Analytical study of the first royal Egyptian heart-scarab, attributed to a Seventeenth Dynasty king, Sobekemsaf
Résumé
Analytical examination of the heart-scarab EA7876 belonging to a king Sobekemsaf has produced new evidence on its production. The heart-scarab, with its unusual inscription containing incomplete hieroglyphs, was acquired from Henry Salt’s collection and entered the collections of the British Museum in 1835. It was allegedly found inside the coffin of king Nubkheperre Intef and has been linked to king Sekhemre Shedtawy Sobekemsaf whose tomb at Thebes was sacked, as evidence by the robbers’ confession recorded in the Abbott and Amherst papyri (c.1110 BC). The heart-scarab was examined and analysed by optical microscopy, radiography, XRF, SEM-EDX, Raman, FTIR and GC-MS to determine the materials and techniques used in its production. The results are compared with other objects in the British Museum belonging to king Nubkheperre Intef, in order to understand any possible chronological and material link with him: finger ring EA57698, bearing the prenomen of the king Nubkheperre, and spacer-bars from a bracelet EA57699, belonging to his wife, queen Sobekemsaf, both dated with more certainty to the seventeenth dynasty. All these items were found to be made of unrefined alluvial gold with copper added to lower the melting temperature for hard soldering of the components. The craftsmen of these three items used a similar repertoire of manufacturing techniques; sheet and wire components, sharp chisel cuts to mark details and chasing for inscriptions. There is no evidence for casting. The finding of a mixture of Pistacia resin and a coniferous resin from the Pinaceae family being used as a fill for a hollow gold item has not previously been reported. A close link between king Sobekemsaf (with no prenomen) and king Nubkheperre Intef could have been confirmed if it was evident from the toolmarks that the same goldsmith chased the personalised inscriptions on the different pieces. That this was not the case does not prove there is no link, only that it has not yet been proven. What the results of this study do, however, is attest that in the Second Intermediate Period, a period known for lack of resources, the Theban region still retained goldsmithing knowledge and expertise.
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