The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is hosting 'Made in Ancient Egypt', an exhibition that reveals tantalising new details about the real lives of artists and craftspeople in ancient Egypt. It takes visitors beyond the death mythology and into the realm of magic, showcasing the skill and individuality of the 'makers' behind the golden coffin portraits and pharaohs' statues.
The exhibition introduces a rare artistic genius from ancient Egypt: a sculpted head of a girl in red quartzite, with a tiny face and a huge bald dome, out of proportion with her delicate features. This masterpiece comes from the reign of Akhenaten (c. 1353–1336 BC), a period of radical cultural change. Found at his capital Amarna, near the workshop of the star sculptor Thutmosis, it is likely by the same artist who created the famous bust of Nefertiti—the ancient Egyptian Leonardo.
While most ancient Egyptian art was created for tombs and had magical purposes, individual creators still made their mark. A frieze between two gods bears an artist's scratched name, and a clay 'soul house' has a handprint. Documents hint at reasonable working conditions: a record from the Valley of the Kings shows the entire workforce took two days off for a colleague's funeral, likely a beer-fuelled sendoff.
Skilled craftspeople, known as 'hemut', could achieve success and fancy funerals, passing down talents like bronze working through families. The exhibition includes a model showing how a sphinx should be made, but ultimately it is a quest for the hands that carved the Great Sphinx—a quixotic endeavour. It succeeds in making visitors admire the sheer skill: wooden chairs with animal-feet legs, a glass bottle in the shape of a bunch of grapes, and an exquisite copy of the Book of the Dead.
