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Fouilles de Karnack (sic). Emile Guimet's photo albums of Georges Legrain's photographs on the discovery of the "cachette" of Karnak.

LEGRAIN Georges - GUIMET Emile

Item #M9363

Unique. Three contemporary albums with 120 mounted photographs (albumin and silver prints), slightly varying sizes but most around 170 x 125 mm, showing the excavations at the temple of Karnak in Egypt in 1903. Partly with numbering on images and manuscript captions below images on mounts, two photographs signed ”G. Legrain“. Contemporary half-calf, gilt spine, gilt title label and numbering, marbled endpapers. Folio (470 x 415 mm). The albums are a possibly unique document of the famous archaeological discovery known as ”Karnak Cachette“ with an important provenance, once belonging to the collection of the collector Émile Guimet (1836-1918). They depict the excavations at the temple complex in Karnak, north of Luxor, and show various finds such as statues of kings and gods (Tutankhamun, Montuemhat, Amenemhet III, Osiris, Isis, Horus, the Prophet of Amon, et al), steles, reliefs and hieroglyphs from different Egyptian dynasties. The French egyptologist Georges Albert Legrain (1865 - 1917) spent many years with his research in the temple complex of Karnak. From 1895, he was the overseer of the antiquities there, and in charge of the restoration of the huge temple complex of Karnak in Luxor. In 1903, Legrain made a stunning discovery at the temple site - he discovered a cache of nearly eight hundred stone statues and seventeen thousand bronzes, as well as other artifacts. They were buried in the north-west section of the courtyard of the Temple of Amun, in front of the Seventh Pylon. This is now known as the Cachette Court of the Precinct of Amun-Re - which is one of the four main temple enclosures that make up the immense Karnak temple complex. Among those 800 stone statues, there were more than 350 Block statues. This was the largest Egyptian statue hoard ever recorded. It is generally believed that the hoard was ritually buried by temple priests in the Ptolemaic period to relieve the crowding of private offerings given over the centuries. The work of unearthing all these objects - made difficult by the high water table - lasted until 1907. Most of the statues ended up in the Cairo Museum, but also at other museums around the world. Georges Albert Legrain was a good photographer, and more than 1200 photos of his excavations and re-building still survived. Provenance: Émile Étienne Guimet (1836 - 1918) was a French industrialist, traveler, orientalist and connoisseur. He was born at Lyon and succeeded his father in the direction of his „artificial ultramarine" factory. He also founded the Musée Guimet, which was first located at Lyon in 1879 and was handed over to the state and transferred to Paris in 1885. Devoted to travel, he was commissioned in 1876 by the minister of public instruction to study the religions of the Far East, and the museum contains many of the fruits of this expedition, including a fine collection of Japanese and Chinese porcelain and many objects relating not merely to denominations of the East but also to those of Ancient Egypt. Language: French/Français. Relevant subjects: Egypt: New Kingdom, Pyramids, Tombs, Temples & Towns.

Language: French/Français.

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