This impressive volume gives a complete overview of the burial assemblage from Bab el-Gasus housed at the Egyptian Museum in Florence. This book sets a method to approach the study of disiecta membra scattered in collections around the world. Thanks to the careful work coordinated by Dr. Sousa we are now able to fully understand Lot V preserved in Florence. Maria Cristina Guidotti collected all the shipping documents and the correspondence related to the arrival of the objects in Florence. Marianna Zarli and Rogério Sousa carried out a thorough analytical study of the coffins giving the archaeological context, dating, names and titles of the owner, analysis of the iconography, tranlisteration and translation of the inscriptions. The description of every coffin part is completed by drawings giving a schematic subdivision of the decoration, transcription of the texts, indispensable to detect the peculiarity of the signs, and extensive colour photographs. Marianna Zarli curated a chapter devoted to the 92 shabtis from Bab el-Gasus received by the Florence Museum. A careful description of the material, state of preservation, stylistic elements, typology (following Schneider), burial assemblage gives the reader all the elements to fully understand the corpus present in Florence. Drawings of the inscriptions and photographs complement the catalogue. Maria Cristina Guidotti and Deborah Vannucci studied the three shabti boxes that arrived with Lot V. This part is also complemented with extensive black and white photographs.
The volume ends with three important essays on the reconstruction of the burial assemblages (Marianna Zarli), coffin reuse in Lot V (Kathlyn Cooney), and coffin decoration of the Florence Lot (Rogério Sousa). These chapters allow us to understand the corpus, to discover the peculiarities and to reconstruct the context within which the objects should be studied. The method is set: the lots of Bab el-Gasus should not be studied or considered isolated artefacts. Their archaeological re-contextualisation is fundamental. Lot V becomes then a case study in which theories concerning re-use and iconographic development can be tested and understood.
This book is really the result of excellent team work. Rogério Sousa achieved a wonderful result: we have here not only a catalogue but a complete overview on all the recent research issues concerning Bab el-Gasus. This method should become paradigmatic for the future publications of all the disiecta membra of the Gate of the Priests.
Christian Greco
Director of the Museo Egizio in Turin
Turin