Egyptian textile at Norwich Museum investigated
British Museum Blog (Faye Kalloniatis)
The rather unprepossessing museum storage box with its crumpled heap of ancient linen, had sat in the Norwich Castle stores for nearly a century. I became aware of it in 1999 when the Castle Museum was being refurbished and John Taylor, from the British Museum, had come to help with the Egyptian material.
He, as an expert, was greatly taken by the shroud – even from the little he could see of it in its creased state. But it wasn’t until a couple of years ago, when I started working on the Egyptian collection, that I remembered this small box and its contents.
The linen was clearly worth investigating – and the British Museum thought so too. So, happily, the project to conserve and study the shroud got underway.
As part of that I have had the fascinating task of piecing together the history relating to how the shroud came into the Norwich Castle collection. The story is an interesting and absorbing one.
- The Future Of The Norwich Shroud
British Museum (Faye Kalloniatis) Well, this will be the final blog entry for the Norwich shroud and what a way we’ve come over the past few months As the project got underway, one highlight followed another. The first was the initial unrolling, when...
- Conserving The Norwich Shroud
British Museum (Melina Plottu) As an intern in the textile studio of the British museum, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work on the Norwich shroud conservation project. This began in January, and I have been working with the team since...
- More On The Norwich Shroud - Ancient Egyptian Spells For A High-ranking Lady
British Museum (John Taylor) In the last few weeks the shroud of Ipu has given up more – but not all – of its secrets. A close comparison of the piece belonging to Norwich Castle Museum with a photograph of the portions in the Cairo Museum has shown...
- Opening Up The Norwich Shroud
British Museum (Deborah Phipps) Deborah Phipps is conservator, Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service (NMAS). Another fascinating installment, with some more great photos. This is the latest in a series of posts about the unfolding of the Norwich shroud,...
- More Re The Norwich Shroud
British Museum (Monique Pullan) The shroud arrived in the Organics Conservation studios at the British Museum last week, and the project has now begun in earnest. Accompanied by Jonathan Clark and Deborah Phipps, conservators from Norfolk Museums and...