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22-09-2015, 14:20

History of the Non-Excavated Objects

The catalogue of objects associated with Wady Di is presented in Chapters 5—7, with one consecutive series of bold numbers, 1—324.



Most of the catalogued items are traceable to Mohammed Mohassib, the Luxor dealer who was identified as their purchaser shortly after the robbery (Doc. 10, pp. Sjf). Knowing that the scattered objects from the robbed tomb would be divided piecemeal unless carefully pursued, and having found a few beads while examining the tomb under permit, Howard Carter acquired the majority of objects of the Catalogue in local shops with the financial backing of Lord Carnarvon, for whom Carter would soon begin excavations in the Valley of the Kings (James 1992: 154—8, i84f, i88f; James 1991; Reeves and Taylor 1992; Strudwick 2001).



Besides Mohammed Mohassib, other dealers are known to have had connections to the find or objects in the Catalogue:



Jusef Hassan of Luxor (Fig. 20): a silver stopper from 13—5; three faience bangles, no doubt 45—7;



Callender’s piriform jar 59; the top of cosmetic jar 96; a silver duck head, 164; and various elements and beads;



Mohareb Todros of Luxor: in the MMA, 21.5 cm of granular beads, 1921; 198 inches of beads,



1922; one lapis and thirty carnelian barrel beads, and four, fifteen-bead gold spacers, all from feline armlets, 1922. In Berlin, nine rosettes, in 1925 (118). Seen by Keimer before 1949, gold acacia-seed beads: probably to be identified with 321-2;



Mahmoud Mohassib of Luxor, son of Mohammed;



Mahmoud Mansour of Luxor: starting in 1927—28, “false” rosettes (according to Keimer, see p. 289. below), probably 288;



Nicholas Tano of Cairo: stone vase 48, in 1920;



Maurice Nahman of Cairo: stone vase 80, 1920; sixty-nine rosettes (including some thought then to be forgeries, probably 283—7); nineteen inlaid gold pendants from collars, “forged or doctored,” 1921 (probably drop pendants 296—7). Note also Lansing’s recording of rosettes in Cairo, December 1916 (Doc. 19, p. 36) that are now considered modern;



“Blanchard, Tano & ?” of Cairo: 20.0 cm, 38.0 cm, and 19.i cm strings of granular beads purchased by Lily Place, see Documents 26, 32—3 (pp. 38, 43); 154-5, 158—9.



Some items were acquired from Qurna residents: the bottom of ointment jar 87 in 1917; a rosette in 1925; and four nefers and two palmettes in 1925.



The source of some items is not known, however, for example the three vessels purchased by Hoffman Philip, an American member of the diplomatic service visiting Egypt in the late teens (Doc. 22, p. 37: 58, 63, 84), and beads and elements acquired by Captain Edward George Spencer-Churchill (162). Between 1927 and 1949, Ludwig Keimer saw numerous melon beads, rosettes, inlaid drops, elements of palmette and nefer shape, and a gold stall, presumably in Luxor (Keimer 1949).



The MMA purchased its holdings on the open market over a period of eighty years, with the exception of the canopic jars and some stone and silver vessels that Ambrose Lansing bought for the MMA while in Egypt, exporting them with excavated items and other purchases through the Cairo Museum. The early purchases as well as those of 1958—88 are mainly traceable to Mohammed Mohassib and Mohareb Todros. The source of 117—8 is probably the same. In 1956, the MMA deaccessioned four canopic jars to Dr. Herbert Kalmanoff (2—3, 6, 8) and piriform jar 67 to the Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables.



Some items earlier associated with the tomb have not been located and will not appear in the various parts of the Catalogue. These are:



One small amethyst acacia-seed bead (Keimer 1949: 137);



Seven stone vessels that the MMA purchased but did not receive in shipment:



P 25, travertine piriform jar, H, 21.0, badly broken, with two names of Tuthmosis III (Winlock 1948; 12, 54);



P 26, serpentinite piriform jar, H, 20.2, with cartouche of Tuthmosis III (Winlock 1948: 12, 54); P 27, travertine krater with strap handles, H, 17.5, broken and restored (Winlock 1948; 12, 54, 63); P 28, travertine jug, H, 19.0 (Winlock 1948: 12, 54, 63);



P 63, 64, two large travertine vessels, one inscribed;



P 65, a large serpentinite vessel, inscribed Tuthmosis III; one pair of gold bracelets, each hinged at one side and fastened at the opposite side with a disk-shaped clasp, the name and title of a wife inscribed on the circumference (Winlock 1948; 33); half a dozen finger and toe stalls (Winlock 1948: ii);



One sistrum reported by a local resident, gold, about 20.0 H, the handle papyriform with Hathor heads, the upper part of naos form with crossbars (Winlock 1948: 10, 49).



Some items reported to have been in the tomb, however, may never have existed:



Six large gold beads, inscribed (Winlock 1948: 10);




One gold bowl with frieze of frogs around rim, reported to Ernest Mackay (Doc. ii, p. one lapis vase with gold handles, reported to Mohammed Chaban (Doc. 3, pp. 3of).



 

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