Artefacts of Excavation

The Glyptotek was established in 1882 as a museum mostly for sculpture both antique and modern but also has some Impressionist paintings. The origins of the collection come from Carl Jacobson (1842-1914), the son of the founder of the Carlsberg Breweries. The original collection was housed in his private villa which was open to the public but lack of space soon became an issue so the collection was donated to the State as long as they re-housed the collection. This new museum opened in 1897 but only contained the modern works, but Jacobson also donated his collection of antiquities in 1899.

The Egyptian collection has more than 1900 pieces from all through Egyptian history. The collection was started by Jacobson when he purchased a sarcophagus and mummy from the Sale Hall in the Egyptian Museum in 1884. By 1892, Jacobson enlisted the help of Valdemar Schmidt (1836-1925), a lecturer in Egyptology and Assyriology, who purchased objects on his behalf at auctions and at the Sale Hall in the Boulaq and Egyptian Museum. It was Schmidt who suggested that the New Carlsberg Foundation sponsor Petrie's excavations. Additionally in 1910, Schmidt engaged an assistant Maria Mogensen, who seems to have some involvement with the selection on behalf of the museum (see what appears to be her personal copy of the exhibition catalogue PMA/WFP1/D/18/16, London, Petrie Museum Archive) and eventually became the curator.