38 ACCOUNTS, &C., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



opened and repaired; one hundred and four labels have been affixed to mounted gems; 

 corresponding portions of anciently-broken tablets have been found ; tablets with partly- 

 obliterated numbers have been identified; the case books and the book of running- 

 numbers of the Kouyunjik Collection have been partly revised. 



Seven hundred and seventy-one objects have been registered and one thousand and 

 ninety-eight labelled ; one hundred and eighteen pen-and-ink sketches of tablets have 

 been made to aid in identification ; forty-five labels have been painted, and four hundred 

 and fifteen printed; eight hundred and ten Assj^rian contract-tablets have been copied, 

 and about one thousand of the copies in the department have had headings written to 

 them; portions of the various collections of tablets have been examined, including many 

 newly-cleaned fragments. Tablets of the " Daily Telegraph " Collection have been 

 identified and more efftctually registered ; many also of those already published in the 3rd 

 vol. of "Cuneiform Inscripdons of Western Asia" have been identified. Texts with 

 Aramasan dockets (Assyrian and Babylonian contract-tablets) have been examined, copied, 

 and translated for the " Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum "; lists of royal names, &c., 

 with their Assyrian, Babylonian, or Akkadian equivalents, have been written for the Guide 

 to the Nimroud Central Room, which has been provided with an index, and published. 

 Seventy-eight descriptions have been revised, and twenty-four additional objects have been 

 added to the list of cylinder-seals in the Guide to the Kouyunjik Gallery, thirty-seven 

 inscriptions having been copied from stone cylinders to aid in the revision. 



Phoenician, Hebrew, Palmyrene, Pahlavl, &c. : 



One Phccnician and two Hebrew inscriptions have been mounted on plinths; the 

 sculptures and inscriptions in the Phoenician lioom have been dusted and removed as found 

 necessary ; a frame for a photograph has been pi-epared, and boxes have been made for 

 seven Phoenician inscriptions ; two labels for Phoenician, and two for Hebrew inscrip- 

 tions, and three for Palmyrene busts have been written ; six Phoenician inscriptions 

 have been registered ; a collection of sixty-five Phoenician and other gems, transferred 

 from the Greek and lioman Department, have been cleaned, re-numbered, and mounted. 



Collections offered for sale have been examined. 



The Egyptian and Assyrian portions of the general guide have been revised. 



Correspondents have been answered. 



1,176 students and others desiring special information about objects in the Egyptian and 

 • Assyrian Collections have visiied the Department during the year 1886, to some of whom 

 lectures have been given. 



A new duplicate MS. Catalogue of the Egyptian and Assyrian section of the depart- 

 mental library hiis been made, that section havirg been considerably augmented by the 

 purchase of a portion of the late Dr. Birch's private library. 



Two casts of so-called Hittite seals have been made, and thirty-three Sassanian gems 

 have been bound in gilt-edged paper. 



II. — Purchases. 

 Egyptian : — 



Eight hundred and eighty-five objects acquired during the past year are now in the 

 Museum. 'I'he most interesting are as follows : — 



A papyrus in the hieratic character, consisting of letters of the same nature as those 

 contained In the Sallier and Anastasi papyri, which have already been published by order 

 of the Trustees. 



Objects in Gold: 



Seated figure of a king, inlaid on one side : tongue-piece pierced ; a scarabffius ; Horus 

 for pendant : Urffius with crown of Lower Egypt, snake ring ; aegis of Bast, wearing disk 

 and UicLus ; and several rings, one of them in solid gold, with a female figure on the bezel, 

 seated in the boat of the Sun; spray set with 12 pearls. 



Silver rings and pendants : — 



Bell, with loop for hanging ; plaque with rounded top, E,a in outline , lion-headed deity 

 with serpent's tail. 



In Bronze : 



Throne, and behind it Isis with outstretched wings ; a priest holding a shrine cont-ilning 

 figure of Osiris; Ra with crescent upon his head; column surmounted by jackal, syiubol 

 of Auubis ; razor inscribed with name of Thothmes III.; plate with figure of bull in out- 

 line ; bell with four raised heads of animals; altar; arm holding plate, upon which is a 

 trussed duck; triple crown from the figure of a god; triangular arrowheads; awls, or 

 small chisels ; stamps, one being in the form of a royal cartouche. 



In Copper : — 



A pair of cymbals ; figure of Amen-Ra. 



An iron needle, 4| inches long, from Medinet-Abu. 



An 



