The collection on display

Bolton Museum’s internationally renowned Egyptology collection is housed within five outstanding permanent galleries that were renovated in 2018. The entrance gallery is all about the West’s love for ancient Egypt, displaying a selection of the museum’s own Egyptomania collection of custom designed shoes, military paraphernalia, Lord Leverhulme’s personal smoking cap and the infamous Amarna Princess statue, made by a local forger in his shed some 30 years ago.

The museum’s latest temporary exhibition In the Temple of the Female Pharaoh: Hatshepsut and Howard Carter is housed in an adjacent small gallery and centres around the loan of a painting from the Egypt Exploration Society, the largest watercolour painted by archaeologist Howard Carter. With input also provided by The Egyptomania Museum’s expert consultant Prof Joann Fletcher, this small but impactful exhibition was created by Bolton Museum curator Ian Trumble, and we are delighted to say that he too has now very generously offered his support and expertise to The Egyptomania Museum.

So working together with The Egyptomania Museum, Mr Trumble and Prof Fletcher selected objects from our collection to complement both the temporary exhibition and their latest series of popular study days ‘The Queens of Ancient Egypt’. Focusing on some of Egypt’s most famous and powerful women, items include Chabrawichi Nefertiti perfume, Antony and Cleopatra tiles by Minton and Players cigarette cards, which along with many other things now take centre stage at the entrance to the Bolton’s Egypt galleries, in a cylindrical case aptly named ‘OBSESSION’.