Dreams of Amarna – The Crock of Gold Hoard
Watercolour of Tourieh
As I am thinking much more seriously about the Dreams of Amarna project these days, I am developing ideas and plans faster than I can stitch them. That’s not a problem; it just means that I need to document my ideas as well, so that I don’t lose them before I get a chance to stitch them. In this case, I’ve included doing the occasional watercolour of some of the possible projects – this is a tourieh (a sort of mattock) with a terracotta pot. The shadow isn’t necessarily in the right place, but at least it shows I’m thinking of the right things!
The Crock of Gold Hoard, as it was called, caused the Expedition considerable anxiety, but in the end contributed the finance for several weeks of work to the next season, so perhaps it was worth it! It consisted of gold and silver ingots in an earthenware crock, guarded over the centuries by a small silver amulet, thought by JDS Pendlebury to be Hittite.
I am thinking of working two references to the Hoard: a small or nué panel of the amulet itself (in fact, you may recall that I’ve already bought the materials for this!), and a panel showing the discovery, which will give me the chance to include some gold and silver chipwork to represent the ingots.
In some ways the Hoard has been easier to research than other incidents, because I discovered a somewhat later article (behind a paywall, so I shan’t link to it) about the Hittite amulet, as well as having access to the photographic archive of the Egypt Exploration Society. There were probably a good many articles in the ordinary press as well – nothing catches a journalist’s attention like gold. That said, I’ve been Googling and discovered that Dr Henri Frankfort, JDS Pendlebury’s predecessor as Director of the Excavation, also found a Crock of Gold.
I love the idea of the mattock. They certainly would have used plenty of those!
And Blingy Stuff!
That’s a lovely painting. How wonderful to see your ideas flooding.
I’ll be eagerly waiting for your stitchery imaginations to come to life. I already know it will be beautiful — and the wait will be well worth it!
I love the idea for the embroidery and am interested in the links to the Hitittes. They were wonderful ‘horse’ people and at one stage I followed the translation of some work that was written about the breaking and training of horses that had been discovered.
I for one look forward to seeing more of your nue….I love that you keep your ideas recorded with paint not scribbled on scraps of paper like I do!!
But what if you have an idea in the middle of the night – would you get up and start with the paints and brushes? Just joking – it’s a lovely way to ‘start’ a project. I am in awe of the Map in your previous post – the patience/perseverence needed to complete something like that is remarkable! xCathy
[…] already written about the historical background for the Crock of Gold hoard, and described two possible planned “patches” based on the idea. Now, what with […]