Tuesday, February 14, 2012

An Egyptian Collection

One of my favourite things to do when I was little was watching documentaries about ancient Egypt. I was (and still am) so fascinated by every single piece of their history.
Visiting an egyptian collection is even more fun when you have your personal translator with you. Yes, that is right. Lazar has studied egyptology back in Bulgaria and can actually read some of those pretty hieroglyphs. How lucky am I?

This cute little statuette is one of the gems of the egyptian collection in Kunsthistorisches Museum. During the Old Kingdom the female hippo was seen as a deity of protection in pregnancy and childbirth. Egyptian women wore amulets depicting the hippo goddess - Taweret, to protect their pregnancies. The motif was used in the decorations of beds and headrests, because of its protecting powers.
The image of the goddess has changed with time. Later on, the goddess was depicted as half human, carrying an ankh - the symbol of life, or a knife - to chase away evil spirits. This statuette depicts the original perception of the goddess. It is more than 4000 years old and is so well-preserved, its colours and details still amusing the people.

In ancient Egypt even in death the rich people differed from the poor. You can see how different the left mummy mask is from the right one. The gilding on the face symbolizes the union of the dead with the Sun God. The black and gold wig and the rich gilding suggest that it was the death of a wealthy man. The right mask has more details but has been done with more ordinary materials and suggest the death of a less wealthy man. However, both of them depict the close connection between an ordinary person and God, and the striving for perfection and eternal life.

Are you fascinated by ancient Egypt as much as I am?

7 comments:

  1. I am really fascinated by the fact that they knew so much about medicine and mummies in a period that there weren't no medicin( i don't mean the herbal ones!) Amazing!

    (New blog needing some love and support: http://inwhirlofinspiration.blogspot.com)

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  2. We have a constant exhibition of ancient Egypt in my home town. It's been there since I was a little girl, it's so amazing! The mummy cases scare me! haha

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  3. I'm absolutely fascinated with Egypt and these pictures are AMAZING! I just started following you and I would love if you followed my fashion blog I will be doing a giveaway sometime soon (:

    dearest-lou.blogspot.com

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  4. I absolutely love ancient Egypt and the history behind it all... When I was a little girl all I wanted was to become an archaeologist just to be closer to the history. Most kids thought I was crazy, what little girl want to dig through dirt and ground looking for something that might not even be there... I thought it was fascinating! Thanks for sharing this cool information! I absolutely loved it! :)

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    1. i know exactly what you're talking about! I wanted to become an archeologist, too! I thought it is the most interesting thing to do in the whole wide world! :)

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  5. I love this post! I went to art school and my favorite thing to learn about in art history was Egypt. So very fascinating. Your blog is lovely. I'm your new follower!
    -Jillian
    http://epic-thread.blogspot.com

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  6. I have always been fascinated by Ancient Egypt! I assume it's all the stylistic differences but it always interested me more than ancient Greece or Rome (not that I'm not fascinated by those as well!). These photos are incredible and I am super jealous you have your own personal Egyptologist! Lucky lady!

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