Chicago

[ikhet_sekhmet]

Made a trip into the chilly heart of Chicago yesterday to see the Art Institute of Chicago's current exhibition, When the Greeks Ruled Egypt. I wanted to make a few notes before I forget what I saw! (Wish I'd thought to bring a notebook and pencil in - we also visited the Egypt's Mysterious Book of the Faiyum exhibition at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore - that didn't have a catalogue either, but at least I was able to jot down some accession numbers!)

• A seated, kilted lion-headed "Horus, son of Wadjet" - a large bronze figurine
• Tutu in sphinx form (I think the identity of this piece may be disputed)
• the feet of a life-size statue of the deified Arsinoe II
• Looking at the green profile of Osiris in a BD, Jon speculated he might have inspired the look of Scaroth from City of Death :)
• Something I'd never noticed before: the faces of Ptolemaic reliefs, although apparently two dimensional, actually have naturalistic undulating flesh - cheeks, for example.
• Another label pointed out that thousands of years of continuity in artwork represents a form of immortality.

I had the sheer amateur gall to email the Walters about a couple of mistakes in their labels. *facepalm*