Divine lessons and humorous imagery in Ancient Egypt
Date
Location
Sponsor
ARCE-NY
Admission
Open to the public
RSVP required
$25 | General admission
FREE | Salmagundi members
FREE | ARCE members with discount code
About the Event
An illustrated limestone flake, or ostracon, in the Brooklyn Museum’s collection (37.51E) is one of many ostraca associated with the workmen’s’ village of Deir el-Medina. With its humorous drawing of a cat serving an elite mouse dressed in fine linens and seated on a chair, the Brooklyn ostracon is part of a special group of “figured” or illustrated ostraca depicting anthropomorphized animals.
Additionally, similar imagery is found in four papyri, now located in museums in Cairo, Basel, London, and Turin. While elite mice and subservient mice compose a significant portion of the imagery, there is a large menagerie of animals performing a variety of human acts, including jackals, hippos, and caprids. This lecture will reconstruct the environment in which the Brooklyn ostracon was created and explore the narrative possibilities embedded in these images, making them effective storytelling tools and offerings used to appease the “Distant Goddess” and maintain the status quo.
About the Speaker
Jennifer Miyuki Babcock is Assistant Professor in History of Art and Design at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. She also teaches classes at Steinhardt, NYU, and The Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY. Before teaching, Dr. Babcock was a Postdoctoral Curatorial Associate at The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) and held research and fellowship positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Brooklyn Museum. She earned her Ph.D. at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU.
Dr. Babcock is the author of Animal fables in Ancient Egypt: Tree climbing hippos and ennobled mice (Brill 2022) which examines how drawings of anthropomorphized animals are linked to oral folklore and the religious environment of New Kingdom Thebes. Dr. Babcock is also interested in the cross-cultural and temporal transmission of artistic iconography in the ancient world and studying cultural parallels between ancient and modern and contemporary lives.
Hungry?
If you have membership with Salmagundi, you are always welcome to have dinner beforehand in our dining room. Dining reservations must be made in advance via our Reservations page.