir and Amarna, under the patronage of James Simon, are fundamental sources of information about the Old Kingdom and the Amarna Period. The excavations of the Egyptian Museum in Naga, Sudan continuous this tradition.A large body of original objects came to the museum through these expeditions through donations and through find divisions in Egypt. Ancient Greece looked with admiration to the country on the Nile and saw it as the birthplace of culture. Egyptian religion and Egyptian art enjoyed great popularity in imperial Rome. Egyptian monuments in Rome, especially the obelisks, give the impulse to a rediscovery ancient Egypt. The German scholar Athanasius Kircher first attempts a decipherment of the hieroglyphs in the 17th century, using Roman Aegyptiaca. Through Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt the enthusiasm for Egypt in Europe was renewed around 1800. Egyptianising decorative arts are also found in the Royal Prussian porcelain manufacture. The decipherment of hieroglyphs by J. F. Champollion in 1822 - finished by Richard Lepsius in Berlin - started the academic field of Egyptology in which Berlin is a worldwide a unique centre with its universities, Academy and Museum.

Vase from the Royal Porcelain Workshop

Vase der Königlichen Porzellan-Manufaktur
about 1800 AD
Porcelain
Berlin
H 27 cm
Donation Th. and H. Kurze
Inv.-No. VÄGM 2008/132 Eine Leihgabe des Vereins zur Förderung des Ägyptischen Museums Berlin wurde durch eine großzügige Schenkung von Henrike und Thomas Kurze, dem Vorsitzenden des Kuratoriums des Vereins, ermöglicht. Um 1800 ist in der Königlichen Porzellan-Manufaktur (KPM) die Porzellanvase geschaffen worden, deren Pseudo-Hieroglyphen und Dekorationselemente eine unmittelbare Antwort auf die Ägyptenmode in Frankreich bilden, wie sie sich in der Produktion der Manufaktur von Sèvres niederschlägt. Dieses Zeugnis der Ägyptomanie in Berlin macht es zusammen mit Leihgaben der Stiftung Stadtmuseum möglich, einen in den eigenen Beständen des Museums nicht vorhandenen Themenkomplex unter der bunt bemalten ägyptisierenden Decke des Raumes ´Ägyptomanie - Ägyptologie´ im Neuen Museum repräsentativ darzustellen.
Beauty case for traveling

Cosmetic case: Travel Container for Cosmetics with Seven Vessels
2nd Intermediate Period, ca. 1700 BC
Palm, Papyrus, Stone
Thebes-West, Burial of Queen Mentuhotep
Height (in total.) 42,7 cm
Inv.-No. ÄM 1177/1, ÄM 1179, ÄM 1181 The container consists of a basket with lid and inside 6 separately worked subdivisions as well as a delicately woven stand. Inside 7 small vessels still sealed and containing precious oils, and a small spoon were found. The travelling cosmetic case was taken by the queen to the grave in order to have all the amenities of this world also available in the afterworld.