“… I find in this museum an abundance of pasture, superb papyri, whether hieroglyphic, hieratic, or demotic, stelae of the greatest beauty, and, as the pièce de résistance, the sarcophagus of King Ramses-Meiamoun … ”
60.000€
Jean-François CHAMPOLLION (1790.1832)
Autograph letter signed to Sir William Gell, in Rome.
Three quarto pages illustrated with about ten hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Autographed address and postal markings.
Livorno, March 29, 1826.
“… I find in this museum an abundance of pasture, superb papyri, whether hieroglyphic, hieratic, or demotic, stelae of the greatest beauty, and, as the pièce de résistance, the sarcophagus of King Ramses-Meiamoun … ”
Champollion and the Salt Collection: An extraordinary, previously unpublished letter from the father of Egyptology to the archaeologist William Gell, informing him that he is preoccupied with the French acquisition of the Salt Collection, which is to be returned to the Louvre. Champollion also deciphers and analyzes all the hieroglyphic inscriptions entrusted to him by Gell for his study.
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"How can I thank you worthily, dear Egyptian my, for all the trouble you take to communicate to me the hieroglyphic riches with which you are endowed in such great abundance! I can only send you a thousand acts of gratitude, and promise to erect a Stele of gratitude where your name will be inscribed in sacred characters , accompanied by all the blessings with prayer to the gods of 62 regions, to cover you with their protective wings to drive away from you this cursed drop, daughter of Typhon, born from the venom spread on the earth by the great serpent Apophis when our friend Sôou (the Egyptian Hercules) had the good sense to rid the world of it.
It was in Turin, where I arrived on the 15th of this month (returning from a short trip I made to France), that I received your kind letter of January 27th. And it is from Livorno that I am replying to it, in the midst of Mr. 's , which I was charged with buying and sending to Paris for the Royal Museum of France ; this acquisition, which is largely due to the influence of Mr. Le Duc de Blacas, has filled me with joy, as you can imagine: I find in this museum an abundance of material, superb papyri, whether hieroglyphic, hieratic, or demotic, stelae of the greatest beauty, and, as the pièce de résistance, the sarcophagus of King Ramses-Meiamoun [Hieroglyphs][1], grandfather of Sesostris. It is an intact mass, 10 feet long and five and a half feet high, covered inside and out with bas-reliefs and inscriptions. This sarcophagus, the lid of which you have in Cambridge, is made of pink granite and carved from a single block [2] . The collection is extremely rich in objects of every kind. I am currently cashing it in and will have finished packing by the end of April ; I therefore expect to be in Rome around May 15th. Will I be fortunate enough to find you there at that time? It would be a great mortification for me if you were absent when I arrive at the foot of the Quirinal. Please write me a note to confirm the hope of meeting in ancient Babylon [3] .
The tablet found by Dr. Clarke [4] in the ruins of Sais is a funerary inscription in honor of a certain Psammetichus , one of the chaplains of King Amasis . This monument therefore dates from the end of the 6th century BC.
I have heard a lot about this Greek inscription engraved on the tomb of one of the colossi of Ibsamboul [5] : but I have never seen it: I only know that it speaks of King Psammetichus, which is enough to prove that the cartouche or royal name inscribed on this temple, which is that of Ramses the Great, could not be that of King Amasis , later than Psammetichus, as Dr. Young first believed [6] .
Your astronomical inscriptions from Esne [7] greatly interest me. The members of the Egyptian commission did not copy the hieroglyphs of the zodiacs or the astronomical charts from the same temple. It would be a treasure for me to have them, especially now that I have in my possession a very valuable document for the study of Egyptian zodiacs in general and that of Esne in particular. It is a Greek papyrus from Salt's collection which contains a horoscope for the first year of Emperor Antoninus with the indication of the domicile of the planets and their detailed relationships with the signs of the zodiac. I therefore hope to meet you in Rome and engage in a pitched battle, as you so aptly put it, with your astronomical hieroglyphs. Among the few astronomical names that you were kind enough to share with me, I already find those of two of the decans named in the Astrologer Firmicus [8]: Chnoumis [H] and Cnachumis [H].
The cartouches of the Temple of Semné are very curious and confirm what I already knew from Cailliaud's drawings [9] . That King Osortasen of the 17th Dynasty , whose name is formed as [H] [10] had been deified and was worshipped in this Temple of Semné alongside the Nile . This is probably the famous King Nilus of Diodorus.
I found in the Salt collection [11] many royal inscriptions. One of Amenhotep II , several of Sesostris, and a very curious one dated to the first year of King Necho [H], also written [H] on the same stele [12] ; but what interested me most was a porcelain stone glazed in green [sic] in the form of a royal cartouche [13] . In the middle of all the insignia and emblems of the goddess Athyr are placed a cartouche with a first name and a cartouche with a proper name as follows [H]. That is to say, the Mother Lady of Blessings or the Mother Lady, the most gracious Nitocris : this is undoubtedly the royal legend of the famous Egyptian Queen Nitocris , she who gave such a furious lesson to the military caste and who ended up being slaughtered by the mutinous soldiers. Her proper name is composed of the name Nit or Neith , symbol [H], whose phonetic pronunciation I have found to be [H] and [H] plus the word [H] [H]. It means (as Eratosthenes so aptly stated in the canon of the Kings of Thebes) Neith-Victorious , Athena Nicephorus. The royal legend of this courageous Queen will surely interest you. She has all the more right to the respect of gallant knights like you and me, since Manetho assures us that she was quite beautiful, as is amply demonstrated by the insignia of the Egyptian Venus that encircle both her first and proper names.
Awaiting your news with eager anticipation, I reiterate the sincere expression of my unwavering devotion. JF Champollion the Younger . (at Mr. Santoni's, banker in Livorno)
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In July 1825, Champollion went to Livorno: " drawn by the scent of an Egyptian collection that had arrived some time ago, and over which hung a veil of mystery. The current owners, Messrs. Santoni, bankers, refused to show it to anyone, but my name was enough to open everything to me ." The Salt collection was for sale at the Santoni bankers' establishment in Livorno.
The collection of Henry Salt (1780-1827), British consul in Egypt, reveals an exceptional variety of pieces: sarcophagi, cartonnages, statues, stelae, chests, furniture, vases, ushabtis, papyrus, seals, sandals, basketry, funerary masks, jewelry, amulets… in wood, sandstone, bronze, glazed earthenware, limestone, faience, alabaster, serpentine, gold, ivory.
Captivated by the richness of the collection, Champollion ardently desired that France acquire it and thus contribute to the creation of an Egyptian museum. He feared that this collection of treasures would slip through the country's fingers, as had happened with the first Drovetti collection (the Drovettiana), and he strove to convince King Charles X of the merits of the investment. The king remained unconvinced, and the Egyptologist despaired: " It's a lost cause forever, and the word 'economy' sounds very good coming from people who throw millions around when it comes to doing something foolish or satisfying a ridiculous vanity."
Finally convinced by the Duke of Blacas's report, Charles X ratified the purchase of the Salt collection on February 23, 1826, at the asking price of 250,000 francs. Champollion was then tasked with returning to Livorno to draw up a descriptive inventory of the 4,014 objects and then organize their transport to Paris. Enthusiastic and exhilarated by such beauty, he was at work by March 15: " The collection is incredibly rich in objects of all kinds: I'm cashing it in now and I'll have finished packing by the end of April," he confided to Gell.
On May 15, extraordinary news reached Champollion: he learned that an ordinance from King Charles X had just created the Egyptian antiquities division of the Louvre Museum; he was appointed its first curator!
The Salt collection is headed to Paris. The Durance , the ship tasked with transporting the crates of antiquities to France, enters the port of Livorno on June 24th. Loading can finally begin, and on July 8th, the embarkation of the pieces is complete: "The entire collection is aboard the Durance. It's full." The precious antiquities then continue their journey to Paris, where Champollion will receive them at the end of November 1826.
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It was in Rome, in 1824, through the Duke of Blacas d'Aulps, his patron, that Champollion met the British archaeologist William Gell (1777-1836). The latter, a friend of the English Egyptologist Thomas Young, Walter Scott, and Lord Byron, was passionate about Egyptian hieroglyphs and shared valuable inscriptions recorded and copied at Karnak by his compatriots Wilkinson and Cooper, who had traveled through Egypt from 1821 onwards.
In this letter, Champollion continues to analyze and clarify the hieroglyphic inscriptions submitted by William Gell in his letter of January 27th. Furthermore, aware of the celestial connections within the Egyptian inscriptions, Champollion shares with his friend his desire to further develop his astronomical knowledge: “ Your astronomical inscriptions from Esne greatly interest me. The members of the Egyptian commission did not copy the hieroglyphs of the zodiacs or the astronomical charts from the same temple. It would be a treasure for me to have them, especially now that I possess a very valuable document for the study of Egyptian zodiacs in general and that of Esne in particular.”
In a letter dated April 20 (preserved at the BnF), Gell replied to Champollion: “My dear Champollion, I will certainly be in Rome, alive or dead, when you come in May, and I will be highly delighted to see you. I think I will be able to show you many astronomical inscriptions and ‘good or bad’ everything from the zodiac to Esne…”
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Bibliography:
Champollion, a life of enlightenment , Jean Lacouture, Grasset, 1988
The Harvest of the Gods , Jean-Jacques Fiechter, Julliard, 1994
Ancient Egypt at the Louvre , Andreux, Rutschowscaya, Ziegler, Hachette, 1997
Descriptive notice of the Egyptian Monuments of the Charles X Museum , Champollion.
Champollion, the scholar deciphered, Alain Faure, Fayard, 2020.
The Salt collection arrives in Paris. Marie Grillot.
François Artaud and the Champollion brothers , by Karine Madrigal.
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[1] Cartouches of Ramses III. The left cartouche is his coronation name “User-maat-re, mer-Imen”. The right cartouche is his birth name “Ra-mes, heqa Iounou”.
[2] This is the coffin of King Ramses III. The coffin, part of the Salt collection, was purchased for the Louvre Museum. Inventory number: N 337. Former number: Salt no. 3835.
The lid of the vat is now kept at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
[3] Champollion and Gell did indeed meet in Rome in May 1826, as evidenced by the exchange of letters between the two Champollion brothers.
[4] Edward Daniel Clarke was a mineralogist and traveler, born in Willington on June 5, 1769, died in Cambridge on March 9, 1822. De Hammer disputes his discovery of ancient Sais.
[5] Abu Simbel
[6] Thomas Young (1773-1829): English physician and physicist who studied Egyptian hieroglyphs. One of Champollion's most serious "rivals".
[7] On the ceiling of the temple of Esna is the representation of the signs of the zodiac.
[8] Julius Firmicus Maternus: ancient writer of the 4th century AD. Around 330, he compiled a work in eight books on astrology.
[9] Frédéric Cailliaud (1787-1869): a traveler interested in natural sciences. He travelled through Egypt at the beginning of the 19th century and was one of the first to reach the second cataract.
[10] Probably cartouche of King Sesostris from the Middle Kingdom period.
[11] This refers to the collection of the English consul in Egypt, Henry Salt, who assembled several collections of Egyptian antiquities. The second collection was put up for sale in Livorno at the Santoni bankers' shop (Salt was married to their sister). Champollion arranged for the French government to purchase this collection in 1826.
[12] The stele that Champollion is talking about is the stele of Necho II discovered at the Serapeum and currently kept in the Louvre Museum under inventory number N 404.
(https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010010157)
[13] This is object N 636 held at the Louvre. (https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010005956)