Antiquities from Egypt coming to S.F.
The de Young Museum will be the exclusive West Coast venue for the international touring exhibition “Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs,” the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco announced.
The show, which opens Aug. 20 and runs through Feb. 12, is the first new exhibition dedicated to Egyptian ruler Ramses II in 30 years and is the first to be presented in San Francisco. Tickets go on sale for museum members Wednesday, June 22, with tickets made available to the general public starting July 6.
“‘Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs’ reveals the power and splendor of ancient Egypt, and expands on the history conveyed within our own ancient art collections,” FAMSF Director and CEO Thomas P. Campbell said in a statement. “Once the exhibition completes its international tour, these objects will return to Egyptian museums and will likely not travel again for decades.”
Although Ramses’ tomb in the Valley of the Kings was plundered during ancient times, the exhibition is able to make use of artifacts from other royal tombs, including ones in Dahshur and Tanis, to suggest the kind of pieces that would have been included in Ramses’ burial. The exhibition is slated to showcase more than 180 objects, including
jewelry, royal statuary, artworks, precious gold and silver items, sarcophagi and masks, many of which are newly discovered and have never left Egypt.
Recently discovered animal mummies from the Saqqara necropolis will also be on view for the first time, among them small cats, lion cubs and a mongoose.
Renée Dreyfus, the newly endowed George and Judy Marcus Distinguished Curator, and curator in charge of ancient art at FAMSF, called the pieces part of an unrivaled trove and “jumped at the chance to have the museum acquire the exhibition.”
“Ramses the Great is regarded as as the most celebrated and most powerful pharaoh of the new kingdom,” said Dreyfus, who has worked for the museums for 45 years. “That was Egypt’s golden age, and that meant that he was overseeing a very wealthy and powerful empire. The exquisite sculpture and the great architecture, the monumental temples that he built to himself and to the gods, were meant for the ages.”
“Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs” comes to San Francisco in partnership with the Supreme Council of Antiquities of the Arab Republic
9:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. Opens Aug. 20. On view through Feb. 12. $20-$40. Additional charge for “Ramses and Nefertari: Journey to Osiris” to be announced. De Young Museum, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, S.F. 415-7503600. deyoung.famsf.org