THE name Tutankhamun evokes images of gold and mysterious artifacts
from ancient Egypt unequalled in all our imaginations. But who was the
man who found that tomb and uttered the memorable words ''wonderful
things,'' when his eyes first glimpsed it through a tiny hole? That is
the question the British Museum's exhibition Howard Carter: Before
Tutankhamun sets out to answer.
Do not expect to find the glories of King Tut's tomb in this
exhibition, though there is interesting film of the original tomb
opening. This exhibition is, rather, a eulogy of Carter's achievement as
an archaeologist and artist, inspite of Tutankhamun. An achievement more
remarkable then, because he was a man of humble birth and little formal
education.
His first break at the age of 17, was a job as artist recording tomb
paintings for the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1891. We see the letter from
a British Museum expert, suggesting that a ''non-gentleman'' would be
suitable, as his ''feeding'' could be arranged with other staff, the job
being unpaid, on an expenses-only basis.
Carter was a very accomplished watercolourist, trained by his father a
Norfolk wildlife artist, and we seen beautiful examples of his paintings
here, both as a recorder of arch-
aeological discoveries and as a painter of landscape, wildlife, and
scenes in the Egyptian bazaars, which earned him a hand-to-mouth living
for two years when he left the French archaeological service after a
fracas with some drunken French tourists.
But that led to his meeting Lord Carnarvon, who became both patron and
''a true friend'' and their joint Tutankhamun destiny began.
Carter's typescript record of the discovery of the tomb is here too,
but it reveals his original answer to Lord Carnarvon's question, ''Can
you see anything?'' on first looking into the tomb, was rather flat:
''There are some marvellous objects here.'' The quote was later improved
for posterity.
Carter's paintbox, his thermos, his letters home to mother, with
photos neatly pasted in the text, his diaries, and telegrams are all
here in the flesh.
In a section on ''The Curse,'' supposed to have been the cause of
early death for so many of those present at the opening of the tomb, we
see Lord Carnarvon's razor, which infected a mosquito bite, eventually
killing him, as proof of natural causes. ''All sane people should
dismiss such inventions with contempt,'' said Carter, whose well chosen
quotes are liberally scattered around the exhibition, which is also a
mine of documents of great interest, needing time to pore over.
But there are also many other ''wonderful things.'' Ancient Egyptian
artifacts, lent from all over the world, which passed through Carter's
hands, particularly in the years after Tutankhamun, when he concentrated
on buying antiquities for himself and for collectors and museums.
Among the most spectacular are a small group lent by the Metropolitan
Museum in New York, including a tiny amethyst turtle inlaid with spots
of torquoise, dating from almost 2000BC, and an exquisite gold statuette
of the god Amun, described as a masterpiece of Egyptian metalwork, which
Carter bought in 1917.
A graceful subtly coloured falcon in glass inlay of c350BC, tiny
jerboa mice in faience, c1970BC, a gold earring minutely inlaid -- these
are the visible testimony to Carter's feeling for ancient Egypt, which
from his boyhood, visiting Lord Amherst's collection in Norfolk, had
''first aroused my longing for that country.''
The exhibition runs till May 31, 1993.
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