On Thursday 29 May at 6 pm, the Tuscan Egyptologist Anna Consonni will unveil, together with the museum archaeologist Annamaria Azzolini, the fascinating story that links the two Egyptian collections preserved at the National Archaeological Museum of Florence and the Castello del Buonconsiglio respectively. Free admission.
The Egyptian collection of the Castello del Buonconsiglio Museum, donated to the Civic Museum of Trento in 1858 by the major of the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire Taddeo de Tonelli, has a close link with the Egyptian collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Florence. The recent discovery, in Trento, of some fragments of the very rare Senemnetjer papyrus — part of which are also preserved in Florence — has allowed us to highlight the points of contact between the Trentino collection and the one exhibited in Florence: a real "cold case", an unsolved case that dates back to the early decades of the nineteenth century!
At the time, Tonelli was commander of the Austrian troops in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and here he would meet Archangel Michele Migliarini, curator of the grand ducal art collections, a key figure in the major's acquisitions of finds. Migliarini is the trait d 'union with Giuseppe Nizzoli, chancellor of the Austrian Consulate in Egypt, who arrived at the port of Livorno in the autumn of 1822 with a load of Egyptian antiquities. From this expedition comes the papyrus of Senemnetjer, along with other precious objects that were purchased by the Florentine "Gallerie" and by Tonelli himself.
During the meeting, Egyptologist Anna Consonni and archaeologist Annamaria Azzolini will recount these "tangencies" between Trento and Florence, the extraordinary nature of the first arrivals of materials from Egypt — particularly precious because they are destined for European ruling houses — with special attention to the rich Nizzoli collection.
In 1825, Jean-François Champollion arrived in Florence to examine the Nizzoli collection. On the occasion of the meeting, a series of ushabti (funerary statues, helpers of the deceased in the activities of the afterlife) will also be exhibited, examples of objects that are matched with finds from the collections of Florence.
For the deaf public it is possible to take advantage of the initiative thanks to the presence of an LIS interpreter (prior notice by writing to info@buonconsiglio.it or by calling 0461/492888).
