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I saw the Antiquities from the Louvres show at the museum today.
WOW. That - that's all I can say. There is such an energy to the pieces there, such a weight in their execution and such *perfect* forms. To be surrounded by such fine examples of Egyptian craftsmanship. When I saw the first sarcophagus display I actually cried. It was so beautiful and so sad.
I absolutely *loved* this head of Hathor that was there. Such a sweet looking cow head, you just wanted to hug it or something. And I wanted to take the Thoth as a baboon statue home with me, he was so *sweet* with his little baboon winkie hanging out!! Such detail, though, and such *care* in everything. You never see such fine work and detail in things these days. It's a rare thing. I guess it was rare then, too, cause these were all statues and ornamentation for the very rich. I felt so honoured, getting to see statues that, thousands of years ago, I would never have seen given my station in life. That only priests and the pharaohs of the time would have been allowed to see.
There was a huge stone sarcophagus that made me freeze with joy. The inside was decorated with Nut and an array of stars. It was so beautiful. It was like night time in rock. I wished I could be laid to rest in something so beautiful, I really did. And the face on the sarcophagus. I've never seen anything so peaceful and beatific in all my life.
And OH! The big statue of Sekhmet! I was in love!! I surreptitiously knelt to the statue, because she's an angry Goddess and I knew she would have liked one to show respect. I did that to a couple of statues, bowing my heads to precious statues of Gods that I knew were in temples. A little statue of Bast was there, too, I was so overjoyed to see it.
There was a little amulet of the solar disk with the wings and I wanted one so badly! It was real gold inlaid with faïence. It represented the ba.
It was so funny. As I walked away from the exhibit in this sort of lofty daze, I looked at the gift shop which was especially decked out with Egyptian styled fineries for the exhibit. And it was all junk to me then. I mean, there were some really very nice statues but I wasn't paying sixty-five dollars for something when I knew I could get it for forty or less at a shop in Subiaco. Plus I get to talk to a real jolly if not slightly shifty Egyptian man and haggle with him. It's where I got my real silver ring. I need another ring, I think. In two weeks I'll get one.
So, instead of faux Egyptian crap I got glittery eyeshadows from ICE in lots of colours I'm sure Nefertiti herself would have spasmed in joy over. Gold, glittery black, green, purple and two distinct blues. I didn't *need* these colours but they were only two dollars each and are a really nice quality for the price. I also bought myself a silk lily (that gets called a lotus a lot) from an elaborate candle shop. I wanted a blue one but they only had pink and this awful garish yellow. I might dye the lily blue.
I dressed especially for the day out today. I put on my Egyptian hair piece and my King Tut red t-shirt, my gold skirt with my gold and royal blue wrap over the top. Then I wore my shiny gold sandals. And big bangles and silver rings. That would have made me important in Egyptian times. Silver was rarer than gold was there and so only the very rich could wear it. :)
I ended up accidentally startling a security guard there. I sort of came up quickly behind him, trying to catch up with Tina and Thom and he turned around suddenly and I was close behind him. His eyes widened and he sort of stepped back, it was so funny! Ooogah boogah!
I had two sets of middle aged women compliment my outfit too. So I know what to wear if I want to pick up in the forty to fifty age bracket! Hehehehehe! I might go as an Egyptian to Pride this year. Draw Bastet designs on my body and flash and jeer at passers by - keeping up old forgotten traditions! The wine will flow! :D
Really, though. All this time I've loved Egypt, sort of loved it as an abstract concept based on pictures I've seen in a book and things I've seen on TV. And the taste of the reality that I got today - it was deeply moving. I cried when I saw the first sarcophagus display, the one with the gold on it. It was the first layer that contained the mummy (it had been taken out since then apparently, though I don't know how, I can't see the line where they cracked the sucker open). It was so beautiful, so ornate, so loving and so *sad*, I just felt this wave come over me and I cried. I was just so moved by this artefact.
Such beauty I saw today. It revived me somehow. I floated out of there. I giggled and laughed and enjoyed hanging out with my sister and my best friend. After all that age and death and reflection of times gone, I felt young. I also felt like I was an echo of what's already been, that people haven't really changed all that much. It's sort of comforting somehow, knowing that thousands of years can't change humans. Our toys get more sophisticated but our hearts are eternal.
WOW. That - that's all I can say. There is such an energy to the pieces there, such a weight in their execution and such *perfect* forms. To be surrounded by such fine examples of Egyptian craftsmanship. When I saw the first sarcophagus display I actually cried. It was so beautiful and so sad.
I absolutely *loved* this head of Hathor that was there. Such a sweet looking cow head, you just wanted to hug it or something. And I wanted to take the Thoth as a baboon statue home with me, he was so *sweet* with his little baboon winkie hanging out!! Such detail, though, and such *care* in everything. You never see such fine work and detail in things these days. It's a rare thing. I guess it was rare then, too, cause these were all statues and ornamentation for the very rich. I felt so honoured, getting to see statues that, thousands of years ago, I would never have seen given my station in life. That only priests and the pharaohs of the time would have been allowed to see.
There was a huge stone sarcophagus that made me freeze with joy. The inside was decorated with Nut and an array of stars. It was so beautiful. It was like night time in rock. I wished I could be laid to rest in something so beautiful, I really did. And the face on the sarcophagus. I've never seen anything so peaceful and beatific in all my life.
And OH! The big statue of Sekhmet! I was in love!! I surreptitiously knelt to the statue, because she's an angry Goddess and I knew she would have liked one to show respect. I did that to a couple of statues, bowing my heads to precious statues of Gods that I knew were in temples. A little statue of Bast was there, too, I was so overjoyed to see it.
There was a little amulet of the solar disk with the wings and I wanted one so badly! It was real gold inlaid with faïence. It represented the ba.
It was so funny. As I walked away from the exhibit in this sort of lofty daze, I looked at the gift shop which was especially decked out with Egyptian styled fineries for the exhibit. And it was all junk to me then. I mean, there were some really very nice statues but I wasn't paying sixty-five dollars for something when I knew I could get it for forty or less at a shop in Subiaco. Plus I get to talk to a real jolly if not slightly shifty Egyptian man and haggle with him. It's where I got my real silver ring. I need another ring, I think. In two weeks I'll get one.
So, instead of faux Egyptian crap I got glittery eyeshadows from ICE in lots of colours I'm sure Nefertiti herself would have spasmed in joy over. Gold, glittery black, green, purple and two distinct blues. I didn't *need* these colours but they were only two dollars each and are a really nice quality for the price. I also bought myself a silk lily (that gets called a lotus a lot) from an elaborate candle shop. I wanted a blue one but they only had pink and this awful garish yellow. I might dye the lily blue.
I dressed especially for the day out today. I put on my Egyptian hair piece and my King Tut red t-shirt, my gold skirt with my gold and royal blue wrap over the top. Then I wore my shiny gold sandals. And big bangles and silver rings. That would have made me important in Egyptian times. Silver was rarer than gold was there and so only the very rich could wear it. :)
I ended up accidentally startling a security guard there. I sort of came up quickly behind him, trying to catch up with Tina and Thom and he turned around suddenly and I was close behind him. His eyes widened and he sort of stepped back, it was so funny! Ooogah boogah!
I had two sets of middle aged women compliment my outfit too. So I know what to wear if I want to pick up in the forty to fifty age bracket! Hehehehehe! I might go as an Egyptian to Pride this year. Draw Bastet designs on my body and flash and jeer at passers by - keeping up old forgotten traditions! The wine will flow! :D
Really, though. All this time I've loved Egypt, sort of loved it as an abstract concept based on pictures I've seen in a book and things I've seen on TV. And the taste of the reality that I got today - it was deeply moving. I cried when I saw the first sarcophagus display, the one with the gold on it. It was the first layer that contained the mummy (it had been taken out since then apparently, though I don't know how, I can't see the line where they cracked the sucker open). It was so beautiful, so ornate, so loving and so *sad*, I just felt this wave come over me and I cried. I was just so moved by this artefact.
Such beauty I saw today. It revived me somehow. I floated out of there. I giggled and laughed and enjoyed hanging out with my sister and my best friend. After all that age and death and reflection of times gone, I felt young. I also felt like I was an echo of what's already been, that people haven't really changed all that much. It's sort of comforting somehow, knowing that thousands of years can't change humans. Our toys get more sophisticated but our hearts are eternal.
