Norman de Garis Davies

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Norman de Garis Davies (born September 14, 1865 in Great Britain , † November 4, 1941 in Oxford ) was a British clergyman , copyist , epigraphist and Egyptologist . From 1907 to 1934 he was head of the graphic department of the Egypt expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art .

Education and early years

His father was Reverend JD Davies and his mother was from the de Garis family on the island of Guernsey . With a scholarship from Dr. William's Library Foundation in London, Norman began his studies at the University of Glasgow , from which he graduated with MA (Master of Art 1889) and BD ( Bachelor of Divinity 1891). With a scholarship from this university, he went to the University of Marburg , which has been a place of modern theology since 1880. Wilhelm Herrmann (1846–1922) had been professor of systematic theology there since 1879 .

Back in England he worked as a pastor at the Albion Congregational Church in Ashton-under-Lyne (Lancashire). Here he met Kate Bradbury, who was friends with Amelia Edwards and later married Francis Llewellyn Griffith , and got in touch with the Egypt Exploration Fund (EEF) and Egyptology. Soon after, he gave up his job as a pastor.

Work for the Archeolocial Survey of Egypt (ASE) 1897–1907

Although Norman de Garis Davies had no artistic training, Francis Llewellyn Griffith sent him for the EEF in 1897 as a draftsman for the local excavation of Flinders Petrie in Dendera . Here Davies not only demonstrated his talent for drawing in copying the inscriptions, but also dug up many of the easternmost mastabas, according to Petrie.

The aim of the Archeological Survey was to record the ancient monuments of the Nile Valley and to document the selected monuments in the best possible quality. Davies' work was so good that Griffith hired him to take stock of more graves. Norman was short in stature, but possessed enormous energy that would later enable him to undertake extraordinary projects that would have discouraged even taller men.

In Saqqara - Sheikh Said - Deir el-Gebrawi

In the autumn of 1895, Flinders Petrie had received permission from Jacques de Morgan from the Antiquities Service for the British School of Archeology in Egypt to copy the reliefs in the mastaba of Ptahhotep in Saqqara . Emil Brugsch had the entrance cleared and allowed the two artists REF Paget and AA Pirie to live in Auguste Mariette's former house . In the spring of 1896, when the drawings were available, James E. Quibell asked Francis Llewellyn Griffith to describe 10 of the illustrations for publication. Because the artists of the four chambers of the mastaba could only make copies of the innermost chamber, Griffith commissioned Norman de Garis Davies to take stock of this mastaba for the winter season of 1898. Davies needed from December 1898 to May 1899 just for the excavation from the sand, since the plan drawn up by Mariette turned out to be misleading. The double mastaba of Ptahhotep comes from the 5th dynasty (around 2350 BC). It was built for the vizier Achethotep and his son Ptahhotep, whose better-preserved rooms gave it its name. Ptahhotep was a vizier and high judge as well as the head of the priesthood. In keeping with its stand, the mastaba decorations were of high quality. It is interesting, among other things, that it shows how the proportions of the figures were determined using grid lines. Not all of the reliefs were completed, so the various stages of their creation can be followed. The ceiling of the burial chamber is made of stone carved into the trunks of palm trees. In the numerous illustrations of the mastaba of Ptahhotep, beautiful scenes of everyday life are shown, such as B. Hunting, fishing, sport, agriculture and sacrifice to the gods. Davies now documented that the reliefs on the walls were still “exquisite in color”, but that they had already lost some of their beauty due to impressions and damp paper swabs. Only the paintings on the false doors had retained their colors because they were not created as a relief.

In the Imhotep Museum in Sakkara, which opened in 2006, there is a damaged wooden statue of Ptahhotep, which beautifully depicts the head with a proud expression on the face.

  • Western Mastaba Ptahhotep Chapel in Saqqara (photo around 1900)

  • Colored hieroglyphs from Ptahhotep's tomb in Saqqara

  • Drawing Davies by Achethotep Mastaba in Saqqara

  • Chapel of Ptahhotep in Saqqara southern and northern halves

On the northern border of the old city of Armana , where the rocks of the eastern desert meet the Nile, is the tomb of the Islamic saint Shaykh Said . This name has been used since Karl Richard Lepsius as a designation for an archaeological site that is about 2 km further north. Because the terrain was unsuitable for the construction of mastabas, the graves were carved into the rock of the mountain here. In the necropolis of El-Sheikh Said were princes of the V and VI. Dynasty and high officials of the 15th Upper Egyptian Gau (Hasen-Gau) with their capital Hermopolis on the other side of the Nile are buried in rock tombs. This is where Norman de Garis Davies' Griffith Maxime comes into play, sources that are already available, such as B. include the descriptions of previous travelers as background material. In 1843 Lepsius had copied the inscriptions of the tomb of Tehutinekht, of which only fragments were preserved when Davies visited, as well as parts of the steles of Uau and Imhotep, which had already disappeared when Davies examined. Émile Prisse d'Avesnes visited the graves in the same year and copied the stele of Meru with the subsequent relief and the titles, as well as those of Urarna. This was interesting because he ascribes the title of Governor of the House of Teta to Meru , which Lepsius lacked. Flinders Petrie and Francis Llewellyn Griffith visited the tombs in 1887 and Petrie mentions them in his book A season in Egypt . Percy and John Newberry as well as Howard Carter had set up their camp here in 1893 in anticipation of an excavation license for Tell el-Armana, which Jacques de Morgan , the then head of the Service d'Antiquités , however, refused and which the EFF only for Norman de Garis Davies von Gaston Maspero received. Davies was busy with the larger graves in El-Shaik Said. He listed a total of 102 graves, which are terraced at different heights and partly only accessible with ladders. Davies describes them as "like bird nests on a rock face". Most of them were in poor condition due to erosion.

The capital of the 15th Nome was el-Ashmunein (Hermopolis) on the west side of the Nile. The necropolis of el-Sheikh Said is interesting because nothing of the provincial capital has been preserved and these are the earliest rock tombs. Davies documented the following graves in detail:

No. 15 = Imhotep

No. 18 = Henent-Maru (a woman)

No. 19 = Uau-Au

No. 20 = Meru-Beba

No. 24 = Serfka (?), Father of Urarna

No. 25 = Urarna

After Davies had finished his work in Sheik Said, he moved his camp on February 23, 1900 to Deir el-Gebrawi , a remote corner of the Nile Valley. The tiny village of Deir el-Gebrawi was only inhabited by Copts and seemed unappealing to him, so that he made his home on the top of the hill in unlabeled grave number 10. So he felt undisturbed and could devote himself entirely to his work.

Anthony Charles Harris (1790–1869) a British merchant and antique collector in Alexandria, had rediscovered the graves in 1850. Sir John Gardner Wilkinson also visited the necropolis around 1855 and his diaries contain copies from the grave of Zau. Since that visit, the tombs have been associated with Beni Mohammed el Kufur, although the village is a few miles away. In 1886 Flinders Petrie and Francis Llewellyn Griffith visited the graves and in 1890 Professor Archibald Henry Sayce published the inscriptions on the grave of Zau. In the winter of 1892/93 Percy Newberry copied the graves of Zau and his son Aba for the Archeological Survey and described the fragments. However, his work remained unpublished. Fortunately, John Newberry, an architect, visited his brother there on his way to Edouard Naville's Deir el-Bahari and drew some excellent plans of the labeled tombs that Norman de Garis Davies could refer to. Because in 1893 the grave shafts were destroyed by locals and the rubble piled up against the ornate walls, so that he liked to help himself there and that is also mentioned in detail.

Little is known about the 12th noun and Davies was able to extract the name Net-en-bek (city of the hawk) or Per-ho-nub (city of the golden hawk) from fragments. Davies could not prove the capital or its location. In addition to the worship of Horus , there was also a Mati, a kind of Hathor cult , according to the lists . Mati was especially venerated in the Old Kingdom . King Neferkara (= Pepi II.) From the VI. Dynasty (2278-2184 BC) or the 7th and 8th dynasties with various kings, including Neferkara (2200-2168 BC)

Of the 52 graves in the southern group, Davies describes in detail those of the Hereditary Princes Aba and Zau, Aba's father.

No. 8 = ABA was erpati hatio (hereditary prince) and son of the ZAU. 40 titles are listed as well as wife and children

No. 12 = ZAU SHMAA was erpati hatio (Hereditary Prince) and father of ABA. 23 titles are listed as well as the wife and children with a son named ZAU.

No. 14 = UHA? No. 16 = TEKHYT No. 28 = SENEBSEN No. 33 = MERUT No. 41 = NEFER-TET-WA No. 42 = NEFER-nef-KHETU

Of the 104 graves in the northern group, Davies was named and described

No. 38 = NEBAB the grave lies east of No. 39 and the intermediate wall has collapsed halfway. The family names could no longer be deciphered.

No. 39 = HENQU-KHETETA was ha-prince (?). 11 titles are listed as well as wife and sons.

No. 46 = ASA-RAHENEM Königl. Chancellor. 5 titles are listed as well as wife and 2 sons.

No. 67 = HENQU was erpati hatio (Hereditary Prince). 12 titles are listed as well as wife and children

No. 72 = RAHENEM-ASA war erpati hatio (Hereditary Prince) 23 titles are listed as well as wife and children

In Tell el-Armana from 1903 to 1907

The two groups of tombs of the late 5th and 6th Dynasties, laid out for the non-royal upper class Tell el-Amarna , are located about 4 km from the Great Temple of the Central City, east of the city. Graves 1–6 form the northern group, nos. 7–25 belong to the southern group. Somewhat apart, in Wadi Abu Hassah el-Bahari, the royal necropolis with the royal tomb (No. 26) and graves No. 27–30 extends between the two groups. The north graves are in the limestone mountains, "on the steep slope of approx. 85 m height of the actual desert mountain range in half height", the south graves "on the western edge of a flat rock range in front of the main slope". The famous graves of a number of senior provincial officials of the late 5th and 6th Dynasties were Davies' workspace for the next five years.

In the official graves of Amarna a burial based on grave goods or a mummy could not be proven in any case. Many of the tombs remained unfinished and only a few are inscribed. Akhenaten's 17-year rule plays a special role in Egyptian history as a kind of "cultural revolution" - not only in theology, but also in art:

The king was depicted with an elongated face with full lips, a narrow waist, broad hips, a voluminous belly and thighs, with long thin fingers and a left and right foot with long toes. The breasts were emphasized, some statues show him asexual. The figures are little dressed, sometimes naked. The king can be depicted with his family. He did not want to be immortalized as an impersonal, proud, aloof ruler, but as an affectionate family man who hugged his wife Nefertiti . Scenes are also shown in which he plays and caresses his children, six princesses. When he went for a walk in the car he was accompanied by his family. Aton , the sun god, is omnipresent , represented as a solar disk whose rays flow into life-giving hands. Nefertiti was also depicted in the presence of Aton and was thus on a divine level. The royal couple alone perform the religious acts, no priest is present. The absolute reference point of Akhenaten's new religion was light, embodied by the sun, to which he dedicated his sun hymn in the tomb of Eje (Ay). Akhenaten's sun hymn was first published by the French Egyptologist Urbain Bouriant in 1884. By copying Norman de Garis Davies again in 1908, improvements to the text could be worked out. Five shorter hymns to Aton were found: in grave No. 4 of Meryre I, No. 8 by Tutu, No. 9 by Mahu, No. 10 by Ipi (Apy) and No. 23 by Any.

In 1912 he received the Leibniz Medal of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin for the forty-three graves of civil servants in Tell el-Armana published with floor plans by Norman de Garis Davies, which the Archeological Survey published in 6 "Memoirs" from 1903 to 1908 .

Because there was still great interest in Davies' excellent presentations in scientific circles, the Egypt Exploration Society decided in 2004 to reprint the original six in three volumes and to which Barry Kemp wrote a foreword.

Norman de Garis Davies: The Rock tombs of El Amarna. Published by the EES 2004.

Part I & II: The tombs of Meryra, Panehesy and Meryra II. ISBN 0-85698-159-1

Part III & IV: The tombs of Huya, Ahmes, Pentu, Mahu and others. ISBN 0-85698-160-5

Part V & VI: The smaller tombs, the boundary stelae and the tombs of Parennefer, Tutu and Ay. ISBN 0-85698-161-3

Although Davies was Field Director / Survey Project Leader for the Archeological Survey, he was kept busy from season to season, which did not give him the financial security he was actually looking for. Between 1905 and 1907 Davies also worked for George Andrew Reisner in Giza and James Henry Breasted in Nubia .

In 1906 Davies met Anna (called Nina) Macpherson Cummings, who was visiting friends in Alexandria and also visiting ancient sites. They soon got engaged. In the spring of 1907, Albert Lythgoe , who had become curator of the newly established Egyptian department of the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1906 , offered Davies a position as head of the graphic department of the Egypt expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , so that Norman and Nina on They were married on October 8, 1907 at Emmanuel Church Hampstead, London. Shortly afterwards, they traveled to Egypt together.

Head of the graphic department of the Egypt expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1907 to 1939

Lythgoe's main concern was to document the decorated graves of the nobles and higher officials of the 18th and 19th dynasties in West Thebes, and that would become the life work of Norman de Garis Davies and his wife Nina. From now on, the artist couple was inseparable. Nina de Garis Davies (sometimes she signed with Nina Cummings) had studied art, so immediately after her arrival in Thebes she supported her husband in his work, even though she was not officially employed. Her first drawings for the Metropolitan Museum of Art are from 1908 from the tomb of Djehuti TT45 in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna . Alan H. Gardiner saw Nina's work and was so impressed by it that in 1909 he agreed with her to buy as many paintings from her as he could afford them. It was not until the 1913 to 1914 season that Davies managed to hire his wife as a part-time worker for the MMA.

See also: → Main article by Nina de Garis Davies

In the meantime, the Metropolitan Museum of Art had also built an excavation house in al-Asasif for the expedition members, which was available in 1912/13 and became known as the "Metropolitan House". Norman and Nina de Garis Davies also lived here during the winter season.

The Theban Graves Series with Alan H. Gardiner

When Norman de Garis Davies left the Egyptian Exploration Fund / Society, he informed the EEF that he would try to give them some of his work in the tombs of Thebes West - as far as his time allows - for their own publication put. The first result of this collaboration was Five Theban Tombs .

Alan Gardiner, as a linguist and Egyptologist, was very interested in the inscriptions of the graves and was able to convince Norman and Nina de Garis Davies to work together for the EEF to describe a grave and to copy the inscriptions and wall paintings. This resulted in the famous Theben Tomb Series (TTS) in five editions of the EEF's memoirs from 1915 to 1933.

Robb de Peyster Tytus Memorial Series (RPTMS)

In 1914 Mrs. Charlotte M. Tytus set up the Robb de Peyster Tytus memorial fund in memory of her son . From this, the graphic department of the Egypt expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art received $ 15,000 for five years, which was used, among other things, to publish a five-volume folio edition on the most important graves in West Thebes. In addition to his wife Nina, other artists such as Charles K. Wilkinson and HR Hopgood worked in the graves of the noble for this task. This luxury leather-backed edition was limited to 500 pieces and was printed on handmade Van Gelder paper.

Beni Hasan and Amarna again for the EFS

For the 1926-27 season, Norman and Nina received permission from the MMA to help the Egypt Exploration Society in Tell el-Amarna, which had been digging there since 1921. Henri Frankfort began his excavations in November 1926. Charles K. Wilkinson , who had been with the Metropolitan Museum's graphic arts department since 1920, made a number of preliminary drawings while Norman and Nina made color copies. This work resulted in the book: The Mural Painting of el-'Amarna , published by Henri Frankfort in 1929 and to which Norman contributed a chapter. Nina published her color copies of the frescoes in the northern palace in it and together they were represented with further drawings. The frescoes were later removed and the fragments taken to the museum in Cairo.

1931–32 they worked again for two months in Beni Hasan , mainly so that Nina could copy some of the most important representations in the tomb of Chnumhotep II .

For the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Davies' annual report was published in the bulletin under The graphic work of the Expedition . Here he describes the condition of the graves and their decoration - sometimes also individual figures. Herbert E. Winlock gave an account of the progress of the excavations in a separate article.

In 1939, Norman de Garis Davies gave up active field work at the age of 70. However, he prepared further publications from the material that had accumulated over the long years in Egypt and was still of interest to Egyptologists.

Norman de Garis Davies died in his sleep of heart failure in Oxford on November 4, 1941.

During World War II, Nina was busy preparing for Norman's publication of the Temple of Hibis. She put the material together and had the drawings photographed. Eventually she sent everything to the Metropolitan Museum. Their preliminary work was not mentioned in their publication in 1953. Davies, NdG: The Temple of Hibis in el Khargeh Oasis. Part III, The Decoration . Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York 1953

Nina bequeathed Norman's Egyptian collection to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and his books to University College, London. His written records went to the Griffith Institute .

“The works of this artist-Egyptologist couple are without question some of the finest that the copyist's art can achieve. In terms of the accuracy of the lines and, above all, the delicacy of the color reproduction, her works have not yet been achieved by any technical recording process, not to mention the "soul" of years of empathy with the essence and technique of ancient Egyptian painting. "

- Martin Fitzenreiter : Contemporary. Art 2002. Communication SAG 13, p. 134

Web links

Publications

DAVIES, Norman DeGaris. Robb de Peyster Tytus Memorial Series . Publisher: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1917-27. Elephant folio (15-1 / 2 by 20 inches).

  • Volume I: The Tomb of Nakht at Thebes .
  • Volume II: The Tomb of Puyemre at Thebes . Part I: The Hall of Memories.
  • Volumes III: The Tomb of Puyemre at Thebes . Part II: The Chapels of Hope.
  • Volume IV: The Tomb of the Two Sculptors at Thebes .
  • Volume V: The Ramesside Tombs at Thebes .

The Theban Tombs Series (TTS). The Egypt Exploration Society, London.

  • First and introductory memoir 1915: The Tomb of Amenemhet (TT 82) copied in line and color by Nina de Garis Davies and with explanatory text by Alan H. Gardiner, D.Litt., 132pp., + XLVI plates (three in color + color frontis), (1915, Reprinted Lithographically 1973).
  • Second memoir 1920: The Tomb of Antefoker vizier of Sesostris I, and of His Wife, Senet (TT 60) with a chapter by Alan H. Gardiner, illustrated by six plates in color by Nina de Garis Davies and by forty-two plates in line and collotype. 40 pp., + XXXVI plates, (1920).
  • Third memoir 1923: The Tombs of two officials of Tuthmosis the Fourth (TT 75 and 90) illustrated by four plates in color by nina de Garis Davies and by thirty-four plates in line and collotype. 46 pp., + XXXVIII plates. (1923).
  • Fourth memoir 1926: The Tomb of Huy, viceroy of Nubia in the reign of Tut'ankhamun (TT 40) copied in line and color by Nina de Garis Davies and with explanatory text by Alan H. Gardiner. (1926).
  • Fifth memoir 1933: The Tombs of Menkheperrasonb, Amenmose and Another (TT 86, 112, 42, 226), with a frontispiece in color and line plates by Nina de Garis Davies and with an explanatory text by Norman de Garis Davies. 48 pp., + XLVI plates. (1933).
  • (1913a) Five Theban Tombs, being those of Mentuherkhepeshef, User, Daga, Nehemewäy and Tati . William Clowes and Sons, London.
  • (1913b) The tomb of Senmen, brother of Senmut . PSBA, 35, 282-285.
  • (1917) The Tomb of Nakht at Thebes . New York. Metropolitan Museum of Art,
  • (1922) The Tomb of Puyemrê at Thebes, Vol. I . New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • (1923a) The Tomb of Puyemrê at Thebes, Vol. II . New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • (1923b) The Tombs of Two Officials of Tuthmosis the forth . William Clowes and Sons, London.
  • (1926) The Tomb of Huy . London: The Egypt Exploration Society.
  • (1927) Two Ramesside Tombs at Thebes . New York: The Metropolitan museum of art.
  • (1933a) The Tombs of Menkheperrasonb, Amenmosě and another . London: The Egypt Exploration Society.
  • (1933b) The Tomb of Nefer-hotep at Thebes. Vols. I & II . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition.

posthumously:

  • 1941 The tomb of the vizier Ramose . Based on preliminary work by the late TE Peet and illustrated with the help of H. Burton, Nina M. Davies, WB Emery, and GS Mileham. Printed at the charges of Lady Mond and published by the Egypt Exploration Society.
  • 1943 The tomb of Rekh-mi-rê at Thebes . The Metropolitan museum of art, New York
  • 1948 Seven private tombs at Kurnah . N ° 2, Mond excavations at Thebes. London: The Egypt Exploration Society.
  • 1957 A Corpus of Inscribed Egyptian Funerary Cones . Edited by MF Laming MacAdam. Part I: Plates. Oxford: Printed for the Griffith Institute at the University Press, 1957 Folio

literature

  • Alan H. Gardiner: Norman de Garis Davies. In: Journal of Egyptian Archeology 28, 1942, pp. 59-60.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Graduate Record University of Glasgow
  2. ^ Department of Protestant Theology at the University of Marburg
  3. ↑ Photos Ashton-under-Lyne
  4. ↑ WM Flinders Petrie: “Dendereh” 17th Memoir Egypt Exploration Fund. B. Quaritch, London 1900, p. 14 .
  5. ^ JE: The Ramesseum and the Tomb of Ptah-Hetep. Egyptian Research Account. B. Quaritch, London 1898
  6. ↑ Norman de Garis Davies: “The Mastaba of Ptahhetep and Akhethetep at Saqqareh (Volume 1): The chapel of Ptahhetep and the hieroglyphs”. Egypt Exploration Fund. London, 1900.
  7. ^ Imhotep Museum
  8. ^ Lepsius: "Monuments - Textband", Volume II - Middle Egypt, page 120
  9. ↑ Plan of the graves in El Shaik Said by John Newberry 1893
  10. ↑ Memoir vol. 10: N. de G. Davies, The Rock Tombs of Sheikh Saïd, London, 1901. pp. 10ff.
  11. ↑ Memoir 11: N. de G. Davies: The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrâwi. Part I: Tomb of Aba and Smaller Tombs of the Southern Group. London, 1902.
  12. ↑ Memoir 12: N. de G. Davies: The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrâwi, Part II. Tomb of Zau and Tombs of the Northern Group . London, 1902.
  13. ↑ Memoir 12: N. de G. Davies: The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrâwi, Part II
  14. ↑ Memoir 12: N. de G. Davies: The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrâwi, Part II. Tomb of Zau and Tombs of the Northern Group . London, 1902.
  15. ↑ Memoir: N. de G. Davies: The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrâwi, Part II. Tomb of Zau and Tombs of the Northern Group . London, 1902.
  16. ↑ Memoir 12: N. de G. Davies: The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrâwi, Part II. Tomb of Zau and Tombs of the Northern Group . London, 1902.
  17. ↑ Ancient Egypt Magazine - Book review
  18. ↑ The Metropolitan House in El Asasif ( Memento from January 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ^ New York Times
  20. ^ Charles K. Wilkinson
  21. ↑ Amarna Project North Palace Photos and Pictures
  22. ↑ Tomb of Khnumhotep (Tomb 3), Beni Hasan, MMA graphic expedition 1931
personal data
SURNAME Garis Davies, Norman de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British clergyman, copyist, epigraphist and Egyptologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
DATE OF DEATH November 4, 1941
Place of death Oxford