Treasure hunting, museum exhibits and souvenirs: The history and dispersal of sekhmet statues in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Draper-Stumm, Tara 2024. Treasure hunting, museum exhibits and souvenirs: The history and dispersal of sekhmet statues in the 19th and 20th Centuries. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Amenhotep III (reigned c. 1390-1352 BC) (Shaw 2000, 481), who ruled Egypt during the New Kingdom, is known today for the Colossi of Memnon, which dominate the west bank at Luxor, Egypt. These quartzite statues once marked the entrance to one of the largest temples ever built in Egypt. It was the focal point for Amenhotep III’s first Sed Festival in year 30 of his reign. The temple was embellished with hundreds of statues of the king and the gods, ranging from colossal statues of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye to anthropomorphic figures of gods and goddesses, sphinxes lining processional routes. Central to the decorative scheme were up to 1,000 granodiorite statues of the goddess Sekhmet, which are thought to have been arranged within the temple’s peristyle court. The story of their dispersal from the temple, beginning in the reign of Ramesses II, a process accelerated in the wake of a devastating earthquake between 1200 BC and 900 BC, offers insight into royal and religious practices extending into the later period of Egyptian history (Karakhanyan et al. 2014, 43). These statues also provide valuable information on the early history of Egyptology and collecting. Following the invasion of Egypt by Napoleon in 1798, Sekhmet statues began to appear in Europe in substantial numbers, entering museums and private collections. Recent excavations near the Colossi and at the Mut temple, where hundreds of Sekhmet statues survive in situ, has made a re-assessment of the statues removed from Egypt highly relevant for developing a fuller understanding of what survives in Egypt. Through investigating the dispersed statues it is possible to consider both the fascinating history of the reign of Amenhotep III and his Sed Festival, at which he was transformed into the sun god, but also the development of Egyptological collections from the 19th century to the present day.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects:	A General Works > AM Museums (General). Collectors and collecting (General) C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CC Archaeology D History General and Old World > DT Africa N Fine Arts > NB Sculpture
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	3 January 2025
Date of Acceptance:	18 December 2024
Last Modified:	03 Jan 2025 16:18
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/174976

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