Makers of Ancient Egypt to be hailed in Cambridge exhibition

"A bald, seemingly topless man leans down, stubble littering his chin, a mallet in one hand and a chisel in the other. This crude drawing on limestone is not what you would traditionally associate with Ancient Egypt, but it is as enlightening, in its way, as the golden funerary mask of King Tutenkhamun, for example, or the famous Nefertiti Bust."

"Many exhibits will highlight the sheer technical prowess, and extraordinary patience, that these ancient craftspeople possessed. The decoration on the front of one mummy board-belonging to an overseer of craftspeople called Nespawershefyt (around 1000BC)-would have taken months to complete, with its images and inscriptions carefully painted on with the sharpened stem of a rush. Meanwhile, a glass bottle in the form of a bunch of grapes, on loan from"

An exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge brings ancient Egyptian craftspeople into focus, presenting jewellery, ceramics, stonework and other objects from major collections such as the British Museum and the Berlin State Museums. Objects span roughly six millennia, with a core range from about 4,500 to 1,800 years ago. Displays emphasize technical skill and patient workmanship, including a mummy board whose painted images required months of fine work using a sharpened rush stem. Glass production is identified as an Egyptian craft through finds of workshops at Amarna, and complex techniques like wrapping molten glass around mud and metal are highlighted.

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