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https://brill.com/display/book/9789004541061/BP000019.xml?body=previewpdf-60831 - PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE A PDF Throughout its activity, the Brummer Gallery in New York does not appear to have prioritized the arts from... more
https://brill.com/display/book/9789004541061/BP000019.xml?body=previewpdf-60831    -  PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE A PDF

Throughout its activity, the Brummer Gallery in New York does not appear to have prioritized the arts from the regions situated to the south and east of Europe and in North Africa. Of the 14,000 object cards in the Brummer Gallery Records, only about 5% belong to Western Asian cultures. Nonetheless, noteworthy objects from Egypt, Syria, Southwestern Arabia, Anatolia, Iraq, Iran, and India—most notably those in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met), the Freer Gallery, and the Baltimore Museum of Art—are associated with the gallery’s activity. Referred to as “highlights” or “masterpieces,” such objects have become ubiquitous images in popular and scholarly publications, defining the perception of these arts.1 Joseph Brummer collected objects from this region for the Paris gallery from 1909,2 and in 1911–13 his brothers Imre and Ernest were also exposed to a diversity of cultures, be it during their long stays in Egypt as buyers, or Ernest’s studies at the École du Louvre and the Sorbonne.3 Imre’s first travel to New York in 1914 ensued in the presentation of an “Assyrian” plate “w/ figures of two people”4 to the Met—the earliest recorded offer of sale from the Brummers in the museum archives. Although this specific deal did not go through, fruitful transactions with the Met concerning ancient Near Eastern and Islamic art objects followed.5 By 1948, after Joseph’s passing, the Brummer Gallery in New York comprised a “Persian room,” which included at least two large wall-cases loaded with objects from West Asia carefully displayed on shelves, six free-standing cases containing a single object—an aesthetic approach reserved for pre-Islamic objects with sculptural qualities—, as well as an Achaemenid relief from Persepolis hanging on the wall (Figures 10.1a–c).6
Between 1949 and 1953, about 2,100 "unclaimed" artworks returned to France from Germany after World War II were selected by museum professionals and labeled MNR (Musées nationaux récupération). About half of the works are paintings, while... more
Between 1949 and 1953, about 2,100 "unclaimed" artworks returned to France from Germany after World War II were selected by museum professionals and labeled MNR (Musées nationaux récupération). About half of the works are paintings, while thirty percent are decorative arts, and the remaining pieces are drawings, sculptures, folk art, Asian art, and antiquities. This paper presents the so-called AOR (Antiquités orientales récupération), 31 objects entrusted to the care of the Département des Antiquités orientales, Musée du Louvre, which at the time included both pre-Islamic and Islamic objects. Research carried out by the Mission Mattéoli (1997-2000) determined that only two, maybe three, artworks are proven to have been looted by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg during the Nazi occupation of France. The rest of the AOR items were purchases made by German individuals and museums, confirming that the MNR corpus does not equate in its entirety to art plundered from Jewish collections. The study of this portion of the works is an opportunity to shed light on the Near Eastern art and antiquities market in Paris during the war.
Hounds and Jackals is the modern name given to a game found in a tomb of the Middle Kingdom at Thebes, Egypt. About eighty examples of boards were found in funerary and domestic contexts in Egypt and the Middle East where the game is... more
Hounds and Jackals is the modern name given to a game found in a tomb of the Middle Kingdom at Thebes, Egypt. About eighty examples of boards were found in funerary and domestic contexts in Egypt and the Middle East where the game is attested until the middle of the first millennium BCE. Despite its popularity, we still do not know the ancient name of the game and how it was played precisely. This paper evokes the game in modern contexts, by recounting its historiography and presenting some reconstructions.
Problems of identification with gaming material often occur even when the object is complete. The game of 20 squares is no exception. The challenge of identifying gaming material is even greater with fragmentary evidence. A greenstone... more
Problems of identification with gaming material often occur even when the object is complete. The game of 20 squares is no exception. The challenge of identifying gaming material is even greater with fragmentary evidence. A greenstone plate from Tell Afis described as a cosmetic palette with sunken compartments on both sides should probably also be reinterpreted as a playing device.
A pluridisciplinary approach, crossing archaeological, written and iconographic sources allows us to grasp the modes of circulation of play and games in the ancient Mediterranean. This special issue opens several avenues of research on... more
A pluridisciplinary approach, crossing archaeological, written and iconographic sources allows us to grasp the modes of circulation of play and games in the ancient Mediterranean. This special issue opens several avenues of research on the identity issues, real or imaginary, conveyed by ancient play culture, from pharaonic Egypt to the end of Antiquity.
A unit has the responsibility since 1997 to audit the loans of antiques from the Louvre Museum. Significant searches in the archives and on-the-spot visits have allowed us to itemize, in addition to the works of the Louvre attributed to... more
A unit has the responsibility since 1997 to audit the loans of antiques from the Louvre Museum. Significant searches in the archives and on-the-spot visits have allowed us to itemize, in addition to the works of the Louvre attributed to French and foreign museums, the archaeological collections belonging to those museums. The presentation of this material is the continuation of the inventory of Cypriot antiquities in France, undertaken by Annie Caubet when she started out in the Département des antiquités orientales.
Egyptian playing pieces found at Greek sites signal the possible introduction of senet in the Aegean region but no actual board has yet been excavated in Greece. The senet board with a recumbent lion, exhibited in the National... more
Egyptian playing pieces found at Greek sites signal the possible introduction of senet in the Aegean region but no actual board has yet been excavated in Greece. The senet board with a recumbent lion, exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum at Athens and published here for the first time, was in fact collected in Egypt. Instead this object provides a rare example of an Egyptian board featuring an ornamental animal on the edge of the board. Stylistic comparisons between this board and other decorated examples suggest that senet boards—documented in the Levant, Cyprus, and Nubia—have inspired other versions of race games beyond these regions, possibly including a series of Neo-Assyrian games of fifty-eight holes with animals on their flat end.
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This re-evaluation of existing data on board games from the Near Eastern Bronze Age demonstrates their function as social lubricants in cross- cultural interaction. Board games are situated theoretically as liminoid practices, which lie... more
This re-evaluation of existing data on board games from the Near Eastern Bronze Age demonstrates their function as social lubricants in cross- cultural interaction. Board games are situated theoretically as liminoid practices, which lie outside the bounds of normative social behaviour and allow for interaction across social boundaries. Utilizing double-sided game boards, with an indigenous game on one side and a newly introduced game on the other, the games of senet, mehen and twenty squares provide evidence for social interactions. Cypriots had adopted Egyptian mehen and senet by the third millennium BC, and indigenized the games. This lies in contrast to the game of twenty squares, which had a particular role among elites in the Late Bronze Age interaction sphere. This anthropological discussion of evidence relating to gaming seeks to inspire further research on the role of board games in society.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Music and dance are well represented among the Louvre's collections. In 1935, Marguerite Rutten studied music and dance scenes housed in the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, and music at the Louvre was the subject of a... more
Music and dance are well represented among the Louvre's collections. In 1935, Marguerite Rutten studied music and dance scenes housed in the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, and music at the Louvre was the subject of a catalogue dedicated to Michel Laclotte, Director ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The rich history of Egypt has produced famous examples of board games played in antiquity. Each of these games provides evidence of contact between Egypt and its neighbours. From pre-dynastic rule to Arab and Ottoman invasions, Egypt’s... more
The rich history of Egypt has produced famous examples of board games played in antiquity. Each of these games provides evidence of contact between Egypt and its neighbours. From pre-dynastic rule to Arab and Ottoman invasions, Egypt’s past is visible on game boards.
This volume starts by introducing the reader to board games as well as instruments of chance and goes on to trace the history and distribution of ancient Egyptian games. Game practices, which were also part of rituals and divination, travelled throughout the eastern Mediterranean. This book explores the role of Egypt in accepting and disseminating games during its long history in light of recent archaeological discoveries as well as museum and archival research. The results allow new insight into ancient Egypt’s international relations and the role of board games research in understanding its extent.
Written by three authors known internationally for their expertise on this topic, this will be the first volume on Ancient Egyptian games of its kind and a much-needed contribution to the fields of both Egyptology and board games studies.