Ernest Brummer and the Coffin of Nefer-renepet From Akhmim

Authors

  • Branislav Anđelković Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Serbia
  • Jonathan P. Elias AMSC Research, LLC, Carlisle

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21301/EAP.v8i2.11

Keywords:

Ernest Brummer, Nefer-renepet, Akhmim, coffin, Nut, Imentet, 30th Dynasty

Abstract

The coffin of Nefer-renepet was donated to the National Museum in Belgrade by Ernest Brummer (born in Sombor in 1881) in 1921. The coffin is a fine example of the artistry of the funerary industry of ancient Akhmim. Previous publications have classified this object as belonging to the 22nd-25th Dynasty or Ptolemaic period. The present analysis indicates that it dates to the period of the mid-4th century B.C., i.e. 30th Dynasty, based on stylistic comparisons, orthography and genealogical information from similar coffins in other collections. This stylistic/chronological phase is not well-represented numerically, and this makes Nefer-renepet’s coffin all the more important. The design characteristics of the phase broadly emulate those of the 26th Dynasty, but they are clearly distinguishable as belonging to a later era. Among the many distinctive aspects of Nefer-renepet’s coffin is the interior decoration of its lid, published here for the first time, showing the ‘gliding Nut motif with upward streaming hair’ accompanied by abbreviated texts derived from the Book of Day and Book of Night. The goddess represented on the coffin trough is Imentet, with the maat-feather on her head as a reduction of the full hieroglyphic symbol for West.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Anđelković, Branislav. 1991. Various Archaeological Objects of Near Eastern Provenience in Serbia. Journal of the Serbian Archaeological Society 7: 67-77. (Serbian, English summary)

Anđelković, Branislav. 1993. Remains of the Mummy from the National Museum of Belgrade: Preliminary Report. Journal of the Serbian Archaeological Society 9: 153-158. (Serbian, English summary)

Anđelković, Branislav. 1994a. First Results of the Analysis of the Mummy from the National Museum in Belgrade. Recueil du Musée National (Belgrade) 15-1: 153-159. (Serbian, English summary)

Anđelković, Branislav. 1994b. Contribution to the Recent History of the Coffins of Hennufer and Zeho. Istorijski glasnik (Belgrade) 1-2: 93–100. (Serbian, English summary)

Anđelković, Branislav. 1995. Pavle Riđički - the Donor of Belgrade Mummy: A Reconstruction of his Voyage to the Near East in 1888. Annual of Social History (Belgrade) 2/3: 329-343. (Serbian, English summary)

Anđelković, Branislav. 1997. The Belgrade Mummy. Recueil des travaux de la Faculté de philosophie (Belgrade) А-XIX: 91-104. (Serbian, English summary)

Anđelković, Branislav. 2002a. „Egyptian Antiquities in the Museums of Serbia“. In Egyptian Museum Collections around the World: Studies for the Centennial of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, eds. Mamdouh Eldamaty and Mai Trad, 39-50. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Anđelković, Branislav. 2002b. The Ancient Egyptian Collection in the National Museum of Belgrade. Journal of the Serbian Archaeological Society 18: 211-224. (Serbian, English summary)

Anđelković, Branislav. 2003. The Belgrade Mummy: Current Research and Future Possibilities. Journal of the Serbian Archaeological Society 19: 143-148.

Anđelković, Branislav. 2013. Hand in Hand with Politics: The Challenges of Egyptian Studies in Serbia. The Ancient Near East Today 2, accessed May 21, 2013, http://asorblog.org/?p=4490.

Anđelković, Branislav. in press. Formation and Composition of the Egyptian Collections in Serbia.

Anđelković, Branislav and M. Victoria Asensi Amorós. 2005. The Coffin of Nesmin: Construction and Wood Identification. Journal of the Serbian Archaeological Society 21: 349-364.

Anđelković, Branislav and Joshua Harker. 2011. Identity Restored: Nesmin's Forensic Facial Reconstruction in Context. Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology n.s. 6/3: 715-728.

Anđelković, Branislav and Emily Teeter. 2005. The Coffin of Nesmin: the Belgrade Mummy Identified. Recueil du Musée National (Belgrade) 18/1: 309-325.

Anđelković, Branislav, Ljiljana Anđus and Slaviša Stanković. 1997. The Entomological and Bacteriological Analyses of the Belgrade Mummy. Journal of the Serbian Archaeological Society 13: 379-384.

Basler, Adolphe and Ernest Brummer. 1928. L’Art Précolombien. Paris: Librarie de France.

Brech, Ruth. 2008. Spätägyptische Särge aus Achmim: Eine typologische und chronologische Studie. Aegyptiaca Hamburgensia 3. Gladbeck: PeWe-Verlag.

Brummer, Joseph. 1922. Works by Artists of Modern French School, also, Collection of African Negro Sculpture. New York: The Galleries of Joseph Brummer.

Brummer, Joseph. 1923. Exhibition of Paintings and Etchings by Anne Goldthwaite. New York: The Galleries of Joseph Brummer.

Brummer, Joseph. 1926. Brancusi. New York: The Brummer Gallery.

Brunner, Hellmut and Helmut Pitsch. 1984. „Ein Sarg aus Hierakonpolis“. In Studien zu Sprache und Religion Ägyptens 2: Religion zu Ehren von Wolfhart Westendorf, 1071-1094. Göttingen: Seminar für Aegyptologie.

Bruzelius, Caroline and Jill Meredith. 1991. The Brummer Collection of Medieval Art: Duke University Museum of Art. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Budge, Ernest. 1924. A Guide to the First, Second and Third Egyptian Rooms. London: British Museum.

Čuljković, Biljana, Branislav Anđelković, Oliver Stojković and Stanka Romac. 2000. PCR amplification of seven single copy nuclear genes from the Belgrade mummy. Archives of Biological Sciences 52/2: 77-81.

Doll, Susan K. 1978. Texts and Decoration on the Napatan Sarcophagi of Anlamani and Aspelta. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Brandeis University. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International.

Elias, Jonathan P. 1996. Examination of Three Egyptian Coffins in the Buffalo Museum of Science. (unpublished report prepared at the request of the Buffalo Museum of Science, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium)

Forsyth, William H. 1974a. The Brummer brothers: an instinct for the beautiful. Art News 73/8: 106-107.

Forsyth, William H. 1974b. „Acquisitions from the Brummer Gallery“. In The Grand Gallery at the Metropolitan Musum of Art, 1-5. New York: International Confederation of Dealers in Works of Art.

Gardiner, Alan H. 1978. Egyptian Grammar. Oxford: Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum.

Glumac, Dušan. 1963. Relief d'Ekhnaton à Zemun. Recueil des travaux de la Faculté de philosophie (Belgrade) 7-1: 21–29 (Serbian, French summary)

Graefe, Erhart. 1975. Fouilles de l’Assassif 1970-1975. Chronique d’ l’Égypte 50/99: 13-56.

Heckscher, William S. and Robert C. Moeller III. 1967. The Brummer Collection at Duke University. Art Journal 27/2: 180-190.

Hyam, Leslie A. 1949. The Notable Art Collection Belonging to the Estate of the Late Joseph Brummer I. New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc.

Janák, Jíří. 2010. Spotting the Akh: The Presence of the Northern Bald Ibis in Ancient Egypt and Its Early Decline. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 46: 17-31.

Johnston, William R. 1999. William and Henry Walters, the Reticent Collectors. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Junker, Hermann. 1910. Die Stundenwachen in den Osirismysterien nach den Inschriften von Dendera, Edfu und Philae. Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, phil.-hist. Kl. 54/1. Wien: Alfred Holder.

Kolarić, Miodrag. 1991. National Museum in Belgrade 1844-1944. Muzeološke sveske 4. Belgrade: National Museum. (Serbian, English summary)

Koller, Pierre and Isidor Kahane [eds.]. 1979. The Ernest Brummer Collection: I Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art; II Ancient Art. Zürich: Spink & Son and Galerie Koller.

Laszlo, Jennifer. 1981. The Brummer Brothers: A Contribution to Art in America. (unpublished manuscript)

Lee, John. 1858. Catalogue of the Egyptian Antiquities in the Museum of Hartwell House. [London]: W. M. Watts.

Lise, Giorgio. 1978. Museo Archeologico Raccolta Egizia. Milan: Electa Editrice.

N.N. 1921. Catalogue of the Amherst Collection of Egyptian & Oriental Antiquities: which will be sold by auction by Messers. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge. London: Dryden Press.

Oraovac, Đorđe. 1938. Stvarnost i umetnost. Umetnički pregled (Belgrade) 11: 342-345.

Panić-Štorh, Miroslava. 1997. „Ancient Egyptian Anthropoid Coffin from the National Museum in Belgrade“. In Mélanges d'histoire et d'épigraphie offerts à Fanoula Papazoglou, ed. Miroslava Mirković, 71-87. Belgrade: Faculté de Philosophie.

Perc, Bernarda. 1974. Spomeniki starega Egipta: razstava v Arkadah. Ljubljana: Društvo muzealcev Slovenije in Narodni Muzej v Ljubljani. (Slovenian, English summary)

Pettigrew, Thomas J. 1834. A History of Egyptian Mummies, and an Account of the Worship and Embalming of the Sacred Animals by the Egyptians; with Remarks on the Funeral Ceremonies of Different Nations, and Observations on the Mummies of the Canary Islands, of the Ancient Peruvians, Burman Priests, & c. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman.

Porter, Bertha and Rosalind L.B. Moss. 1973. Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings I, The Theban Necropolis 2. Royal Tombs and Smaller Cemeteries. Oxford: Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum.

Sander-Hansen, Constantin. 1937. Die Religiösen Texte auf dem Sarg der Anchnesneferibre. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard.

Schmidt, Valdemar. 1919. Levende og Døde I det Gamle Aegypten Album til ordning af Sarkofager, Mumiekister, Mumiehylstre o Lign. Copenhagen: J. Frimodts Forlag.

Schreiber, Gábor. 2011. “Early and Middle Ptolemaic Funerary Art at Thebes 306-88 BC”. In Proceedings of the Colloquium on Theban Archaeology at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, November 5, 2009, eds. Zahi Hawass, Tamás Bács and Gábor Schreiber, 105-140. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Sharpe, Samuel and Joseph Bonomi. 1858. The Triple Mummy Case of Aroeri-Ao, an Egyptian Priest: In Dr. Lee’s Museum at Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts.

Sotheby & Co. 1964. Catalogue of the Ernest Brummer Collection of Egyptian and Near Eastern Antiquities and Works of Art. London: Sotheby & Co.

Stuenkel, Isabel S. 2008. „Analyzing CAT-scans of a mummy: the amulets of Nesmin“. In Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists, University of the Aegean, Department of Mediterranean Studies, Rhodes, 22-29 May 2008: Abstracts of Papers, ed. Panagiotis Kousoulis, 238. Rhodes: Department of Mediterranean Studies,University of the Aegean.

Taylor, John H. 2003. „Theban Coffins from the Twenty-second to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty”. In The Theban Necropolis: Past, Present and Future, eds. Nigel Strudwick and John H. Taylor, 95-121. London: The British Museum Press.

Teja, Friedrich B., Margit Rowell and Ann Temkin. 1995. Constantin Brancusi 1876-1957. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Downloads

Published

2013-08-29

How to Cite

Anđelković, Branislav, and Jonathan P. Elias. 2013. “Ernest Brummer and the Coffin of Nefer-Renepet From Akhmim”. Etnoantropološki Problemi Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology 8 (2):565-84. https://doi.org/10.21301/EAP.v8i2.11.

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2013): Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology

Section

Other Humanities and Social Sciences

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Most read articles by the same author(s)