Europe’s fascination with Egypt reflected in the museum

Purchased items added to the museum’s collections in the early twentieth century were a sign of the growing interest in Egyptian civilization over this period.

Deposits by the Louvre covered a wide chronological period.

The first Egyptian specimens sent by the Louvre arrived in Mâcon in 1903 and were joined five years later by a second deposit. It was a set of textiles from excavations carried out in Antinoöpolis by Albert Gayet, from 1895 to 1911. A native of Dijon, he received the support of Émile Guimet, an industrialist from Lyon who founded the eponymous Parisian museum and was a member of the Académie de Mâcon.

The collection was considerably expanded in 1937 with the arrival of another 48 objects. Covering a wide stretch of time, from the Old Kingdom to the Late Period, they evoked daily life, as well as religious and funerary rituals. The many amulets, representing animals, deities and even hieroglyphs, were worn by both the living and the deceased to keep away evil spirits.

The example of the funerary stele brought back by Adrien Arcelin, and acquired by the museum in 1905, is an illustration of this Egyptomania. After being raised in Saône-et-Loire, Adrien Arcelin entered the École des Chartes in 1860. Introduced to archaeology by Henry de Ferry, who was carrying out research on the site of Solutré, he was appointed to carry out a scientific mission in the Orient by the French government. In 1868, he travelled to Egypt to bring to light prehistoric remains. In the Nile Valley, he collected a series of flint objects that confirmed his hypothesis that the area was inhabited by humans before the Pharaonic era. After becoming a member of the Institut d'Égypte in 1872, he took up a position as conservator at the history and archaeology department of the museum of Mâcon in 1876. He added objects gathered over the course of his research to his personal collection, which was mainly focused on the prehistoric era. The funerary stele does, however, reflect his interest in the Pharaonic dynasties, such as that of Ramesses II, illustrated here.

Adrien Arcelin (1838-1904), archaeologist and conservator at the museum from 1876