Channels: Ancient ArtEgyptian ArtExhibitions
To Live Forever explores the ancient Egyptian belief that death was an enemy that could be beaten through proper preparation. Many objects used in ancient Egyptian burials had been recycled from a previous owner. Hear from the staff of the Brooklyn Museum, who worked hard to prepare the magnificent, twice-used coffin of Weretwahset, from the Brooklyn Museum's world-renowned collection, for display in To Live Forever.
My favorite object in this exhibition is the coffin that belonged actually to two different women. It was originally made for a woman named
Weretwahset at the beginning of the nineteenth dynasty. It was then used again at the end of the twentieth dynasty.
This is the hieroglyphs that were repainted for the second owner, and this is the painting for the original owner. So, you can see there is a difference in that,
these are in color and these are in black and white.
It has been in our storerooms since 1937 and we never had the opportunity, until now, to clean and restore it.
There are certain areas where there are losses that make the image less readable. We worked with Ed Bleiberg, the curator, a lot in terms of determining how far to take an
in-painting or compensation of these losses. What the public should be able to see is an object that's ancient, yet readable,
they can understand the aesthetics and not be fooled into thinking that there's something there that wasn't originally there.
Visitors will find that it's a really spectacular object.
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