a group of art works in the style 133

A GROUP OF ART WORKS IN THE AMARNA STYLE

Tom Hardwick Worcester College, University of Oxford

Curators and collectors must exercise caution down. The figure’s head, right arm, left forearm when contemplating proposed acquisitions. I hope and hand, and calves and feet were missing; the that this brief discussion of a group of purport- stump of a sidelock of hair was preserved on the edly Egyptian objects will be of interest to Jack, right shoulder. The left leg was slightly advanced, to whose hospitality I have often been indebted. and a rectangular slab of negative space occupied This note is also intended to provide information the area beneath the left buttock. The object was regarding material that may yet appear on the art identified as an Egyptian alabaster figure of a royal market. woman from the Amarna Period, citing parallels in Philadelphia and Paris;2 the breakages to the The Acquisition of the “Amarna Princess” by left-hand side of the body indicated that it came Museum1 from a group of several figures. As such, it was acquired by Bolton through the auction In January 2002, the Keeper of at house Christie’s in September 2003 for £439,767, Bolton Museum was asked by a Mr. George the equivalent of £500,000 (c. $800,000) after tax Greenhalgh, from the Bolton suburb of Brom- breaks designed to encourage outstanding works ley Cross, to look at a “statue.” The piece (figs. of art to stay in Britain. The statue was purchased 1-4) was 51 cm high and carved from a creamy, with £75,000 given by the private charity The semi-translucent stone. Mr. Greenhalgh stated National Art Collections Fund, and £360,767 that his great-grandfather, a mill owner, had by the government-funded National Heritage acquired the statue in 1892 at the sale of Silver- Memorial Fund; the statue received assessments ton Park in Devon, the seat of the fourth Earl of for both groups.3 The remaining £4,000 was given Egremont (1785-1845), and produced a copy of by the Friends of Bolton Museum and another the sale catalogue to corroborate this. The statue Bolton trust. was part of lot 201, “eight Egyptian figures.” He The statue, dubbed the “Amarna Princess,” had no idea what the statue was, and had been was displayed in 2003 at an exhibition celebrat- offered a negligible sum by an antiques dealer for ing the centenary of the National Art Collections it as a garden ornament. The statue depicted a Fund, and returned to Bolton in January 2004. woman wearing a clinging, pleated garment that The Keeper of Egyptology retired in 2005 and was covered the body and left arm from the shoulders succeeded by the author at the end of that year.4

1 Unless otherwise stated, information comes from the 24-25, cat. 12; Pharaohs of the Sun, 218, cat. 49; C. Barbotin, author’s personal experience; discussions of the case with Les statues égyptiennes du nouvel empire: statues royals et members of the Art and Antiques squad of the Metropolitan divines 1 (Paris, 2007), 79-81, cat. 36. Police; and the relevant correspondence and object files at 3 M. Bailey, “How the Entire British Art World was Bolton Museum. The photographs reproduced here as figs. Duped by a Fake Egyptian Statue,” The Art Newspaper, May 5-12 and 14-16 were taken by the author thanks to the cour- 2006, 4; National Art Collections Fund, 2003 Review: The tesy of the Metropolitan Police. Annual Report of the National Art Collections Fund in its 2 Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Centenary Year (, 2004), 14, 66. Archaeology and Anthropology E14349, a headless lime- 4 Bailey, “Fake Egyptian Statue”; the statue was acquired stone figure of a clothed princess with upraised left hand too late to be published in the catalogue of the exhibition and long sidelock: PM VIII, 801-670-270; Do. Arnold, The “Saved! 100 Years of the National Art Collections Fund,” but Royal Women of Amarna: Images of Beauty from Ancient was briefly discussed in J. Fletcher, The Search for Nefertiti (New York, 1996), hereafter Royal Women ), 124, (London, 2004), 258, identified as a possible image of Mut- cat. 37; R.E. Freed, Y.J. Markowitz, and S.H. D’Auria, eds., nodjmet. For convenience, the title “Amarna Princess” is Pharaohs of the Sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamun used here to refer to the Bolton statue, even though formal (Boston, 1999, hereafter Pharaohs of the Sun), 219, cat. 50. titles are rarely used to identify Egyptian objects and the Paris, Louvre E 25409, a headless red quartzite figure of a statue is not of the Amarna Period. clothed princess with pendant right arm: Royal Women, 134 tom hardwick

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Figs 1-4. Bolton Museum 2004.7, the “Amarna Princess”: frontal, profile, and rear views. Images courtesy Bolton Council.