ABSTRACT
JUST by the Ibn Tulun mosque in Cairo the Gayer-Anderson Museum of Oriental Arts and Crafts is a memorial to private collecting of fine arts. However, one does not so often think of Major R. G. Gayer-Anderson Pasha (1881-1945) as an eager collector of ancient Egyptian art. Some pieces are well known, e.g. the GayerAnderson cat in the British Museum and some masterpieces in the Fitzwilliam Museum. But his field was enormous. He collected everything having a connection with the pharaonic period. Several sections of his collection were devoted to baskets and ropes, wooden implements, prehistoric pottery and palettes, scarabs and seals, weapons, and furniture etc. Much of it was given to the Fitzwilliam Museum, but one is not accustomed to connecting R. G. Gayer-Anderson with the Stockholm Egyptian Museum. In fact, he was a great benefactor of this Museum from 1930 onwards. Owing to financial limitations the Museum could only buy some 'cheap' items from him but was given many odds and ends as well as his magnificent group of ostraca with drawings from Deir el-Medina. After GayerAnderson's death in 1945 many crates with fascinating objects were sent to Stockholm. The Major had a keen eye and the right feeling also for small and precious objects. Among the Stockholm scarabs and seals, there are many outstanding small items. One of them will be presented here as a tribute to the connoisseur of Egyptian art commemorated by this volume.
