The exhibition “From Gurob to the Getty: The Voyages of an Ancient Egyptian Ship-Cart Model” will be shown in the Petrie Museum from 18th June until 26th October 2019.
Visitors will have the opportunity to explore the ancient and modern contexts of one of the most important artefacts in the Petrie Museum: an ancient model of a ship-cart excavated from a tomb at the site of Gurob.
Its unusual form is based on an Aegean-style type of boat used by Mycenaean Greeks: providing hints about the ancient migration of people and ideas across the Mediterranean to Egypt during the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1069BC).
Excavated by Sir Flinders Petrie and his team of Egyptian workmen in 1920, the ship-cart model was subsequently transferred to UCL where it is now displayed at the Petrie Museum.
In 2018, it was loaned to the J. Paul Getty Museum as part of their major exhibition, Behind the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World. Before going on display in Los Angeles, the model underwent months of preparation, painstaking conservation and specialist mount-making to showcase it in the best possible way.
On Tuesday 18 June there is a special Private View for Friends only of this temporary exhibition at the Petrie Museum about the Gurob boat (UC16044), with short talks by Anna Garnett and Jan Picton. Doors open at 6pm. Free to members; RSVP required by email [email protected].