![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonYesterday was the long awaited visit to Philly for the exhibit. It was not quite what I expected, but definitely worth the trip.
First off, the gold death mask used in the advertising is not part of the traveling exhibit. I learned this from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seamstrix early on, but it didn't put me off - as long as there were at least a few of Carter's "marvelous things" I'd be happy.
In addition, I was surprised that about the first half of the exhibit was "backstory" - artifacts of Tut's predecessors (Akhenaten, a couple of Amenhoteps and Thutmosises and their wives) and an overview of ancient Egyptian religion and the Aten heresy. One the one hand, I wanted to see the shiny, on the other, I found putting Tutankhamun's tomb in historical context valuable (even with my casual interest in the subject I can never remember what pharoah came before who, etc.).
I was not disappointed :) Many of the artifacts were those I'd seen in books for years (specifically this and this), and it was exciting to see the genuine articles (relatively) up close and in three dimensions! Many objects were displayed in free-standing cases so it was possible to get on all sides of an object, and close enough to imagine how the surfaces might feel (gloopy dried resin, smooth metal, rough wood...)
The last 5 rooms were all from the tomb, and many of the objects were in fantastic shape, and I would have been curious to know how much preservation and reconstruction (if any) was done. In particular the condition of the wooden objects was astoundingly good (including a couple of chairs that looked like they were made 30 rather than 3,000 years ago). I'd also love to know more about fabrication: how some of the objects were gilded to get a "gradation" effect (or, at all), what the "gesso" and "faience" were made of specifically.
Perhaps this is covered in the catalog - I didn't pick it up due to expense and not wanting to carry it around all day (Alibris is my friend :P)
Probably due to the timed entry, the exhibit wasn't too crowded. There were a lot of kids (some not well behaved, unfortunately), but it was in a science museum, so this was to be expected. Besides, I saw one cute little girl who was being carried through the exhibit by her dad - just like I was 30 years ago, and that just sort of tickled me :)
Other: the weather was cold and windy, and Philly got a lot more snow than here, slippery and slushy, so keeping my footing and trying to avoid puddles (DC must have shipped Philly some spare potholes) was a fairly good workout and my legs still ache somewhat. I set D. to planning travel and parking earlier in the week and he did an excellent job; we got there early and he found a most excellent cheesesteak joint for lunch afterwards :)
All in all, a grand day out, but the weather was crap. Had it been warmer/less damp I might have pushed to hit the Amarna exhibit at U. Penn. or the Mutter or something but wrangling parking and wading through snow again would have been just... too much. As it was I was tired enough to come home and have energy to do little else but read.
First off, the gold death mask used in the advertising is not part of the traveling exhibit. I learned this from
seamstrix early on, but it didn't put me off - as long as there were at least a few of Carter's "marvelous things" I'd be happy.In addition, I was surprised that about the first half of the exhibit was "backstory" - artifacts of Tut's predecessors (Akhenaten, a couple of Amenhoteps and Thutmosises and their wives) and an overview of ancient Egyptian religion and the Aten heresy. One the one hand, I wanted to see the shiny, on the other, I found putting Tutankhamun's tomb in historical context valuable (even with my casual interest in the subject I can never remember what pharoah came before who, etc.).
I was not disappointed :) Many of the artifacts were those I'd seen in books for years (specifically this and this), and it was exciting to see the genuine articles (relatively) up close and in three dimensions! Many objects were displayed in free-standing cases so it was possible to get on all sides of an object, and close enough to imagine how the surfaces might feel (gloopy dried resin, smooth metal, rough wood...)
The last 5 rooms were all from the tomb, and many of the objects were in fantastic shape, and I would have been curious to know how much preservation and reconstruction (if any) was done. In particular the condition of the wooden objects was astoundingly good (including a couple of chairs that looked like they were made 30 rather than 3,000 years ago). I'd also love to know more about fabrication: how some of the objects were gilded to get a "gradation" effect (or, at all), what the "gesso" and "faience" were made of specifically.
Perhaps this is covered in the catalog - I didn't pick it up due to expense and not wanting to carry it around all day (Alibris is my friend :P)
Probably due to the timed entry, the exhibit wasn't too crowded. There were a lot of kids (some not well behaved, unfortunately), but it was in a science museum, so this was to be expected. Besides, I saw one cute little girl who was being carried through the exhibit by her dad - just like I was 30 years ago, and that just sort of tickled me :)
Other: the weather was cold and windy, and Philly got a lot more snow than here, slippery and slushy, so keeping my footing and trying to avoid puddles (DC must have shipped Philly some spare potholes) was a fairly good workout and my legs still ache somewhat. I set D. to planning travel and parking earlier in the week and he did an excellent job; we got there early and he found a most excellent cheesesteak joint for lunch afterwards :)
All in all, a grand day out, but the weather was crap. Had it been warmer/less damp I might have pushed to hit the Amarna exhibit at U. Penn. or the Mutter or something but wrangling parking and wading through snow again would have been just... too much. As it was I was tired enough to come home and have energy to do little else but read.
