Arsinoe or Cleopatra?
24 September, 2002 - 17 November, 2002

The unordinary exhibition introduces the specific techniques of Egyptological research. Problems of attribution (determination of the age, style, technique, school, etc., of a work of art) most often are ignored by the general public, though both chronology and reconstruction of historical events are based on attribution.
The Egyptians' attitude to portraying human individuality was different from ours; they either ignored it or concealed it behind the style of a particular age. If a monument is not inscribed, scholars have to attribute it sometimes using minute iconographic and stylistic details. This is exactly the problem with the sculpture showed in the exhibition. It represents a striding woman with the left foot forward. She wears an ankle-long tight-fitting dress and tripartite curled wig with three uraei (snakes) in the front; the headdress (probably a solar disc between cow's horns) has been lost. In her lowered right hand she holds the ankh, the hieroglyph of life, in her slightly bent left hand, divided cornucopia full of fruit. The uraei, ankh and crown show that a Queen is represented, while the subtle plasticity and cornucopia derived from Hellenistic art suggest the age of the Macedonian dynasty of Ptolemies (323-30 BC).
Nothing at all is known of the statue's provenance. Before it came to the Hermitage in 1929, the stature had belonged to one of the Peterhof palaces and had not been known to Egyptologists. When Irma A. Lapis, the Hermitage custodian of late Egyptian art, published her research of the statute in 1957, it became accessible to the academic world and provoked a lively debate which has not so far subsided. The attribution suggested by Irma A. Lapis was based on the characteristic form of the cornucopia, for divided horns of plenty are specific for one member of the Egyptian dynasty of Ptolemies, Queen Arsinoe II (ca. 316 - July 270 BC). The conclusion of Irma A. Lapis was based on the sole iconographic detail and later Egyptologists did not believe this sufficient.
During the 1990s, the statue was showed in a few international exhibitions, so the problem of its attribution came to the fore again.
The major exhibition "Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth" which was held in 2000-2002 in Rome, London and Chicago showed the present-day state of research of Ptolemaic art. In the course of its preparation Sally-Ann Ashton of the British Museum identified a group of uninscribed statutes in the Egyptian style as portrayals of the renowned Cleopatra VII (69 - 30 BC). The group included the Hermitage statue showed in the exhibit.
The new attribution was based on two facts. First, Arsinoe II was always depicted with two uraei (this iconographic detail is specific for this Ptolemaic Queen) which may be explained by her joint rule with her brother and husband Ptolemy II and special role in the affairs of the state which distinguishes her from other Queens. On the contrary, three uraei are specific for Cleopatra VII. Their use may have been an attempt to create a distinguishing symbol for her.
Second, Cleopatra VII emulated Arsinoe II and loaned the attributes of her predecessor. These included the divided cornucopia which may be seen in her coins and other things.
Coins, intaglios and rings having relation to the age of Arsinoe II and Cleopatra VII are showed alongside the statue. Tetradrachms and octodrachms of Arsinoe II with her portraits minted after the Queen's death attest to her enduring cult. An interesting coin is the tetradrachm with the portraits of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Issue of such coins was meant to legitimize Mark Antony as a ruler of Egypt equal to Cleopatra. Slaviya Publishers published a full-color illustrated booklet for the exhibition "Arsinoe or Cleopatra?" The introduction is written by the exhibition curator Dr. Andrey O. Bolshakov.

Statue of Cleopatra VII
51-30 BC
Larger view

Octodrachm of
Arsinoe II
Obverse
Larger view

Octodrachm of
Arsinoe II
Reverse
Larger view

Intaglio with a representation of Isis and Horus
(Cleopatra VII and her son of Caesar Ptolemy XV Caesarion?)
Middle first century BC
Larger view

Intaglio with a repersentation of Omphale
First century BC
Larger view

The bouclet