Kárpáti Zoltán - Liptay Éva - Varga Ágota szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 101. (Budapest, 2004)
HEDVIG GYŐRY: On the Collars of the Gamhud Coffins
THE COLLAR IN DETAIL The falcon-headed collar (wsh n bjk) as well as the adjoining neck-band 12 displaying the same patterns, were decorated in all cases with rows of stylised, geometrical ornaments, occasionally supplemented with floral motifs, separated by thin dividing bands of yellowish colour, and bordered at both ends by a black horizontal line. The neck-band generally adjoins the collar at the level where the wig lappets end. The number of the rows on the collar ranges from 4 to 15, most frequently 12, whereas on the neck-band it varies between 3 and 6 13 - except when it was left undecorated, it can be firmly stated only in the case of coffin inv. no. 51.1991. The stripes of the neckband are usually straight, while the collar's curved stripes are bordering a semicircular or - oviform central element. 14 The basic pattern is regularly repeated. The collar, and in most of the cases the neck-band is normally closed by a row of guttiform figures whose lower ends are linked together by a painted black line. First of all, it is important to survey the patterns which occur most frequently in the Gamhud cemetery: the wedge-shaped lotus, the square, the chessboard, the vertical zigzag, the grid and the disk patterns. Sometimes the choice of the patterns seems to be odd: alongside with the conventional, mainstream patterns with long tradition, the Gamhud coffins reveal other motifs which are only infrequently attested elsewhere. 15 On the other hand, we can sometimes recognise motifs as the patterns of stroke, petal, lily, rosette, papyrus, and dotted beadthat used to occur more frequently at different sites. It is most probably not by accident that they were neglected on the Gamhud coffins; the existence of a specific local tradition, or differences in the competence and skill of the craftsmen working in that area may account for this peculiarity. 2 It adjoins the collar with or without a separate parting band composed of quadrangular red, blue, green and yellow units. This type of band may appear between other units of the coffin decoration as well. 3 Certain coffins' worn-out neck makes it impossible to say whether it was decorated at all, or not. Inv. no. 51.2018/1 can be cited as an exception, where 3 units can be detected, each made up of 4 rows. 4 Beyond the recurring patterns, the central element may contain additional figures such as a lotus flower, a scarab, a wedjat eye or a pectoral, etc. On some coffins, this part of the decoration has faded away to the extent that the original figure is no longer recognisable. In the Budapest group, only a scarab can be traced on coffin inv. no. 51.1989. 5 Other types of regional protocoll are also known, e.g., Saqqara, see A. Batrawi, "Remains of the KaNefer Family, a Scribe of Ptah's Temple at Memphis during the XXVIth Dynasty," Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Egypte 50 (1950), 477-94, pl. 3; D. A. Ashton, M. J. Raven, and .1. H. Taylor, "Coffins and Related Objects," in The Tomb of lurudef. A Memphite official in the reign of Harnesses II, London 1991, 8-31; A. Niwinski, "Coffins from the Tomb of lurudef. A reconsideration. The Problem of Some Crude Coffins from the Memphite area and Middle Egypt," Bibliotheca Orientális 53 (1996), 324-63; Akhmim, see A. Schweitzer, "L'évolution stylistique et iconographique des parures de cartonnage d'Akhmim du début de l'époque ptolémaïquc à l'époque romaine," Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale 98 (1998), 325-52; Thebes, see G. Schreiber, Ptolemaic Cartonages from Thebes, Agyptus et Pannónia, vol. 3, Budapest, in press; Kom Ombo, see A. Schweitzer, "Les parures de cartonnage des momies de Kom Ombo au musée Guimet d'histoire naturelle de Lyon," Revue du Louvre 3 (1992), 18-27 etc.
