HTML Code GeneratorWe spent most of today in the Manchester Museum accompanied by a great many small children on school visits. Many of the exhibits were donated from worthy Victorian collectors whose main interest seem to be Egyptian artifacts. But before we saw any of those in the foyer is a lovely painting called "The Disputed Toll". It recalls the journey of an elephant which Manchester Zoo had purchased in Edinburgh (for £680) in 1875. The plan was for the elephant to travel to Manchester by train but understandably he was very distressed and tore the roof off his carriage so his keeper decided to walk him to Manchester instead. The painting records a dispute with the Tollgate Keeper who is going to charge more than the keeper thinks is fair. Supposedly the elephant solved the problem by unlatching the gate with his trunk and walking through. It is probably fictitious but a nice story.
Of course there were lots of mummies, every Victorian home should have one, but there were some interesting variations in style. All three above were from the same time when the Romans and Greeks were influential, presumably the painted face was a likeness of the deceased, perhaps his family could not afford gold although there were quite a few like this one.
Several had pictures of individuals under the feet of the casket, these are supposedly pictures of the deceased's enemies which wil remain underfoot for eternity. A bit of a downer if you arrive at the funeral and see your picture at the foot of the casket!
Of course, in the afterlife you will need plenty of servants, these are represented by little clay figures which are put in the tomb, some are pictured below.
Our unexpected holiday has coincided with Barnet playing Altrincham tomorrow so we are off to the footy, a report will be published tomorrow.
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