art of ancient egypt: middle kingdom€¦ · museum of fine arts, boston outreach programs art of...

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Outreach Programs

Art of Ancient Egypt: Middle Kingdom Teaching Resources

MFA Image Credits: Model of a procession of offering bearers ("The Bersha Procession"), 21.326; Front side panel of outer coffin of Djehutynakht

(detail), 20.1822; Model of a funerary boat, 21.893.

Overview: The Art of Ancient Egypt program explores funerary artworks discovered during the MFA’s

excavations of a Middle Kingdom tomb at Deir el-Bersha in Egypt. With these resources, teachers and

students can learn key concepts and continue their learning with additional activities and resources.

Grade Range: 4-8 Curriculum: Visual Arts, History and Social Science

Key Concepts & Vocabulary

Archaeology: The study of things that people made, used, and left behind. The goal of archaeology

is to understand what people of the past were like and how they lived. Scientists who study

archaeology are archaeologists.

Excavation: After finding a site to study, an archaeologist digs slowly and carefully. This work is

an excavation, or a “dig.”

Funerary Arts: Works of art created to be part of a funeral or burial.

Background Information for Teachers

In a 1915 excavation, archaeologists from the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Expedition discovered the entrance to a tomb at Deir el-Bersha in Egypt. Inside, the MFA team

found, in jumbled array, the largest burial assemblage of the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BC) ever

discovered. The tomb, designated Tomb 10A, was filled with the funerary equipment of a local

governor by the name of Djehutynakht and his wife, also named Djehutynakht. Robbers had

stolen the finest jewels but left everything else, including the severed (but nicely wrapped and

painted) head of one of the Djehutynakhts. The tomb contained four beautifully painted coffins,

one of which, the famous “Bersha coffin” (the outer coffin of the governor), is arguably the finest

painted coffin Egypt produced and a masterpiece of panel painting. The tomb also included

Djehutynakht’s walking sticks, pottery, canopic jar, and miniature wooden models that were

made for the burial but reflect life on Djehutynakht’s estate, including some 58 model boats and

nearly three dozen models of daily life such as individual shops for carpenters, weavers, brick-

makers, bakers, and brewers. The contents of Djehutynakht’s tomb were awarded to the MFA by

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjA47qEx77YAhXL64MKHS3vCAsQjRwIBw&url=http://boston.eventful.com/venues/boston-museum-of-fine-arts-/V0-001-000366935-3&psig=AOvVaw3yt706H_hR0ols6-88OTv3&ust=1515163761605328





the Egyptian government and transported to Boston in 1920. Following their arrival in Boston, the

Museum put the Deir el-Bersha coffin and procession on view in the galleries, but most of the

other objects were never displayed or fully conserved until a 2009 exhibition at the MFA.

Tomb 10A Classroom Activity

After the program, continue your exploration of the wooden models found in Tomb 10A through

small group work in the classroom.

1. Print pages 3-7 of this resource packet with images of additional Tomb 10A models.

2. Divide students into small groups and provide each group with one image.

3. Remind students that while the objects inside the tomb were meant to provide for the

deceased in the afterlife, they were also a reflection of daily life. Ask each group to look

closely at their image and discuss the questions on their handout.

What is going on in this model? What do you see that makes you say that?

What aspect of daily life in ancient Egypt might this represent?

4. Ask each group to share their model and observations with the class. (Teachers can refer

to the object information on page 8 for clarification on the activities represented.)

5. Have a discussion with your class about why they think it was important for Governor

Djehutynakht and his wife to have these models in their tomb.

Further Resources on Tomb 10A

Funerary Spells: Tales from an Egyptian Coffin

MFA curator Lawrence Berman interprets the funerary spells painted in hieroglyphics on an

extraordinary wooden coffin.

Can modern science solve an ancient mystery?

In this 2009 video, Dr. Rajiv Gupta explains what scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital

found when they studied the mummy’s head from Tomb 10A…and what mysteries remained.

The F.B.I. and the Mystery of the Mummy’s Head

April 2018 New York Times article that explains how the F.B.I.’s forensic scientists were called in

to crack the agency’s oldest case – the mystery of the mummy’s head from Tomb 10A.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6u7VlaL6_4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYpGwdGyuHc

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/science/mummy-head-fbi-dna.html





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Classroom Activity: Object Information for Teachers Model scene of workers ploughing a field, 21.408

Two men ploughing a field with two oxen. The scene is brightly painted and mounted on a wooden base. Model carpenters, 21.412

Model of a carpentry scene showing two men, one standing and sawing a board and the other squatting and shaping a board, probably using an adze (also missing). Model of men making bricks, 21.411

Djehutynakht's collection of models also included a variety of manufacturing scenes. One of the more unusual shows several phases in the making of bricks. At one end, two men gather clay. One breaks up the hard ground with a hoe while the other collects or kneads the clay with his hands. The Nile valley's rich mud is represented by the black paint used for the base of the model, as well as on the hands of the crouching figure. A second pair of men carried the clay in a now-missing basket suspended from a pole. Finally, a squatting man shapes the bricks with a mould and places them in the sun to dry. Model of men herding cattle, 21.831 Food production is the dominant theme among the model scenes, and a variety of activities are represented. A number of models feature scenes of cattle rearing. The recently restored model shown here depicts plump steers being driven - reluctantly it seems - to a cattle count or perhaps to slaughter. The artist has taken pains to include lifelike details so that the robust animals contrast dramatically with their slouched, weary, and balding keepers. Model of weavers, 21.891

Painted wooden model of a group of women spinning and weaving. The two women at the front are spinning flax. The two women at the back are working on a loom.


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