The Hermitage guide

Although the Hermitage does not possess equally representative collections from all the periods of Ancient Egyptian history, the Egyptian section nevertheless gives a sufficiently clear picture of the artistic and cultural development of this great ancient civilization; and there are first-class exhibits from almost every epoch. The main bulk of the Egyptian collection is composed of minor sculpture, objects of artistic craftsmanship, and stelae. The literary papyri The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, The Prophecy of Neferti and The Instructions of the Pharaoh Akhtoy III to His Son Merikare are world famous. The statue of Amenemhet III, a wooden figurine of a youth, the statuette of Pharaoh Takharka, a stele and vase of Pharaoh Haremheb, are all worth mentioning. Among the small number of objects from the Ptolemaic period there is an interesting statue of Arsinoë III. The pride of the Hermitage’s Egyptian section is its collection of Coptic textiles, which is one of the best in the world.

Almost all the major ancient civilizations of the Near East are represented in the Hermitage. The most important items here are the cuneiform tablets from 3,000—1,000 B.C.: the oldest Sumerian tablet, and a collection of Hittite cuneiform texts, economic, historical, judicial, literary, mathematical, and also some glossaries; there are also some cuneiform writings from the Seleucid period. The collection contains seal amulets from Mesopotamia, dating from 4,000—3,000 B.C., and carved Assyrian stones. Included in the small number of Achaemenid artefacts is an inscribed weight used for weighing metal. The world-famous bilingual Palmyrene Tariff, discovered by the Russian traveller S. Abamelek-Lazarev, has been part of the Hermitage collection since 1902. The first study of the Near Eastern collections was carried out by Vladimir Golenishchev and Mikhail Nikolsky.

The Section of the Near and Middle East and Byzantium contains Byzantine antiquities of outstanding artistic merit: the illustrious collection of sixth- and seventh-century silver vessels; a rich assortment of carved ivories: diptychs, pyxides and caskets; cloisonné enamels; and one of the world’s best collections of twelfth- to fifteenth-century icons (including mosaic). The constantly increasing archaeological collection from Chersonesus is also of great interest. These materials help in tracing certain essential aspects of the relations which linked Byzantium with Balkan Slavs and Oriental countries.

The collection of artefacts from the Near and Middle East is world famous. The Iranian material is particularly complete; the Museum owns the world’s largest collection of Sassanian silver (over 50 pieces of Sassanian origin and 60 showing Sassanian influence) and carved stones (over 900). These silver objects, like the Byzantine ones mentioned above, have mainly been recovered from hoards in the Urals region.

Worthy of attention among the twelfth- to fifteenth-century Persian items are the ceramics: the lustred vase depicting a game of polo, a cup painted in enamels in the Minai technique, and a small stand glazed in lustre. There are also rich and varied collections of bronzes (especially a group of figured bronze vessels) and tiles. Iranian culture and art from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries are mainly represented by handicrafts; these include carpets made in Isfahan, Jushahan, Herat and Tabriz; silks, brocades and velvets, and ceramics with carved or engraved patterns, glazed in lustre or painted in cobalt, from Isfahan, Kerman, Yezd, and Kashan; and a rich collection of Iranian ornamental weapons. The section possesses a small but valuable collection of miniatures, among them originals of the prominent seventeenth-century artist Riza-i-Abbasi.

The collection of articles from Islamic Egypt occupies an important place among the Department’s items illustrating Arabian art and culture. Most of these materials were amassed by Bock and include textiles, ceramics, wood carvings, bronzes which are often inlaid with gold, silver or copper, and glass lamps decorated with enamels and gold. Two magnificent Fatimid rock crystal vessels deserve particular attention. The collection also contains papyri of the Islamic period and other epigraphic materials in Arabic, along with bronzes manufactured in Syria and Iraq (especially in Mosul), a famous dish decorated with pictures of Nestorian saints, found in Kashgar, and a number of well-preserved Syrian painted glass vessels from barrows in the North Caucasian and Kuban regions.