Sir Robert Mond's Bequest to the British Museum

Abstract

AT the meeting of the Trustees of the British Museum on May 13 the receipt was reported, under the terms of the will of the late Sir Robert Mond of the biggest and most important collection of Egyptian antiquities of all periods that has reached the Museum for at least fifty years. The bequest includes 260 objects, which fill gaps in the collections in every class of Egyptian art. Among the sculptures are an Eighteenth Dynasty three-quarter size head and shoulders of an official, a number of ushabtis, among which is one contained in a nest of model coffins, also belonging to the Eighteenth Dynasty, and a statuette in steatite, which is especially fine, of an official, Sunuri, of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Of the bronzes, one of the most remarkable, as well as one of the best, is an axe-head of the Eighteenth Dynasty, obviously intended for ceremonial or ornamental use. It is in the Syrian style, and has inserted within its margin an extremely beautiful group of a dog bringing down a wild goat. The bequest also contains jewelry, scarabs, pottery, copies of the Book of the Dead, and some examples of the now well-known Roman portraits from the Fayum. Of these, one represents a woman with a gold tiara and necklace, and is most vivid and convincing. Among other accessions to the Egyptian collections reported is an open-work scarab in gold of the Middle Kingdom c. 2700-2300 B.C.), which is of a type new to the Museum. It has been given by Prof. P. E. Newberry. Two fragments of Anglo-Saxon sculpture, the first to be received for some years, have been presented by Mrs. G. W. Haswell and Mr. F. T. Haswell. Both pieces are in red sandstone, and are North Mercian work of the ninth or tenth century A.D. from Chester or its neighbourhood. The finer fragment is ornamented on both faces and on the sides and end with an interlaced pattern of animals and scrolls, the chief figure being a large lion of barbaric design.