The collection histories of the objects in this exhibition are especially excellent. Most of the objects are from the collection of A. Marguerite Smith (1889-1959) whose varied sources include some of the persons below.

Edward Budde, New York; Budde assembled an impressive collection of arms and antiquites from Egypt and the Levant in the 1940s and 50s. (cats. 3, 4 and 18)

Sterling Callisen (1899-1988); Callisen traveled extensively throughout his life as a museum administrator, educator, and collector. Several objects from his collection of Egyptian art are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (cat. 2)

Charles Dikran Kelekian; The Kelekians were an Armenian family who were well established in the Parisian antiquities trade in the 1920s. Charles Dikran Kelekian came to New York shortly after World War II and established his own business in Manhattan where he became a well-respected antiquarian and deaaler. The present object was acquired abourt 1974 from Kelekian's shop where, according to the purchaser, its presence had been noted for some years previously (Taylor: 1997). (cat. 19)

Count Alexandre Florian Joseph Colonna Walewski (1810-1868) was the illigitimate son of Polish countess Francoise de Bernardy and Napoleon Boneparte, whose exploits in Egypt initiated Europeís collection and study of Egyptian civilization in the modern era. Count Walewski, as stipulated in Boneparteís will, labored in the diplomatic service of France, most notably under Napoleon III; however there is no indication that he visited Egypt (de Bernardy 1957: passim). (cat. 22)

During the 1920s, Theodore W. and Frances S. Robinson amassed a large collection of antiquities. The majority of their collection was a superb selection of ancient glass, which they donated to the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1940s (Alexander 1994: 12-13); a smaller group of objects, including the present example, descended in the Robinson family. (cat. 30)

Arnold Coward, a survivor of Nazi torture, founded a small private museum in Honolulu to exhibit an eclectic assemblage of artifacts, including torture devices, memento mori, and a number of significant Egyptian pieces.Coward, a survivor of Nazi torture, founded a small private museum in Honolulu to exhibit an eclectic assemblage of artifacts, including torture devices, memento mori, and a number of significant Egyptian pieces. (cat. 31)

William Tilden Blodgett (1823-1875); A co-founder, generous patron, and chairman of the first executive committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1870s, William Tilden Blodgett, was a capitalist who made his fortune in the varnish business and through real estate investments. He was also a liberal-minded reformer, a leading abolitionist, and a founder of The Nation magazine. During the last years of his life, Blodgett resided in Europe where he distinguished himself by purchasing three important collections of 17th century "Old Master" paintings, which became the nucleus of the Metropolitan Museumís collection. An avid traveler and collector, he spent time in upper Egypt in the 1870s (Tyng 1875: 42). Blodgett assembled a substantial private collection of fine art and artifacts (Tomkins 1970: 31-46). (cat. 34)