Introduction
The Middle Kingdom (11th to 13th Dynasty, ca. 2030 – 1640 B.C.)
constitutes one of Ancient Egypt’s outstanding epochs. Art, architecture
and literature flourished and reached a peak hardly surpassed in later
periods. A large number of rock-cut tombs, free-standing tombs
(mastabas) and other funerary structures testify to the high quality of
craftsmanship at that time. The overall concept of the tomb with its
symbolic allusions to self-representation had a decisive influence on
the scenes, the scene content and the distribution of representations of
the tomb owner. Middle Kingdom tomb decorations offer a wide variety of
complex and multi-layered information that is in the focus of our
research.
About Painted for Eternity (2019 – )
Decoration of Middle Kingdom Coffins from Beni Hassan – an Art Historical Case Study
Painted for Eternity is an interdisciplinary research project, conducted at the Institute of Egyptology in cooperation with the Vienna University Computer Center at the University of Vienna. The project is funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, project number P 31390-G25).
The project seeks to investigate the painted figurative decoration
of the Middle Kingdom box shaped coffins from an art historical
perspective. The cemetery at Beni Hassan – an important necropolis in
Middle Egypt with the largest set of coffins deriving from
archaeological excavations and covering a time span from the 11th
Dynasty up to the reign of Senwosret III or slightly later – has been
chosen for the present case study.
Beni Hassan (henceforth BH) was the burial place of the governors of
the 16th Upper Egyptian Nome whose rock-cut tombs are among the
best-known and best-preserved examples of Middle Kingdom private
funerary architecture. Below these impressive monuments of high-ranking
officials, scattered across the slope of the hill, the so-called lower
necropolis with tombs belonging to officials of lower ranks was
discovered, yielding a significant amount of coffins. These rather
simple shaft tombs, mostly without any superstructure, were excavated by
John Garstang during two archaeological seasons in the years 1902/03
and 1903/04 and published in 1907. Garstang uncovered almost 900 tombs,
of which about 20 were found intact. His monograph, although full of
flaws and lacking detailed descriptions of the individual tombs and the
burial equipment, is still an invaluable source of information on the
funerary customs of the middle class.
More than 50 BH coffins and coffin fragments are nowadays accessible
in museums all over the world representing the subject matter of the
present project. About 25 further coffins are (at least partially) known
from Garstang’s publication as well as from the excavation photographs,
which are kept at the Garstang Museum at the University of Liverpool.
Furthermore, there are at least seven canopic boxes from BH which are
equally important due to the presence of similar decorative patterns.
The self-contained character and accessibility of the coffin corpus,
the circumstances that allow to take their context into account, as
well as the immediate vicinity of contemporary decorated tombs of the
upper class make BH a well-suited candidate for the envisaged project.
Project details
The project Painted for Eternity officially started on the 15th of February 2019 and will run four years.
Art historical domain
General
The main focus of the research will be an art historical analysis of
the decorative elements painted on the coffins – ornamental frames,
ornamental hieroglyphs, representations of wDA.t-eyes, architectural
elements including the false door and the palace façade, offering table
with associated piles of offerings, and object frieze. The study will
involve an in-depth analysis of their iconography including the
colouring, the layout, the elaboration of potential stylistic traits and
artistic developments as well as the identification of workshops or
artists. Special attention will be given to the so called object
friezes, their selection, positioning and arrangement. Subsequently, the
coffin decoration will be compared with the paintings in the Beni
Hassan tombs of high-ranking officials as well as with coffins from
other Middle Kingdom cemeteries.
Non-ornamental texts written in small hieroglyphics, cursive
hieroglyphics or hieratic script do not form part of the analysis. The
project’s intention is not the study of the inscriptions on the coffins
(neither a translation nor a philological discussion are attempted),
their content, however, will indeed be considered, especially with
regard to the labels provided in the object friezes.
Scientific Approach
The BH coffins and canopic boxes shall be subjected to the following art historical questions:
- What is the layout of the decoration of these coffins?
- How
were the particular decorative elements, such as the ornamental frames,
wDA.t-eyes, false doors, palace façades and offering tables rendered in
terms of shape, design, colouring, geometric patterns and other
features used?
- What observations can be made
with respect to the object friezes? Which objects were represented and
how (shape, colour, etc.)? Are there significant similarities or
differences in their rendering on individual coffins? Do the objects
conform to some rules (“decorum”) concerning their selection,
positioning and arrangement?
- What is the design of the ornamental hieroglyphs (palaeography)?
- Is
it possible to elaborate some stylistic traits and/or differentiate
between workshops or even individual artists? Was it usual for a coffin
to be decorated by one artist only or are there indications that several
persons were involved?
- Can the typologies and chronological developments established by Harco Willems and Günther Lapp be verified and refined?
- Comparison with the paintings in the BH rock-cut tombs
- Comparison with two- and three-dimensional representations of coffins
- Comparison with MK coffins from other necropolises
The quality of the documentation is imperative and makes the
photographic recording of the coffins crucial for an art historical
analysis. As a consequence, professional high-resolution photography
will be provided by the museums. For publication purposes, it is also
envisaged to prepare accurate line drawings in black and white (in Adobe
Illustrator or comparable vector graphic software) of selected details
of the coffin decoration. These will be especially needed for a
comparative analysis of the individual decorative elements.
It should be stressed, however, that it is not the project’s initial
intention to provide an exhaustive study, treatment and publication of
the entire coffins, i.e. the study of the technical details
(construction), the investigation of the material used (wood species,
grounding, pigments) or the technique of the painting. The aim is to
collect as many images as possible from the walls of these coffins in
order to enable a careful art historical analysis. It goes without
saying that crucial details will be checked against the originals in the
museums in order to reach valid conclusions.
The major output of the project shall be a monographic treatment of
the decoration of the BH coffins, based on the various research
questions outlined above.
Technical domain
General
The analysis will make use of the MEKETREpository, an extensive
database of Middle Kingdom tombs of officials, especially those at Beni
Hassan, which provides an invaluable source of information on the Middle
Kingdom art, and which resulted from the ‘MEKETRE Project’ and from the
project ‘From Object to Icon’, both of which were directed by the
applicant Prof. Dr. Peter-Christian Jánosi (FWF, P21571–G21 and
P25958–G21). Part of the present project shall cover its extension by
adding detailed records of the Beni Hassan coffins, and an update to
meet the FAIR Data principles and guarantee its future usability.
About From Object to Icon (2013 – 2018)
Visual Reflections on and the Designations of Material Culture in the Reliefs and Paintings of Middle Kingdom Tombs
From Object to Icon is an interdisciplinary research project, conducted at the Institute of Egyptology in cooperation with the research group Multimedia Information Systems at the University of Vienna.
It is based on the research that was initiated with the project MeKeTRE
(see below). The project is funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF,
project number P 25958).
The decorative programme of Middle Kingdom tombs offers a wealth of
themes and scenes all featuring numerous objects – artefacts – made or
given shape by humans and shown/used in various contexts. The project
deals with the assessment and study of these objects – their
three-dimensional “existence” compared to and contrasted with their
two-dimensional rendering in art. It seeks to answer the questions what
kind of objects were depicted to convey the meaning of certain processes
or actions, and most importantly how these objects were transformed
into images (icons). This research will be supplemented by a full
investigation of captions and object designations. The project’s third
part covers the extension of the MEKETREpository (developed in the
course of the MeKeTRE project) by utilising crowd sourcing technologies
that will allow scholars in the Egyptological domain to access
efficiently pre-processed data such as images and annotations.
Project details
The project From Object to Icon (‘Vom Vorbild zum Abbild‘) officially started on the 15th of November 2013 and will run three years.
Art historical domain
General
A large number of artefacts have survived from tombs and settlements
of the Middle Kingdom enriching our view of the material culture of
that period. Most of these artefacts are treated in archaeological
reports, museum or exhibition catalogues, or – to a lesser degree – are
dealt with in special monographs. In discussing Middle Kingdom
representations numerous scholars already drew attention to
three-dimensional artefacts which the depictions were intended to
illustrate, but only exceptionally are objects and tools discussed in
depth in relation to their two-dimensional representations. Isolated
objects – such as daggers (Petschel 2011), axes (Kühnert-Eggebrecht
1969) or clothes (Scheele 2005) – have been investigated one by one in
great detail, but comprehensive investigation of objects – their
depictions and the captions accompanying them – remains a desideratum.
The only major contribution in this connection is G. Jéquier’s book on
object friezes (1921), which is however outdated concerning both
lexicology and especially morphology of object designations.
Scientific Approach
The
confrontation of these two groups – the ‘material objects’ and images
of them – can be done on different levels: a) cultural remains
investigated by archaeology can be recovered in contemporaneous reliefs
and paintings, b) the terminology used to designate archaeological finds
can be adopted for their reproduction in art, c) the development and
the assumed function (‘Sitz im Leben’) of the discovered items can be
verified or modified by studying their images and vice versa. In
addition, the examination of the nomenclature used in the Egyptian
language to designate these objects also can help to classify them and
reveal their purpose. The study of the material culture, its
‘conversion’ into two-dimensional art as well as its designation in
written sources can contribute to the understanding of both the
preserved cultural remains and their representations in the tombs dated
to the same period.
It is envisaged to subject
the icons illustrated in art to archaeological as well as
art-historical questions crucial for their examination:
- Which artefacts were represented in art?
- How
are artefacts represented in two-dimensional art – the relation between
representation and reality? This transformation conveys to the viewer
the meaning and the very essence of an object (e.g., a particular type
of box) or a certain step in a manufacturing process (e.g.,
handicrafts).
- Was the development of material culture immediately reflected in contemporaneous art?
- Were some of the represented artefacts specific to a particular region?
- Does the range of use of artefacts correspond to the context represented in art and vice-versa?
- Are icons simply representations of the material culture or do they have a deeper symbolic meaning?
The
nomenclature of icons will be analysed in great detail, since many
scenes and icons are accompanied by captions explaining the actions
performed and naming the objects involved. The object designations as
found in captions will be analysed lexicologically and morphologically
to obtain additional information on the objects’ nature and their
specific features. The lexicological investigation will be based on and
supplemented with philological and linguistic research. The analysis of
what the Egyptians deemed important to express in words in connection
with an object and how depiction and caption complemented one another
will be equally essential for understanding the Egyptian mind.
Technical domain
General
For the assessment of icons, the system of the MEKETREpository,
which has been developed in the course of the MeKeTRE Project (see
below), will be extended by utilising crowd sourcing technologies (e.g.
Citizen Science, Game With a Purpose). This will provide scholars from
other institutions, as well as non-experts with some background in
Egyptology, with an easy-to-use platform where they can perform simple
repetitive but yet highly helpful tasks, such as uploading images
depicting relevant art items, providing annotations, or suggesting
inclusion of new thesaurus terms.
The expected results are twofold. First, we aim to acquire extensive
material (especially photographs) that has the potential to complement
the data already collected in the course of the MeKeTRE project. Second,
the methods developed and applied in the implementation and data
gathering process will constitute a contribution on their own, hopefully
providing valuable insights about quality assessment and integration of
data coming from citizen science projects.
About MeKeTRE (2009 – 2013)
The Evolution of Scene Content in Middle Kingdom Tombs
MeKeTRE was an interdisciplinary research project, conducted at Institute of Egyptology
in cooperation with the research group
Multimedia Information Systems at the
University of Vienna. It was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, project number P 21571).
MEKETRE focused on two main goals:
-
It sought to systematically collect, research, and study the
reliefs and paintings of Middle Kingdom tombs of Ancient Egypt. The
project targeted two- dimensional art of the Middle Kingdom (11th to
13th Dynasty, ca. 2040 – 1640 B.C.) and one of its main aims was to map
and elaborate the development of the scenes and their content in
comparison to the Old Kingdom.
-
The project's technical part covered the research-based development of the MEKETREpository,
a specialised software solution that supports the assessment,
organisation and analysis of the collected material and bibliographic
metadata. It supports the collaborative development of ontologies and
collaborative annotation on the available media material.
The copyright of the database will remain with the Institute of
Egyptology, University Vienna, which means that this institution is
entitled to host and develop it. The repository was made accessible to
scholars, teachers and students worldwide, thus giving an easy access to
updated information about scenes and scene details in Middle Kingdom
tombs.
Project details
The MeKeTRE project officially started on the 1st of November 2009 and ended in May 2013. The acronym MeKeTRE stands for "Middle Kingdom Tomb Relief Evolution".
The name derives from the owner of the famous early Middle Kingdom tomb
in Thebes (TT 280) and should signify the project's main focus, i.e.
the art of the Middle Kingdom (MK).
The project From Object to Icon (see above) is based on the MeKeTRE project and can be considered its second phase.
Art historical domain
General
The first comprehensive assessment of Middle Kingdom reliefs and
paintings were published by Luise Klebs in 1922 (Die Reliefs und
Malereien des mittleren Reiches. (VII.-XVII. Dynastie ca. 2475-1580 v.
Chr.), Heidelberg). Despite its deficiencies – acknowledged already by
the authoress herself – the book is to a certain extent still a valuable
reference in art historical research. In 1934 vol. IV of the
indispensable Porter and Moss (PM) edition was published (B. Porter, B.
Moss, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts,
Reliefs and Paintings. Vol. IV: Lower and Middle Egypt, Oxford)
assessing all the data pertaining to the important Middle Kingdom
cemeteries situated in Middle Egypt. Since then, no update of this
important egyptological tool has been accomplished, creating a
considerable gap in scientific research. From 1968 to 1978 Jacques
Vandier dedicated three volumes of his gigantic enterprise Manuel
d’archéologie égyptienne to the reliefs and paintings (Manuel
d’archéologie égyptienne. Vol. IV, Paris 1964; vol. V, Paris 1969; Vol.
VI, Paris 1978). In these books Vandier grouped the various scenes
systematically according to their contents and tried to trace
chronological developments in style and iconography. His study rests on a
much larger collection of scenes and depictions then Klebs’s work and
forms an essential basis in art historical research. Nevertheless, since
the appearance of the last volume (1978) dealing with the agricultural
scenes in tombs, no other comprehensive publication has been undertaken.
Scientific approach
It is widely accepted that Middle Kingdom funerary monuments were
carrying on the essential idea of tomb-building and decoration from the
Old Kingdom on a grand (sometimes even royal) scale. Nevertheless, the
decorative programme – scenes and specific scene details – although
modelled on Old Kingdom examples has changed considerably. A large
number of scenes and scene details characteristic in the tombs of the
Old Kingdom disappear during the Middle Kingdom, while others occur
which were not present in the former period or are carried on under
modified versions. These changes and innovations – although repeatedly
observed – have never been studied on a large scale.
Since change and innovation constitute a
fundamental part in understanding Middle Kingdom funerary culture, the
project MeKeTRE aimed to establish reliable criteria for the
interpretation of tomb decoration:
-
when and where do specific scenes (or scene details), motifs or larger
scene compositions appear or disappear,
-
when and where are they carried on under modified versions,
-
what is the deeper meaning of these new or modified scenes in
comparison to the Old Kingdom scenes, and
-
what is the specific connotation of these scenes in the overall scheme of
tomb decoration?
Besides the points outlined above key areas of the research targeted
also the topics like topographical and regional diversity, traditions,
schools and travelling artists, location and distribution of scenes,
stylistic analysis etc., which are crucial for the art of the Middle
Kingdom.
As all the points outlined above necessitate a comprehensive
assessment of the material, an exhaustive and easy-to-use tool such as a
bibliographical database for Middle Kingdom reliefs and paintings is a
fundamental device. Egyptology has witnessed an enormous increase in the
quantity of books, catalogues and periodicals dealing with the art of
the Middle Kingdom in the past 40 years. Consequently, the
bibliographical workload of any future research in this field has
accumulated considerably. One part of this Middle Kingdom research
project was therefore the establishment of a comprehensive assessment of
published and unpublished material in a database. In its final version,
the database should encompass all known scenes and scene details with
the entire bibliographical references from Middle Kingdom
two-dimensional art, thus creating a reliable source for the future
research.
Technical domain
General
To support the points outlined above, special software was
developed for organizing, analysing and sharing the collected multimedia
material (drawings, photos, text documents etc.) taken from the MK reliefs
and paintings. Approximately 20 general themes (theme complexes) were
selected for the MEKETREpository, into which fit approximately more than
hundred Middle Kingdom scenes-types and scene details which occur in
named and unnamed tombs throughout Egypt, and/or on blocks in
magazines, museums and private collections. The location of the individual
scenes of each specific scene-type is listed in the database, with data
such as the main archaeological references, site, cemetery, tomb number,
date, room, wall position etc. The general themes and the themes that derive
from the representations constitute the ‘upper layers’ of the database. The
themes are arranged according to the topics already provided in Klebs
(1922) and Vandier (1964 – 1978) and are widely known in the academic
world (for instance: marsh-related activities, desert and desert-related
activities, animal-husbandry, workshop activities, funerary rites etc.). From this
point onwards it is possible to ‘drill’ downwards to more refined levels, in
order to reach the details (icons) that occur in specific scene-types, and in
the specific motifs of each accessed scene-type (f.e. specific objects, fauna
and flora as well as mannerisms, figure-types and postures, etc.). From this
basic structure the researcher can access archaeological, bibliographical,
chronological, and geographical information about scores of Middle
Kingdom scenes and scene details throughout Egypt.
Scientific approach
Multimedia content within the MEKETREpository is organized by means
of one main taxonomy (in English), which embraces the various themes
depicted by the reliefs and paintings in a hierarchical fashion and multiple
additional concept schemes (ontologies / controlled vocabularies) that
further describe the content. The concept schemes that describe other
aspects of the multimedia content (not the depicted persons and things but
for example colours, location, age, etc.) are constantly developed in the
course of the project, using collaborative ontology building methods. The
applied concept schemes are technically represented using standardized
web based knowledge organization systems (KOS), in particular the Simple
Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL).
The implementation of the MEKETREpository software solution utilizes
industry-standard technology to ensure both reliability and maintainability.
Since the project is expected to develop beyond the three-year limit, it is
important to build on a well-proven foundation of software components and
a clean, well documented implementation. Therefore we decided to organize the
MEKETREpository in a 3-tier style which is very common for many
enterprise software solutions.
As stated above, the main focus lies in providing an easy-to-use interface to
the collected data. For the user browsing the MEKETREpository, an up-to-date
webbrowser (e.g. Firefox 3.0)
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