Symbols of Lives Past: the Rambova Collection

<v Vincent Price>Images. Images, yes. <v Vincent Price>But more, much more. <v Vincent Price>Each one a symbol, a quest of the soul. <v Vincent Price>Uncovered piece by piece. <v Vincent Price>Each one a part of the mystical hold for those willing to <v Vincent Price>search. <v Vincent Price>The Rambova Egyptian collection is treasured not only for its antiquity, <v Vincent Price>but also for its symbolic meaning. <v Vincent Price>For Natacha Rambova was a searcher. <v Vincent Price>Even as a child, she was captivating.

<v Vincent Price>Born in 1897 in Salt Lake City, Utah, she was christened <v Vincent Price>Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy, the daughter of Mrs. Winifred Shaughnessy <v Vincent Price>Hudnut. <v Vincent Price>Her stepfather, Richard Hudnut being the wealthy perfumer and her <v Vincent Price>mother, a world traveler and collector. <v Vincent Price>Young Winifred grew up with a worldwide appreciation for fine art. <v Vincent Price>Her artistic talents led her into the Russian ballet of Theodore Koslov. <v Vincent Price>There she changed her name to Natacha Rambova <v Vincent Price>a name more fitting her exotic personality. <v Vincent Price>The name she chose to literally forage into the arts and sciences in <v Vincent Price>search of nutriment for mind and soul. <v Vincent Price>A woman of many talents, she was set and costume designer, humanitarian, <v Vincent Price>research director for motion pictures. <v Vincent Price>But by the general public, Natacha Rambova was better known as the <v Vincent Price>fascinating wife of Rudolph Valentino, Hollywood's most <v Vincent Price>lasting worshiped and legendary star.

<v Vincent Price>He was so completely captivated by her, he described her as no <v Vincent Price>ordinary woman, but rather like the reincarnation of some mighty <v Vincent Price>goddess of the past. <v Vincent Price>Oddly enough, she did possess a striking resemblance to Nephertiti, <v Vincent Price>the Egyptian queen, whom history describes as one of its most dramatic <v Vincent Price>beauties, so beautiful that modern-day reproductions of her famous <v Vincent Price>portrait had such as this one, are still in demand. <v Vincent Price>Natacha did seem to have more rapport with the past than the present. <v Vincent Price>She understood and felt more comfortable with the mystical rather than the mundane. <v Vincent Price>In a letter she wrote, My interest in mythology and legend began <v Vincent Price>as a child as I never read any other kind of book. <v Vincent Price>And when asked to create sets for a certain screenplay, she explained her refusal <v Vincent Price>by saying it was a modern story and modern stories have always

<v Vincent Price>bored me. <v Vincent Price>In the 1940s and early 50s, she went on two expeditions to Egypt, <v Vincent Price>the country where for centuries symbolism had been the breath of life. <v Vincent Price>She became a dedicated research scholar and assisted in the translation and recording <v Vincent Price>of texts from ancient Egyptian tombs, including Ramses the 6th <v Vincent Price>and the shrines of Tutankhamun. <v Vincent Price>And as she worked and traveled, she grew intensely interested in comparative religion <v Vincent Price>and symbolism and became a respected Egyptologist in her own <v Vincent Price>right. <v Vincent Price>We approach the Rambova collection. <v Vincent Price>through several of the beautiful galleries of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. <v Vincent Price>Natacha donated her collection to the University of Utah.

<v Vincent Price>The state of her birth and its permanent home is here at the museum. <v Vincent Price>Among so many other beautiful pieces of art as <v Vincent Price>the boy king, Tutankhamen continues to weave his dazzling <v Vincent Price>spell over the minds and hearts of the 20th century. <v Vincent Price>We must remember Natacha was a searcher, and her collection must <v Vincent Price>be viewed with an entirely different perspective. <v Vincent Price>She was not searching for treasures of silver and gold, but for treasures <v Vincent Price>of truth. <v Vincent Price>And since, according to an ancient text, truth does not come into <v Vincent Price>the world naked but clothed in types and images. <v Vincent Price>We must look at her collection through her eyes and see each object as <v Vincent Price>what she called a symbolic piece, essential to the reconstruction <v Vincent Price>of religious patterns of Egyptian thought. <v Vincent Price>In 1956 from Egypt, she wrote, I feel that we

<v Vincent Price>shall eventually be able to support and prove the contentions of the <v Vincent Price>classical world concerning the great wisdom that was Egypt, <v Vincent Price>when re-assemble, this imagery shows an insight and knowledge <v Vincent Price>of the inner workings of man's nature. <v Vincent Price>Now come spill evening on and twilight. <v Vincent Price>Gray had in her sober livery all things clad. <v Vincent Price>Those words of Milton's aptly set the mood for embarking into the nether <v Vincent Price>regions of Egyptian symbolism. <v Vincent Price>At death, this is the type of vessel that carried the deceased across <v Vincent Price>the Nile to the burying ground always in the west where the sun dies <v Vincent Price>each night. The Egyptians believed in a literal life after death <v Vincent Price>and a model funerary barge or boat was essential for survival

<v Vincent Price>in the afterlife. The barge was believed to carry the soul on <v Vincent Price>the treacherous journey every night along the waters, through the realms <v Vincent Price>of the underworld, where demons and monsters tried to impede progress, <v Vincent Price>and where it is wise to pay tribute to Cyrus, the king of the dead. <v Vincent Price>Solemn oarsman rowed the barge, but the soul is destined to arrive safely <v Vincent Price>in the east by morning if the body has been properly mummified <v Vincent Price>and will rise again with the sun God, the terrors of the night forgotten <v Vincent Price>were bathed in the light of morning. Each new day brings resurrection and rebirth <v Vincent Price>of the car or soul as the mighty sun god Ra journeys <v Vincent Price>across the heavens. <v Vincent Price>The belief in a literal life after death was so prevalent that all Egyptian

<v Vincent Price>graves and tombs were equipped with whatever necessities they could afford <v Vincent Price>and crafted over 5000 years ago. <v Vincent Price>This pottery canoe enabled the deceased to travel all fish <v Vincent Price>in the afterlife. It is protected by the heads of turtles to help <v Vincent Price>it maneuver in the water. <v Vincent Price>Birds and animals were sacred to the ancients and were recognized as being <v Vincent Price>essential to men's ecology countless millennia before that ecology <v Vincent Price>ever became threatened. <v Vincent Price>Noted for their antiquity, these archaic stone and ceramic vessels <v Vincent Price>also date back to prehistoric times, again and <v Vincent Price>again, we see the expanding circles of life that go on forever. <v Vincent Price>This symbol is found in every known ancient culture, like the ripples <v Vincent Price>of water expanding when a stone is thrown into a pond.

<v Vincent Price>There are also mountains and water symbols, as well as bird and animal pictures <v Vincent Price>appearing on these mortuary vessels that would have contained food, oil <v Vincent Price>and other necessities for the afterlife. <v Vincent Price>But eventually all the food in the jars would be gone. <v Vincent Price>How could more food be produced to sustain the soul in the hereafter? <v Vincent Price>Do the ancient Egyptian any symbolic Greek creation of an object <v Vincent Price>Cresson or God was just as real and functional as whatever <v Vincent Price>was symbolized for the life source was fluid and could <v Vincent Price>enter into any shape or mold. <v Vincent Price>Therefore, the people began the practice of having miniature models made of <v Vincent Price>daily activities. They believe the models would actually perform <v Vincent Price>the necessary tasks in the afterlife.

<v Vincent Price>This wooden plows had assured the deceased of someone to plant and harvest <v Vincent Price>his crop of grain. <v Vincent Price>But all this preoccupation of equipping a tomb did not make the ancient <v Vincent Price>Egyptians a gloomy race. <v Vincent Price>Far from it. Their philosophy being that in as much as they <v Vincent Price>were then living in eternity, the time to be happy was now <v Vincent Price>today. And so they were. <v Vincent Price>They were lovers of music and this sistrum was one of their principal instruments <v Vincent Price>here, only the Handel remains of this ancient music maker, but <v Vincent Price>an artist's rendering shows how the sistrum originally looked. <v Vincent Price>It was a metallic instrument. <v Vincent Price>The little metal disc jingled as it was shaken by the handle. <v Vincent Price>Attending an ancient ceremony in honor of the goddess Isis, you could hear <v Vincent Price>the sistrum in the proceedings.

<v Vincent Price>Typically it has the head of the goddess Hathor protector of women depicted <v Vincent Price>towards the top. <v Vincent Price>Although Alabaster is difficult to work with, it was preferred by the craftsmen <v Vincent Price>because of its aesthetic beauty. <v Vincent Price>Similar in shape to some of the pre-dynastic pottery, these large <v Vincent Price>vessels are beautifully polished pieces of alabaster. <v Vincent Price>But now see the diversity of form and uniform quality, which became so <v Vincent Price>popular during the 18th dynasty, approximately fourteen hundred B.C., <v Vincent Price>this was the era when the domestic arts flourished at their highest level. <v Vincent Price>Each shape of jar or bowl, including these smaller ones, indicated <v Vincent Price>a specific purpose, whether it be for unguent oil or cosmetic <v Vincent Price>substance. The Egyptians took very good care of the body, <v Vincent Price>for it was essential for resurrection.

<v Vincent Price>Imagine a young lady delicately dipping each fingertip into one of these tiny <v Vincent Price>jars to faintly tinge each finger with rosy henna. <v Vincent Price>To line in the eyes, a small ivory stick was dipped into a dark <v Vincent Price>powdery substance called kohl. <v Vincent Price>Not only for beauty, but also for protection from the burning <v Vincent Price>Egyptian sun. <v Vincent Price>Lovers of beauty and beautiful things, the ancients were masters <v Vincent Price>of jewelry making using sacred carnelian, amethyst, lapis <v Vincent Price>lazuli and turquoise. <v Vincent Price>Both men and women wore jewelry as much of it was made into magic symbols

<v Vincent Price>to protect them from harm or evil. <v Vincent Price>In later years, they copied their favorite stones by decorative lay painting <v Vincent Price>faience, glazed earthenware pottery, noticed the tiny amulets <v Vincent Price>on this beaded necklace. <v Vincent Price>They are in the shape of the udjat eye, one of the most popular symbols of <v Vincent Price>ancient Egypt. <v Vincent Price>It consists of the eye and eyebrow of a human with the markings <v Vincent Price>of a falcon's eye directly below it. <v Vincent Price>It represents the eye of Horus. <v Vincent Price>Beloved son of Osiris. <v Vincent Price>Horus often took the form of a falcon, since the Falcon flies higher <v Vincent Price>in the heavens than any other bird, and has the keenest eyesight. <v Vincent Price>For each symbol in the wonderfully complex mythology of this ancient land,

<v Vincent Price>there is a story. For the legend of the udjat eye, we are told <v Vincent Price>that when the gods were vying for supremacy, eicked Set <v Vincent Price>murdered his brother Osiris. <v Vincent Price>Consequently, Horus, the valiant son of Osiris, fought with Set <v Vincent Price>to avenge his father's death in the struggle. <v Vincent Price>Set ripped out one of the eyes of Horus, tearing it to shreds. <v Vincent Price>But Thot Lord of wisdom gathered up the fragments, healed the <v Vincent Price>eye and returned it to Horace. <v Vincent Price>Horace then placed it in his dead father's mouth and brought Osiris <v Vincent Price>back to life. <v Vincent Price>Therefore, the symbol of the udjat, I became a potent amulet against <v Vincent Price>sickness and was even thought to bring the dead back to life. <v Vincent Price>Here, a delicate finger ring made of faience.

<v Vincent Price>Amulets by the dozens were found in Egyptian tombs. <v Vincent Price>Different amulets, each with different magical abilities were placed <v Vincent Price>on every layer of linen as the body was wrapped and mummified. <v Vincent Price>Tiny pieces of faience, stone and wood. <v Vincent Price>Yet carefully carved into little figures and accredited with magical <v Vincent Price>powers. <v Vincent Price>But by far the most popular amulet in ancient Egypt was the beetle <v Vincent Price>or scarab. It was the magic symbol of the sun God <v Vincent Price>for the beetle emerged from the ground each morning as the sun emerged

<v Vincent Price>from the night. It was also a symbol of eternal life. <v Vincent Price>But when the beetle died, the soft part disintegrated. <v Vincent Price>But the shell petrified turning stone-like which would, of course, last <v Vincent Price>forever. These tiny soapstone scarabs are no larger <v Vincent Price>than a fingernail. And yet the undersides are intricately carved <v Vincent Price>with all kinds of symbols, bestowing health than longevity to <v Vincent Price>the owner. <v Vincent Price>To the Egyptians, the head was regarded as the center of life <v Vincent Price>and should always be kept above the earth because its preservation <v Vincent Price>was extremely important for existence in the afterlife. <v Vincent Price>Therefore, a headdress was custom made for each individual. <v Vincent Price>A magic incantation attributes the power of resurrection <v Vincent Price>to the headrest. <v Vincent Price>Since images and statues were real to the Egyptians,

<v Vincent Price>no tomb was complete without figures of the gods to assure the departed <v Vincent Price>soul of divine guidance. <v Vincent Price>This ornately painted figure represents the God of Memphis. <v Vincent Price>Capital of Lower Egypt. His name Ptah-Sokar-Osiris is <v Vincent Price>portrayed here in mummiform, wearing a broad collar with falcon heads <v Vincent Price>on each shoulder. <v Vincent Price>The upper register depicts the sky goddess Newt with outstretched <v Vincent Price>wings. In her hands are the ostrich feathers, symbols <v Vincent Price>of truth and of the western realm of the dead. <v Vincent Price>She wears the solar disc symbol of divinity on her head, <v Vincent Price>and the inscription reads. It is I who gave birth to the gods. <v Vincent Price>In the middle register, the women goddesses Isis and Nephthys <v Vincent Price>give protection to the deceased.

<v Vincent Price>And in the lowest register are the four sons of Horus, protectors <v Vincent Price>of the embalmed inner organs. <v Vincent Price>But most important, the figure is hollow for it once contained on <v Vincent Price>a papyrus scroll. The famous Book of the Dead. <v Vincent Price>A very important guide book for the soul containing prayers, magic <v Vincent Price>formulas and the rules of conduct for the afterlife. <v Vincent Price>Carefully wrapped in linen this miniature mummy is shaped like a very small <v Vincent Price>child. Yet when x rayed, it reveals no bone structure. <v Vincent Price>You see, it was customary for the ancients to shape stones or grain into <v Vincent Price>small Osiris effigies like this one, for these effigies were believed <v Vincent Price>to magically aid the deceased in attaining resurrection and <v Vincent Price>eternal life. <v Vincent Price>Each Osiris effigy had its own small coffinnette carved

<v Vincent Price>out of cedarwood. This mummiformed figure as the head of a falcon, <v Vincent Price>like the God Horus. <v Vincent Price>Most of the beautiful artwork has been eroded now by time, <v Vincent Price>but again it was decorated with the religious symbols needed for the nocturnal <v Vincent Price>journey through the shades of the nether world. <v Vincent Price>When asked by Osiris King of the Dead to perform work, these little faience <v Vincent Price>figures, known as shawabtis, were placed in the tomb to act as substitute <v Vincent Price>workers for the deceased. <v Vincent Price>On the right is the shawabti for a scribe named Nepah from the 19th <v Vincent Price>dynasty. He was made by hand about 1000 years <v Vincent Price>before Christ. <v Vincent Price>The hieroglyphic text found painted on the body is from chapter six of the Book <v Vincent Price>of the Dead. It is a prayer to Osiris reading Oh Osiris, as <v Vincent Price>for the duties of this man and any work which is to be done in the necropolis

<v Vincent Price>and which is to be performed by a working man, behold, I am here to <v Vincent Price>do all these things, whether it be plowing the fields, carrying the sand <v Vincent Price>from the east to the west and from west to east. <v Vincent Price>Behold, I am here. <v Vincent Price>I am here. <v Vincent Price>The other figure's name is Senet, a priestly title, meaning <v Vincent Price>one who does the goodwill of Ra the Sun God. <v Vincent Price>Since he is more recent approximately five hundred years before Christ, <v Vincent Price>he is mold made, enabling his type to be produced in much <v Vincent Price>larger numbers. <v Vincent Price>In early times, one shawabti was usually sufficient. <v Vincent Price>But in later years, the normal number was 401. <v Vincent Price>One for each day of the year and a foreman for each 10 shawabti. <v Vincent Price>On the Shabaka Stone, which is probably the oldest known text in existence

<v Vincent Price>now in the British Museum, is written great and mighty is the god Ptah <v Vincent Price>through whose mind and word all the spirits were brought forth. <v Vincent Price>He was the creator of all things the Heavenly Father, the great <v Vincent Price>one, all gods and men were projections of his <v Vincent Price>intellect. This bronze figure of the god Ptah assured the <v Vincent Price>deceased of the deity's divine guidance. <v Vincent Price>Such an exalted God as Ptah was portrayed with a human head. <v Vincent Price>In some myth, the tongue of Ptah magically turned into the God Thot, <v Vincent Price>who was usually depicted as having the head of an ibis, a sacred <v Vincent Price>long-beaked white bird. <v Vincent Price>Remember, it was Thot who healed the eye of Horus. <v Vincent Price>Thot was the Lord of Wisdom and divine scribe of the Gods. <v Vincent Price>And since the gods could inhabit most any form they wished, Thot <v Vincent Price>also took the form of a certain type of ape, a dog-headed baboon,

<v Vincent Price>with the sun disc on his head. <v Vincent Price>Baboons such as this one often appear in sculptures seated upon the shoulders <v Vincent Price>of scribes, as if to represent Thot's divine inspiration. <v Vincent Price>This deitite image could be part of a scribe's Reed brush holder <v Vincent Price>or some kind of writing equipment. <v Vincent Price>Scribes were very important people because anything written or painted <v Vincent Price>also had the magical ability to become real. <v Vincent Price>So for life to continue after death. <v Vincent Price>In much the same way as in mortality, all kinds of daily activities were <v Vincent Price>recorded in pictorials, on slabs of stone. <v Vincent Price>Here the men are carrying the chair of a nobleman. <v Vincent Price>The inscriptions are words actually being spoken by the men, and because <v Vincent Price>of their colloquial nature, are difficult to translate exactly. <v Vincent Price>But they are saying act well because of the important person who is in your <v Vincent Price>arms and pay attention to the one in front of your feet.

<v Vincent Price>This particular fragment of limestone by relief is thought to be a part <v Vincent Price>of a tomb of a noble named ?Neyank Nasoot? <v Vincent Price>Who was buried at the Necropolis of Saqqara, south of Cairo, <v Vincent Price>approximately twenty-three hundred B.C.. <v Vincent Price>Much later, approximately 1350 B.C., the style of art <v Vincent Price>changed greatly due to the pharaoh Akhenaten, the illustrious <v Vincent Price>predecessor to Tutankhamen and husband to Nefertiti. <v Vincent Price>Noticed the attention to detail. <v Vincent Price>He is fashioned here in the manner in which he instructed his craftsmen to portray <v Vincent Price>him. Akhenaten was known as the humanist reformer, the worshiper <v Vincent Price>o f only one God, Aten. <v Vincent Price>And during his reign, art began reflecting more realistic features <v Vincent Price>and human situations. <v Vincent Price>The ancient Egyptians were the first to discover the art of glass-making.

<v Vincent Price>Glass was treasured along with precious jewels. <v Vincent Price>This frail paper thin glassware stems from the Ptolemaic period, really <v Vincent Price>exquisite. The shimmering rainbow colors are nature's work <v Vincent Price>as oxidation over so many years gradually tinted the glass. <v Vincent Price>The tiny vials are for tears. <v Vincent Price>Paid mourners would weep into these small glass vessels, <v Vincent Price>which would then be sealed and buried with the departed. <v Vincent Price>Hundreds of years later, a 19th-century poet wrote all <v Vincent Price>the rarest hues of human life take radiance and rainbows <v Vincent Price>out in tears. <v Vincent Price>Although we've only been able to show a portion of it, Natacha Rambova collected

<v Vincent Price>a myriad of symbolic pieces. <v Vincent Price>And yet what real significance could this array of diversified <v Vincent Price>artifacts possibly hold for the 20th century? <v Vincent Price>In what way can these symbols of lives past enlighten our <v Vincent Price>present lives? <v Vincent Price>Rambo addressed herself to these questions as she continued her <v Vincent Price>work. She wrote Not only do these myths and symbols serve <v Vincent Price>as a fascinating study of the history of abstract religious thought, <v Vincent Price>but they can also supply an ever-growing need of today <v Vincent Price>for men to recover his lost perspective, his veneration <v Vincent Price>of nature, and his sense of oneness with the great divine <v Vincent Price>scheme. <v Vincent Price>We have gained a glimpse into your ancient world, oh, mighty Ptah. <v Vincent Price>These symbols serve to delight our senses and increase our knowledge.

<v Vincent Price>And hopefully we, of so modern an era can mature <v Vincent Price>that knowledge into wisdom.