MGMoA News

Mummy Gets a Facelift at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art

This face-lift wasn’t performed by a Hollywood plastic surgeon but by two conservators from the University of Chicago’s famed Oriental Institute.  The lady in need of the nip-tuck belongs to the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee, Oklahoma.  After nearly 2000 years, you might need a little help, too.
 
“It was long thought that this mummy was a very poor quality late period mummy,” said Delaynna Trim, Curator of Collections at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art.  “The hieroglyphics on the sarcophagus are poorly done and the mummy is not preserved as well as our other mummy,” adds Trim, referring to the beautiful gold masked mummy, TuTu on display in the museum’s galleries. 
 
About a year ago, the esteem of this “old lady” was lifted in the eyes of the academic community.   Dr. Emily Teeter, a researcher at the Oriental Institute sent the Mabee-Gerrer Museum a report identifying the mummy as coming from the Roman Era of Egypt most likely during the second century A.D. from the area of Fayum.  The hieroglyphics are poorly written as their use was rapidly declining during this era.
 
That was a unique time in Egypt, according to Dane Pollei, Director and Chief Curator of the Mabee-Gerrer Museum.  “After the fleet of Augustus defeated the combined fleets of Mark Antony and Cleopatra in 30 B.C., Egypt became a Roman Province,” Pollei said.  He noted that Alexandria was a center of research, and Egypt grew most of the grain that supported the Roman Empire.  “During the time of this mummy, Egypt was a mix of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Jewish, and early Christian culture,” he said.  “Sometimes they got along well, and sometimes they did not.”
 
Studies conducted in the early 1990’s, including cat-scans and x-rays, revealed that the mummy was a woman who survived periods of malnourishment.  “Now her story is even more fascinating,” Pollei said, “She was really one of the last Ancient Egyptians living in a rapidly changing world.”
 
This year, conservators Alison Whyte and Monica Hudak, came from the Oriental Institute to spend several days stabilizing the mummy and sarcophagus.  The conservators stabilized the paint on the sarcophagus and used acid-free materials to create padding for the mummy.  A special crate was created to store and transport the mummy as well. 
 
How do you move a mummy?  “Very carefully,” jokes Trim.  The main reason the conservators worked on the mummy now was so that she can be loaned to the Arkansas Art Center.  Trim said that a fine art company from Fort Worth picked up the mummy after conferring with the conservators and transported her in a climate controlled vehicle directly to Little Rock, Arkansas.  There, she will be part of the exhibit, “World of the Pharaohs: Treasures of Egypt Revealed” at the Arkansas Arts Center from September 25 through July 5, 2010. 
 
The mummies are an important part of the collections of the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, but only a small part of the over 6,000 objects spanning more than 8,000 years of human achievement.  The collection includes art from the ancient world, medieval, renaissance, European, American, African, Native American and Oriental art as well as contemporary works of art.
 
The Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art is located on the campus of St. Gregory’s University, 1900 W. MacArthur St. in Shawnee.  The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays.  Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors age 65 or older, $3 for students and children ages 6 to 17, and free for children age 5 and younger.
 
For accommodations on the basis of disability or more information on this exhibit, call the museum at (405) 878-5300. 

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