Egyptian Art: Mansoor Collection, Amarna Art

A look at one of the world's most controversial art collections

The art world isn't a stranger to controversies, but few have caused such a furore as that over the Mansoor collection of Amarna era art. The story isn't a simple one, but it is intriguing.

Sometime in the 1920's a Cairo antique dealer, M. A.Mansoor bought two limestone portraits ostensibly from the 18 th dynasty(the Amarna period) the problem was they were going cheap and other dealers wouldn't touch them. Mansoor had found his source(allegedly a hitherto undiscovered sealed tomb, hence the condition of the finds). His collection began to grow, as did his reputation, his list of clients included King Farouk. He was doing too well and rumours began to circulate about authenticity. Artefacts were shipped to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then on to the Boston Museum for testing. It didn't look good; the busts seemed to be modern - based on a report by William Young, an expert on Renaissance paintings - not ancient Egypt. This was enough for the Egyptian Museum not to buy the collection. A war of words and professional opinion has raged since.

Pieces are on permanent display in the Louvre and the Denver Art gallery, but Pope John Paul II returned two sculptures donated to the Vatican Museum(all the correspondence is on this site). It makes for a good read with plenty of additional information on this most 'popular' of Egyptian periods(Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti et.al.).

www.amarnamansoor.com

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