Community: bloggers@brooklynmuseum

We’ve got something very cool going on!  Follow us on Twitter today to get our updates—we are going to be tweeting live as curators and conservators take four mummies in the Museum’s collection to the North Shore University Hospital for CT scanning.

Update: we are using hashtag #mummyCT:

Our Tweets and with everyone!

Thothirdes may be familiar to those of you who have seen her on display in the 3rd floor Egyptian Galleries.  She was deinstalled and brought up to the lab this week so that we could prepare her for a trip to the hospital.  Fortunately, her mummy seems to not have been disturbed, and she is a good candidate for the CT (computed tomography scanning) we are planning on doing at North Shore University Hospital.

X-radiographs were take in the 1930’s of this mummy.  Unfortunately, those radiographs were made using nitrate based filmed and are no longer in a state of preservation to be of use.

When we removed her body from the coffin, the beautiful painting below was revealed.  The coffin, without the body, is now on back on display in the 3rd floor galleries.  You can come by and see this painting until the end of June when we plan on returning Thothirdes’s body to her coffin.

In addition to the painting on the inside, her coffin is painted on all sides, including the underside as seen here in this image.

We look forward to sharing the information about Thothirdes that might be revealed in the CT scans.

Lisa Bruno

Objects Conservator

In addition to continuing to x-ray the animal mummies,  the Conservation Lab has started preparing to send several human mummies to North Shore University Hospital. Some readers of this blog may remember that we took the Mummy Demetrius to North Shore for computed tomography or CT scanning before touring as part of the exhibition To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum.  Demetrius and this exhibition are currently at the Columbus Museum of Art, in Ohio.

The first step before traveling the mummies to the hospital is an examination to determine if they are stable and in a state of preservation that makes CT scanning worth the effort. This week, we examined one of the humans that has been in the museum since 1937.

The mummy and his coffin have been in storage, and neither the Curatorial Department nor the Conservation Lab had any previous record of the coffin having been opened in Brooklyn.

The lid of the coffin was sealed shut due to a previous mounting added when it was part of the Collection at the New York Historical Society.  The coffin was brought to the lab in order to document the condition and remove the lid.

Once we gained access to the interior, we found inside a mummy covered with a thick layer of dust, and evidence of unwrapping.

Through x-radiography, it was determined that the torso, although extant, was disturbed, and that the soft tissues were not likely present.  CT scans are very useful at looking at soft tissues, while traditional x-rays are sufficient when examining denser substances such as bones.

Kerith Koss, the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Objects Conservation pieced together images of the x-rays so that we have a better idea of the mummy’s overall state of preservation.

In consulting with the radiologists at the hospital, we have decided to not send this mummy for CT scanning, as there is likely not more information to be gained. However, while in the lab, he did get a much needed vacuuming. Stay tuned for more updates of this project.

Lisa Bruno

This past Saturday as part of programming for 1stfans at the Brooklyn Museum, I gave a presentation on the animal mummy research the Conservation Department is doing with the Museum’s Egyptian Curator Ed Bleiberg. The presentation was fun and interactive and gave members a chance to see some animal mummies up close and personal. The event was recorded and the video posted for 1stfans member who could not attend. Joining 1stfans is easy and inexpensive.

The Brooklyn Museum has a collection of approximately 60 animal mummies, many of which have never been completely cataloged. Pictured above is a young crocodile currently on display in the 3rd floor Egyptian Galleries. The purpose of the project is to photograph, and thoroughly examine the animals to get a better idea as to what the museum has in the collection. The examination includes determining how the mummy is made, identify materials including the resins used in mummification, taking x-rays, working with a veterinary radiologist on animal identification, and assessing the overall condition of the object.

Please look for more posts as the research continues.

Lisa

Like people, books have histories. Bookplates, inscriptions and marginal notes all tell us something about where the book has been and who owned it. The Brooklyn Museum’s Wilbour Library of Egyptology recently received a gift from the Museum’s Director of an 1885 Karl Baedecker’s guide to Egypt that contained a letter, a postcard and a business card and a very interesting story.

The letter, dated 1926, was written by Hammad Hassab, a dragoman (guide) employed by Thomas Cook & Sons in Cairo. The letter urged a former client to consider a return visit to Egypt. As an inducement, a post card of one of Cook’s new Nile steamers was included (pictured above). Otherwise, the letter was quite ordinary, but Mr. Hassab’s business card (pictured below) wasn’t. Most of the space on the card identifies Mr. Hassab as a survivor of the Titanic.

Luckily, Titanic Passenger lists are readily available on line and Mr. Hassab is listed among the First Class passengers. At the time, he was a servant employed by Henry Sleeper Harper and his wife, Abigail. Mr. Hassab was said to be a very handsome but mysterious man and a subject of some interest to other passengers. On the night of the disaster, he, the Harpers and their dog were safely evacuated in Lifeboat 3. The following morning, Mr. Hassab sent a Marconigram (a marconigram was an early version of a radio telegram) to his brother Said at the Mena House Hotel. It contained the terse message, “All safe.” More information about Mr. Hassib can be found here.

Almost immediately after the sinking, a legend developed that the Titanic was carrying a ‘cursed mummy’. The story is just a story but Mr. Hassab’s provides a genuine Egyptian connection to the Titanic. If it’s true that ninety per cent of the value of an object lies in the story behind it, Mr. Hassab’s business card is a valuable object, indeed.