Archaeological Puzzles in a Museum
The National Museum of Denmark houses 112 textile fragments from Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Arab Egypt, comprising the richest ensemble in Denmark. The aim of the online exhibition “Archaeological Puzzles in a Museum” is to give an insight into the history of the collection and the textiles therein.
The exhibition consists of three parts. The “Introduction”, in English and Danish, includes general information on what a collection of Egyptian textiles is, how it is created, and the methods of reconstructing its history and that of the objects that form it. The “Catalogue” presents 30 selected fabrics, arranged according to the four stages of the collection's history. This section also contains detailed information on how and from whom the various objects were acquired. The indicative Bibliography is presented separately. For the visitor who wishes to go deeper into various topics, we have prepared eight “Case Studies”. The documents are presented in the form of twelve downloadable PDF's. A combined version is also available here.
This presentation is the result of a collective work within the RECONTEXT research project entitled “Reconstructing the history of Egyptian textiles from the 1st Millennium AD at the National Museum of Denmark”. The project was funded by two Danish foundations – Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond and Beckett-Fonden – and was led in 2021-2022 by Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert. Hosted by the Centre for Textile Research, Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen, RECONTEXT was conducted in close collaboration with the National Museum of Denmark.
Case study 1
A variety of raw materials, technological diversity and chronological landmarks
Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert
Case study 2
The Robert Forrer and Ludvig Müller correspondence
Anne Haslund Hansen
Case study 3
Robert Forrer’s notebook and the National Museum of Denmark collection
Anna Głowa
Case study 4
Reassembling a weft-faced compound tabby with birds in octagons
Barbara Thomas
Case study 5
Potentially connected silk textiles from Egypt in two European collections, the National Museum of Denmark and the Art and History Museum in Brussels
Barbara Thomas & Alexandra Van Puyvelde
Case study 6
Florence and Peter Johansen: the National Museum of Denmark and the art market in the 1920s and 1930s
Morten Valner S. Grymer-Hansen
Case study 7
Margrethe Hald: a Danish pioneer of textile research and Egyptian textiles from the National Museum of Denmark
Cäcilia Fluck & Morten Valner S. Grymer-Hansen
Case study 8
Fringed brown sock
Anne Marie Decker
Co-authors and collaborators of the exhibition
- Dr Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert
- University of Copenhagen–Saxo Institute, CTR (initiator, and curator of the exhibition) [M.M.-G.]
- Dr Anne Haslund Hansen
- National Museum of Denmark, Department of Modern History and World Cultures [A.H.H.]
- Anne Kwaspen
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge [A.K.]
- Morten Valner S. Grymer-Hansen
- Tekstilpioneren Margrethe Halds liv og virke project coordinator [M.G.-H.]
- Anne-Marie Decker
- Independent researcher [A-M.D.]
- Dr Cäcilia Fluck
- Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin [C.F.]
- Dr Anna Głowa
- Catholic University of Lublin [A.G.]
- Dr Petra Linscheid
- Bonn University, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology [P.L.]
- Alexandra Van Puyvelde
- Art and History Museum, Brussels [A.V.P.]
- Barbara Thomas
- PhD candidate, Bern University [B.T.]
Assisted by:
- Colin Clement, English language editor
- Line Cecilie Eskerod Hansen, photographer at the National Museum of Denmark
- Søren Greve, photographer at the National Museum of Denmark
- Inger Marie Helgasdatter Mulvad, photographer at the National Museum of Denmark
- Ulrikka Mohdad, Tekstilpioneren Margrethe Halds liv og virke project member
- Dr Susanne Lervad, University of Copenhagen–Saxo Institute, CTR, revision of Danish translation
- Dr Stine Schierup, National Museum of Denmark, “Collections” Department
- Anine Aakjær Jensen, University of Copenhagen, student assistant, graphic concept and layout of the exhibition
- Simon Grønborg software and graphic conceptualisation
