48 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities. 



I. — Arrangement, Cataloguing, 8fc. 

 Egyptian Antiquities : — 



The general re-arrangement of tlie Egyptian Galleries and 

 Vestibule lias been continued, and a number of portrait figures, 

 statues, etc., have been incorporated and provided with pedestals 

 or plinths, and wooden cases. The washing and cleansing of the 

 hard stone statues have been continued. 



The predynastic pottery and other antiquities, and the objects 

 of the Archaic and Early Dynastic Periods have been removed 

 from the cases on the north-west staircase and re-arranged in the 

 Sixth Egyptian Room. Descriptive labels have been attached to 

 the painted casts in the Vestibule and in the Eifth Egyptian 

 Room . 



Metal tubes, with perforated ends and filled with cotton wool, 

 have been fixed in all the wall-cases for the purposes of ventila- 

 tion, and holes have been drilled in the glass coverings of painted 

 frescoes to prevent condensation of moisture. 



The collections of mummies and coffins and large funerary 

 furniture have been arranged in Egyptian Rooms I.-III., which 

 were re-opened to the public on May 24th (Whit Monday). The 

 Fourth Egyptian Room, containing the smaller funerary objects, 

 scarabs, shabti figures, jewellery, etc., was re-opened to the public 

 on July 15th, and the Fifth and Sixth Egyptian Rooms on 

 December 5th. 



The Egyptian, Nubian and Meroitic pottery and earthenware 

 objects have been grouped and arranged, each object -having a 

 distinguishing letter painted upon it. 



A selection from the funerary, historical, legal, and magical 

 papyri in the hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic characters has 

 been made and exhibited in the Sixth Egyptian Room. 



The collection of Royal scarabs has been amplified and classi- 

 fied and re-arranged in chronological order ; and one hundred and 

 ninety-seven scarabs have been re-mounted. 



Ten frames for miscellaneous objects have been made; several 

 hundreds of feet of mahogany slips for labels have been prepared 

 for ebonizing; fifty-eight pedestals for mummies and coffins and 

 seventy-seven bearers have been made ; three hundred dividing 

 slips for scarabs and twenty-three for pottery have been prepared 

 and either distempered or covered with cloth ; one box and a 

 number of stands for boats have been made; new shelves and 

 bearers have been prepared and fixed in Egyptian Rooms IV. -VI. ; 

 five coffins have been re-dowelled, and a large house-door has been 

 removed from the Vestibule and fixed in Room V. Three hundred 

 and forty-three figures of gods ha.ve been refixed. 



About five hundred objects have had numbers painted upon 

 them ; one hundred and ninety-one labels have been written and 

 painted and fixed; four hundred and thirty-one objects have been 



