Ancient Egyptian Furniture: Volume III - Ramesside Furniture

By Geoffrey Killen

In this third volume Dr Killen investigates how woodworking in ancient Egypt developed in the 19th and 20th dynasties. It establishes the range of wooden furniture manufactured during this period by surveying examples depicted in Ramesside Theban and Memphite tombs. Ancient records show how the procurement of furniture occurred at Deir el-Medina while the design and manufacturing of these furniture forms can be traced through a series of furniture sketches that are annotated with a range of marks and signs. These designs are seen in surviving examples of furniture from settlements such as Medinet el-Gurob. To facilitate the manufacture of furniture, procedures were developed that were managed by cooperatives of Egyptian artisans. These groups established a recognisable Egyptian furniture style that was employed throughout the Ramesside world. Depictions of furniture used by the ruling Ramesside elite are examined including a remarkable collection of furniture used by Rameses III, illustrations of which could once be found in a painted wall scene in his tomb (KV11) and still seen carved on the walls of his temple at Medinet Habu. These illustrations show how royal furniture was used as a symbolic tool to promote the Ramesside Empire at the edges of its sphere of influence. Temple furniture was also used to serve a religious purpose in the rituals performed by Ramesside priests, these forms are also analysed in this volume. This third volume contains a catalogue of known Egyptian furniture preserved in world museums that augments those catalogues found in the first two volumes of this series. The author also provides a distribution list with illustrations of a number of replica pieces of woodwork made by him that can now be found preserved in several museums and collections. The purpose of these replica pieces has been to analyse the design and construction techniques used by Egyptian carpenters using a range of replica woodworking tools.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Release date: Mar 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781785704901

Geoffrey Killen

Geoffrey Killen is a leading ancient furniture historian, technologist and Egyptologist who studied Design and Technology at Shoreditch College, University of London and the University of Liverpool, where he specialised in Ramesside woodworking. He has studied the collections of Egyptian furniture at most of the major museums including the Egyptian Antiquities Museum, Cairo and is the author of several major books and numerous papers. He has also led in the field of experimental archaeology where making and using replica woodworking tools and equipment has generated and tested archaeological hypotheses. His practical work is now displayed together with those original artefacts in several British museums.

Book preview

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN FURNITURE

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN FURNITURE VOLUME III

R

AMESSIDE

F

URNITURE

GEOFFREY KILLEN

Published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by

OXBOW BOOKS

The Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE

and in the United States by

OXBOW BOOKS

1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083

© Oxbow Books and Geoffrey Killen 2017

Hardcover Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-489-5

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-490-1

Mobi Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-491-8

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016961071

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing.

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Front cover: Carpenters building a catafalque. Facsimile of a painted wall scene from the tomb of Ipuy, TT 217, 19th Dynasty, Deir el-Medina. Painted by Norman de Garis Davies (1865-1941). Photograph courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund (30.4.116).

All internal figures drawn by the author, unless otherwise stated.

Contents

List of Figures

List of Plates

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations and Sigla

Chapter 1. Deir el-Medina – A Community of Entrepreneurs?

Chapter 2. An Analysis of Ramesside Furniture Used in Gurob and Memphis

Chapter 3. Ramesside Furniture Forms

Chapter 4. Royal and Temple Furniture

Notes

Appendix A Ramesside Furniture Types

Appendix B Furniture Types Illustrated in Ramesside Theban Tombs

Appendix C Furniture Types Illustrated in Ramesside Memphite Tombs

Appendix D Distribution of Stool Types by Gender as Illustrated in Private Ramesside Theban Tombs

Appendix E Distribution List of Replica Wooden Products Manufactured by the Author and Preserved in Museums and Private Collections

Catalogue of Museum Collections

Bibliography

To my wife Lorraine, and children Sarah, Karen and Caroline and my grandchildren, Ben, Emma, Sophie, Hannah, James, Olivia, Jack and Noah for their patience and the encouragement they have shown during the years this work has taken to materialise.

List of Figures

All the figures were drawn for this book by the Author. Where appropriate they are scaled in millimetres.

List of Plates