The Egyptian Collection

The foundation of the collection was laid at the beginning of the 20th century, primarily through numerous donations by Ernst von Sieglin, an industrialist from Stuttgart. These include the famous sacrificial chamber of Seschemnofer from Giza and the box coffin of Idi from Asyut, the lid of which is decorated with a rare star clock (Fig. 1).

Sieglin's donations are still the main attractions of the collection and have made the collection known beyond Germany. After the Egyptological Insitute was founded in 1959, it was primarily thanks to the institute's founder Hellmut Brunner and his wife Emma Brunner-Traut that the collection could be steadily and systematically expanded. This was done both by purchases and donations. In 1973 the torso of a block statue of Montuhotep from Karnak, which was part of a British private collection in the 19th century, came to Tübingen. By happy coincidence, the missing head was found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and obtained on permanent loan for the collection in Tübingen, so that the torso and head are now reunited (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2: Block statue of Montuhotep (Inv. No. 1734).

In the 1960s, the ancient Egyptian holdings of the Lindenmuseum in Stuttgart were transferred to the collection, including Monthemhat's Book of the Dead from the Greco-Roman period (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3a: Montemhat's Book of the Dead (Inv. No. p2012)

Fig. 3b: Montemhat's Book of the Dead (Inv. No. p2012)

In addition, numerous other objects were added on permanent loan from the Landesmuseum Württemberg (Württemberg State Museum) in Stuttgart, including a rich collection of steles from the Middle and New Kingdom (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4: Stele of Sebekhotep (Inv. No. 458)

Webseite of the Egyptian Collection in the University Museum (MUT): https://www.unimuseum.uni-tuebingen.de/de/sammlungen/aegyptische-sammlung.html

The collection can also be viewed in the MUT's E-Museum or a 3D objects in their 3-D Museum.

Those inclined may find all 3D objects of the eScience-Center on Sketchfab.