Introduction

Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection accompanies the exhibition at Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum, on view from February 3 through August 6, 2023. The exhibition explores what ancient objects can tell us about daily life, sacred life, and the afterlife, and the power of works of art to educate, engage, and inspire. The Senusret Collection was gifted to the Michael C. Carlos Museum by the Georges Ricard Foundation in 2018. Over the last four years, museum staff collaborated on conservation projects, technical and scholarly studies, faculty and student research, and methods of object analysis. The 165 objects highlighted in the catalog tell compelling stories about the humanity of Egypt's ancient past and how, through collaboration and learning, these objects enrich our present.

The volume begins with an essay about the history of the Senusret Collection and Georges Ricard’s dedication to public education and outreach. Georges Ricard named his collection after the refined works found in the pyramid worker’s village of Hetep-Senusret. The essay traces the collection’s travels during the mid-twentieth century from Monaco to Santa Barbara, CA, to the world wide web, and how it educated scholars, students, and the interested public around the world. The essay “Daily Life in the Worker’s Village of Hetep-Senusret (Lahun),” after which the Senusret Collection was named, illustrates the types of objects one might find in a worker’s village and what they reveal about everyday life, sacred life, and life eternal. In “The Good Burial,” Rune Nyord looks at the broader social context of the tomb and its belongings, making the distinction that tomb offerings, decoration, and the rites that accompanied them were intended to make gods and ancestors present in their shrines and available for interaction. Jonathan Elias’s essay about the mummies of Taosiris and Padibastet highlights the collaboration between Dr. William Torres from Diagnostic Radiology at Emory University Hospital, Mimi Leveque, consulting conservator, and the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium. Elias presents the results of the mummies’ CT scans and how they reveal information about health, society, and beliefs in ancient Egypt. In “Reconciling Restorations,” conservators Renee Stein, Brittany Dinneen, and Kaitlyn Wright examine the complicated histories of object care and how they affect preservation strategies. They look at issues of modern restringing of faience beads, previous fillings, repainting, and the role of conservation in an object’s history. In the last essay, Emory PhD student Emily Whitehead reveals how an ancient Egyptian model boat is a modern pastiche of at least three ancient Egyptian model vessels. She also discusses the history of pastiche vessels that were acquired in the market and from excavated contexts. Emily conducted this analysis as a fellow of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Emory University’s Mellon Fellowship in Object-Centered Curatorial Research.

The exhibition catalog is divided into three thematic sections: “Daily Life in Ancient Egypt,” “Sacred Life,” and the “Afterlife.” Catalog entries explore daily life activities such as sculpting and writing, grooming, jewelry, everyday amulets, medical instruments, and heka (creative power). “Sacred Life” surveys the agency of artworks and artifacts, and how they navigated the realm between humanity, the king, and the gods. “The Afterlife” examines ancient Egyptian burial objects and how they secured the transformation and needs of the dead in the hereafter. Among the individual entries is the coffin assemblage of the priestess of Osiris, Taosiris; coffin lids and cartonnage; and models, funerary figurines, amulets, and other burial goods.

The catalog and exhibition of “Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection” are due to the combined efforts of so many selfless and talented individuals. First and foremost, I would like to thank the Ricard family for entrusting the Michael C. Carlos Museum with the Senusret Collection. In 2018, a team of noted international Egyptologists consulted with the Ricard family, who chose the Michael C. Carlos Museum out of many public museums as the Senusret collection’s future home.

I am grateful to the authors who researched and wrote this volume's wonderful essays and catalog descriptions. Thanks to Rune Nyord, Jonathan Elias, Renee Stein, Brittany Dinneen, Kaitlyn Wright, Tasha Dobbin-Bennet, Emily Whitehead, and Tyler Holman. Sandra Still and James Spinti expertly edited and proofread the manuscript. And, I am indebted to Chris Diaz, Quire specialist extraordinaire, who patiently brought to life this beautiful catalog, and Billie Jean Collins, director of Lockwood Press. And a very special thanks to colleagues Katya Barbash, Elena Bowen, Betsy Bryan, Xavier Droux, Marsha Hill, Salima Ikram, Janice Kamrin, Peter Lacovara, Stefania Mainieri, Gay Robins, Deborah Schorsch, John H. Taylor, who steered me in the right direction while I researched the objects in the collection.

Several objects benefited from Renee Stein’s “Issues in Conservation” and “Technical Art History” classes, as well as the expertise of past object conservators Mimi Leveque, Kathryn Etre, and Jessica Betz Abel. Other works of art profited from the research talents of Emory graduate students and postgraduates Amy Butner, Tyler Holman, and Emily Whitehead. Indiana University Bloomington Egyptology’s team used photogrammetry and reflectance transformation imagery (RTI) to record many Senusret artifacts during the summer of 2021, in order to create three-dimensional models and texture-mapped images. I am especially appreciative of Stephen Vinson, Amanda Ladd, and Mohamed Abdelaziz for making this possible. Special thanks to Emory University Hospital (EUH) staff for conducting the CT scan on the mummies of Taosiris and Padibastet on February 20, 2020: presiding radiologist, Dr. William Torres; CT tech supervisor, Derik Close; and return handling, Heather Harper. Geologist Dr. Bill Size in the Department of Environmental Studies at Emory University typed many of the stones in the Senusret collection.

For the exhibition, I am eternally thankful for the Michael C. Carlos Museum’s amazing staff. They include the design crew, Joe Gargasz, Dave Armistead, Bruce Raper, and Ciel Rodriguez; the conservation team, Renee Stein, Brittany Dinneen, and Kaitlyn Wright; the collections department, Todd Lamkin, Stacey Gannon-Wright, and Dr. Annie Shanley; education and programming, Katie Erickson, Alice Vogler, and Ana Vizurraga; the departments of budgeting, development, and communication, Lisa Fields and Tracy Strickland; Jennifer Kirker, Jennifer Long, Elizabeth Ricardi, and Cassidy Steele; and Emily Knight; Brent Tozzer, and Mark Burrell in the Carlos Museum’s bookstore; and a special shout-out to the coordinator of everything, Jim Warren. In administration, thanks to the Associate Director for Public Programs Elizabeth Hornor, and Carlos Museum Director Henry Kim. I owe a huge debt to past museum staff including Bonnie Speed, Catherine Howett Smith, Bonna Westcoat, and Sarah Jones. And a huge thank you to the museum’s hardworking security team, Bernard Potts, Nick Miles, Shanta Murphy, Michelle Knox, and April Wilmer. And finally, I am indebted to my friends, many of whom are mentioned here, and supporters including Sandra Still and Emily Katt, James B. Miller Jr., Jim and Sally Morgens, Clara and John O’Shea, and Ira and Linda Rampil.

Thank you all.

Melinda Hartwig
Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubia, and the Near Eastern Art