Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 102-103. (Budapest, 2005)
ANNUAL REPORT 2005 - A 2005. ÉV - ÉVA LIPTAY: Repelling Demons - Protecting Newborns: The Egyptian Magic Wand
The Egyptian Collection put its new acquisition on display in a chamber exhibition, between 21 October and 20 November 2005. Visitors to the exhibition had the possibility not only to view the new art-object, but also to learn in detail about religious beliefs attached to magic wands. The magical potentials of these objects were empowered by the figures engraved upon the surface. Most of these often fearful figures, depicted in human or animal form, as well as the symbols, refer to the variants of the well-known myth: the story of the creation of the w T orld, when the rising Sun, with his divine assistants on his flank, overcomes the enemy, Primaeval Chaos, mostly represented in the form of a giant snake. The corridor behind the central object, itself reminiscent of the curved form of magic wands, provides a background, at once real and symbolic, to introduce the myth attached to the wand: the legend about the birth of the Sun God. Facing the showcase displaying the new object of the collection, and next to the row of pictures showing the most valuable pieces of other museums the world over, a veritable archaeological curiosity was also on show. It w r as the contribution of Egyptologist Josef Wegner (University of Pennsylvania), that made it possible to incorporate into the exhibition the documentation of a spectacular find, a magic brick from the Middle Kingdom, which came to light during the excavation at Abydos. Motivating us to include the magic brick here was the similarity of its age, ritual function (magical help in childbirth) and iconography with those of the magic wands. Magical protection during childbirth and the warding off of evil demons had a marked role not only in the age of the Pharaohs, but in Greco-Roman times, as w r ell. Hence, many other pieces of the collection, connected on the one hand with fertility and motherhood, and on the other, with healing and apotrophaic magic, were also on display in two showcases in the central exhibition hall. Éva Liptay
