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The ancient Egyptian penchant for adorning the body is well documented, with plenty of historical information available about swaddled-up corpses (and plenty of films set in Egypt BC featuring Cleopatra’s lot balancing immoderate headdresses above kohl-lined eyes). It’s a big topic, to be sure, and you might reasonably expect this to be an expansive exhibition. But Two Temple Place isn’t the British Museum, and it’s not trying to be: instead, this select collection of archaeological booty has a charm all of its own.
Spread over two rooms, ‘Beyond Beauty’ is a whistlestop tour of the Egyptian collections held at seven of the UK’s smaller institutions who have banded together to bring their impressive wares to a London audience. Among these are some splendidly preserved sarcophagi and mummy coverings, pretty necklaces and tasteful pots for ointments and cosmetics, limestone jars used to hold internal organs (topped by carved animal and human heads – think morbid Pez dispensers), and the pièce de résistance: a gilded mummy head (on loan from Ipswich Museum), from a Roman citizen called Titus Flavius Demetrios, who chose to be buried Egyptian-style. It is an excellent example of cross-cultural pollination between ancient societies, and a handsome one at that.
For any non-Egyptologist with a short attention span for endless display cases of earthenware spoons and bits of glass, this small showing provides an excellent snapshot of what the Egyptians were up to when they looked in the mirror (or embalmed their dead). As an added bonus, the neo-gothic interior of Two Temple Place has enough wood panelling, stained glass and filigree to satisfy any fan of the late nineteenth century. And while there’s always a risk the ornate setting will outshine any exhibition, the fit is a good one – evoking as it does the Egyptomania of Victorian times as much as that ancient civilisation on the Nile.