The topic I chose for our 3rd Curation is the Nile and Newcomers: A Fresh Installation of Egyptian Ptolemaic Art. This collection is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It focuses on artwork and important personal belongings that came out of Egypt during the Ptolemaic period. It's feature display is Imhotep's Book of the Dead, a 70+ foot papyrus scroll, as well as statues, inlays from shrines, and a mummy containing canine bones.
These artifacts were arranged in their collection in two different sections. The first focused on the architecture of the period, showcasing many different buildings from the centers of Egyptian towns, many of these being temples (2021). The second section focuses on artwork of important individuals from the period, or art made for them personally. The artifacts were arranged this way to express the texture of the period (2021). The pieces themselves are described in a very informative way, giving the specific dimensions, as well as how to artifact came into the museum's collection.
Not only are the artifacts all from the Egyptian Ptolemaic period, but another thing many of them have in common is that they are related in some way to royalty or important figures. For example, there are many sculptures of the heads of these individuals, such as Ptolemy III, as well as an un-named king from the period, pictured below.
(2021). Metmuseum.org. https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2016/egyptian-ptolemaic-art-installation
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