Egyptian Collection

Black granite libation bowl, late 18th or early 19th Dynasty (c. 1400–1200 BCE).

Glencairn Museum’s Egyptian collection began in 1878, when Bishop William Henry Benade (1816–1905), chancellor of the Academy of the New Church, and John Pitcairn (1841–1916), one of the Academy’s founders, purchased about 1,300 objects from Rodolfo V. Lanzone, an Italian Egyptologist who worked at the Egyptian Museum in Turin. Benade wrote at the time, “these things will make the beginning of a Museum for the Academy.” He was especially interested in the religious significance of the collection, which includes statuettes of gods and goddesses and a wide variety of magical amulets.

The Lanzone collection came to Glencairn in the early 1980s from the former museum of the Academy of the New Church across the street. Most of the larger works now at Glencairn Museum—such as reliefs and freestanding sculptures—were acquired in the 1920s and 1930s by Raymond Pitcairn (1885–1966). Highlights include an Old Kingdom limestone “spirit” door from the tomb of a priest who served King Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid; a colossal limestone head of a Ptolemaic Period priest; and a black granite libation bowl from the New Kingdom. Used for pouring out liquid offerings to the gods, this bowl is exceptionally well preserved.

In the Egyptian gallery, many objects are grouped by themes, such as Egyptian Gods, Egyptian Mythology, Daily Life, and Mummy Magic. Two miniaturized dioramas illustrate how the ancient Egyptians viewed the afterlife. One diorama, The Embalmer’s Art: Mummy, Myth, Magic, depicts an embalmer’s workshop from the end of the New Kingdom. Another diorama, The Judgment of the Dead, illustrates the weighing of the heart, with the jackal-headed god Anubis leading the deceased to a balance scale, while Osiris watches from his throne.

*The Embalmer's Art: Mummy, Myth, Magic*, portrays a large embalmer’s workshop from the end of the New Kingdom.

Read about the Egyptian collection in Glencairn Museum News: