The Alabaster Sarcophagus Of Oimenepthah I., King Of Egypt, Now In Sir John Soane's Museum, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Drawn By Joseph Bonomi, And Described By Samuel Sharpe.
[T.p., dedic.] - Contents - List Of The Woodcuts - [Text] - Works By The Same Authors ...; [colophon] - [Plates].
Responsibility Note
The plates are unsigned.
The printer is named on the t.p. verso and in the colophon: 'Printed by Woodfall and Kinder, Milford Lane, Strand, London, W.C.'
The work is dedicated to the memory of Giovanni Battista Belzoni and Sir John Soane.
References
H. Dorey, 'Sir John Soane's acquisition of the sarcophagus of Seti I', in Georgian Group Journal, [1] (1991), p.26-35; P. Clayton, The Rediscovery of Egypt (1982); B.M. Fagan, The Rape of the Nile (1975).
Summary Note
This is one of several publications in which Bonomi and Sharpe collaborated. They also worked with Owen Jones in preparing the Egyptian Courts in the Crystal Palace exhibitions of 1854. Sharpe's scholarship is superseded, but like Wilkinson he contributed to the popularisation of Egyptology.
The sarcophagus of Set I had been discovered by G.B. Belzoni in 1816, and in 1821 had been displayed in the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly - the first of many crowd-drawing Egyptian exhibitions. In 1824 the sarcophagus was bought by Sir John Soane. It is made from a single piece of calcite alabaster and is profusely inscribed with hieroglyphs and images.
Provenance
The title page is inscribed in ink, 'Presented to the Library of the Royal Academy by the Authors December 1864'.
Binding Note
19th-century quarter brown cloth, brown papered boards; spine lettered 'Sarcophagus Of Oimenepthah.'
Sarcophagi (coffins) - Egypt - History
Antiquities, Egyptian - Great Britain - London - 19th century
Art history - Great Britain - 19th century
Pictorial works - Great Britain - 19th century