FALL 2004 - Memorial Art Gallery - University of Rochester

Around the MAGKRISTIN DAVIESPreserved for EternitySo who is the man behind the golden mask?Thanks to an unusual collaboration withthe UR Medical Center, MAG curatorshave a new understanding of a 2,000-year-old mummy on loan from PeabodyEssex Museum in Salem, MA.While the mummy’s name and family connections remainlost to history, researchers using the latest computertomography (CT) scanning technology and forensicanthropology techniques have pieced together a new pictureof the ancient Egyptian, whose remains were mummifiedsometime during the Roman era (30 CE to 330 CE).The mummy arrived at the Gallery in June 2003 to bepart of the new Gill Center exhibit Protected for Eternity:The Coffins of Pa-debehu-Aset. Wrapped in layers of linenand wearing a gold mask, he had recently been conservedby Mimi Leveque at Peabody Essex.First, however, he had a 90-minute appointment in thedepartment of radiology at Strong Memorial Hospital.Imaging procedures are notuncommon in the study ofmummification—the PeabodyEssex mummy had, for example,been x-rayed and scannedin Salem about five years ago.But the technology is changingso rapidly that it was worthscanning the mummy again tosee if new details might emerge,says curator Nancy Norwood.The new scans—taken at intervals of just a few millimeters—haveallowed researchers to put together a highlydetailed digital image of the body and, in particular, theskull. From those images, Kristin Davies, an FBI-trainedforensic artist from the Rochester Police Department, wasable to project what the man may have lookedlike (below).The scans also confirmed that the mummywas undoubtedly a man, that he stood about5 feet, 6 inches tall, and that he was at thetime of his death between 20 and 30 years old. His teethare in excellent condition, indicating that he probablyenjoyed a somewhat comfortable upper middle-classlifestyle. And the condition of his bones give no indicationthat he died a violent death.“It’s fascinating to me that I can take everything I knowforensically and apply it to someone who is 2,000 years old,”says Jennifer Prutsman-Pfeiffer, a forensic anthropologist at13KRISTIN DAVIESStrong, who helped analyze thenew results. “I had to stop a coupletimes and think, ‘Wow, this guyis 2,000 years old.’”Nancy Norwood notes that thefocus of the exhibit is on thecoffins of Pa-debehu-Aset, acquired by the Gallery in2000. But even though the mummyhas no historical connection to the coffins, his presencehelps round out the exhibition’s educational focus.“We wanted to emphasize that there’s a strong spiritualreason behind mummification,” Norwood says. “The mummyreally does emphasize the humanity of the process.”SCOTT HAUSERLearning to Look“It’s like deciphering a puzzle,” said one of ten youngphysicians participating in an unusual collaborationbetween MAG and UR Medical School.The ten, all residents in psychiatry, were learning to readvisual cues—a skill that would serve them equally welllooking at art and interacting with patients.They began by examiningan unnamed work,later revealed to beTavern Scene by 17thcenturyFlemish artistDavid Teniers theYounger. Led by SusanDaiss, the Gallery’sdirector of education,they inventoried theelements of the work,described what theythought they were seeing, guessed at time and place, andshared personal reactions. It was a slow, painstakingprocess, as the residents learned not to jump to conclusions,or (in medical terms) “premature closure.”In the case of the Teniers, it soon became clear thatthings aren’t always what they seem. As Daiss pointedout, a sketch pinned to the wall is not just for decoration.It shows an owl,with eyeglasses and candle, representinghis failure to see the folly of his ways.Formally titled “The Art of Observation,” the programbegan when Daiss’s phone rang in fall 2002. StephanieBrown Clark, an MD-PhD and an assistant professor inthe department of medical humanities, had read about anintriguing collaboration between Yale Center for BritishJAMES M. VIA