Strudwick, N. 2006. Masterpieces of Ancient Egypt. – London, The British Museum Press

Abstract

Nigel Strudwick’s book ‘Masterpieces of Ancient Egypt’ truly is a masterpiece itself. The 352 page book presents objects from one of world’s most important collections on ancient Egypt: the British Museum. The book is divided in roughly three parts: the introduction shortly describes Egypt’s long history (note that Nubia is included too!) and the history of the collection of the Museum’s Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan. The end of the introduction is marked by a map which gives all major Egyptian and Sudanese sites from which objects are housed in the collection. The part ‘The Masterpieces’, the main part, starts rather abrupt, which is caused by the fact that the headings, as presented in the contents, are not used in the book itself (this in contrast to the headings of the ‘third part’). This is remarkable and to my opinion a pity because it would have made the book even better structured than it already is. The left page gives a description of the object which is shown in full colour on the right hand page; the left margin of the text page is used to give details on the date of the object, the material, measurements and the museum number as well as how it became part of the collection. The last part consists of a short glossary with all necessary terms explained, followed by a short ‘further reading’ for, as explained in the preface by the author, the general reader. The professional reader is directed for relevant publications to the ‘Bibliography for the objects’’. Finally, there is an ‘Index of British Museum numbers’, an ‘Index of Egyptian names’ and an ‘Index of place names’. Read more...