Flinders Petrie Collection
The 1971 Catalogue of Works of Art described 31 objects, catalogued as FP 1 - FP 31, known popularly as the Petrie Collection. It includes vases, figurines, ushabti figures, seal, necklaces, hieroglyphs, pendants, beads, arrowhead, coins, scarabs, sling stone, tiles, lamp base, and a wooden hawk. They are said to be Egyptian, and some of them from Flinders Petrie's excavations of 1920.
Accession numbers were assigned on 15 January 1997. Records were created in the Virtual Museum database and information from the 1971 Catalogue entered.
The two coins (FP 23, 24) are now with the other coins. FP 1, 2, 18, 20 and 30 were stored in Peter Connor's room and were photographed in 1997. The rest of the collection was taken to the storeroom in June 1996 in a carton with other objects from the drawers in Medley 631. This carton could not be found after the contents of the storeroom were moved across to Old Physics for photography at the end of 1996.
With the objects in Medley 631 were two decorated sherds with question marks instead of FP numbers. A scrap of paper recorded:
"Flinders Petrie Excavations 1920.
(1) 2 Bronze Figures of Osiris.
(2) Model Altar Steps.
(3) The god Harpocrates mistaken for Horus &endash; Roman period."
[No (3) could be FP6, and FP20 is a bronze figure of Osiris.]
Photocopies of other documents in the drawers can be found in the Gallery files. They include a couple of letters. Petrie and his widow are known to have been keen that the results of his work were spread as far as Australia, and the Queen's College Egyptian collection would also appear to have some links with Petrie - who was a grandson of Matthew Flinders.
Here is a list of the Flinders Petrie collection as in the 1971 Catalogue, with the missing items indicated:
FP 01 |
Jar |
|
FP 02 |
Amphora |
|
FP 03 |
Figurine with hieroglyphs |
Missing |
FP 04 |
Figurine with hieroglyphs |
Missing |
FP 05 |
Figurine with hieroglyphs |
Missing |
FP 06 |
Horus |
Missing |
FP 07 |
Ushabti |
Missing |
FP 08 |
Ushabti |
Missing |
FP 09 |
Ushabti |
Missing |
FP 10 |
Ushabti |
Missing |
FP 11 |
Ushabti |
Missing |
FP 12 |
Seal |
Missing |
FP 13 |
Necklace |
Missing |
FP 14 |
Necklace |
Missing |
FP 15 |
Hieroglyphic |
Missing |
FP 16 |
Hieroglyphic |
Missing |
FP 17 |
Figurine |
Missing |
FP 18 |
Pendant |
|
FP 19 |
Arrowhead |
Missing |
FP 20 |
Osiris |
|
FP 21 |
Bead |
Missing |
FP 22 |
Bead |
Missing |
FP 23 |
Coin |
|
FP 24 |
Coin |
|
FP 25 |
Scarab |
Missing |
FP 26 |
Scarab |
Missing |
FP 27 |
Sling stone |
Missing |
FP 28 |
Tile |
Missing |
FP 29 |
Tile |
Missing |
FP 30 |
Lamp base |
|
FP 31 |
Hawk of Seker |
Missing |
Peter Connor sent photographs of Flinders Petrie material to the Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, on 22.6.82. A reply from Dr Bettina Schmitz on 3.11.82 indicates that she hoped to find time soon to study them, and as far as she knows they are unpublished. The museum had just published the first of an ambitious project to record all Egyptian objects around the world! Eggebrecht, Arne. Corpus antiquitatum Aegyptiacarum. Hildesheimer aegyptologische Beitrage ; 12 (Hildesheim : Gerstenberg, 1981). This is the only volume in the Baillieu Library. A note in the Connor file indicates that negatives were in the drawer (?) but these have not been found, only photocopies of the photographs and prints of the two coins. The numbers on the photocopies total 25 and do not correspond to the FP numbering system, but most objects seem to be there. The quality of the photocopies discouraged the creation of images for the Virtual Museum. It might be worth contacting the Pelizaeus Museum to ask if they ever published the collection or if they can at least can find the photographs.