Date: Tuesday 28th of April, 2026
Time of arrival: 10.10
AP1: Wierrookbander met de godin Aphrodite en vier duifjes en inscriptie RAMTHU TEPIA (ca. 325-300 BCE, bronze)
Inventory number: 1734
AP2: One of the Twee drinkbekers (ca. 600 BCE, ceramics)
Inventory number: 6260
AP3: Een Perzische koning (Artaxerexes III Ochos) in Egypte (ca. 500-400 BCE, Mephis, Egypt, terracotta)
Inventory number: 7199
AP4: Een Feniciër in Egypte (ca. 600-550 BCE, made in Phoenicia, found in Saft el-Henna, Egypt, glass)
Inventory number: 7714
AP5: Horseman with geometric painting (ca. 550 BCE, Boeotia, Greece, terracotta)
Inventory number: 1318
AP6: Ballenvaas voor vloeistof in kalouraz stijl (ca. 800-600 BCE, Iran)
Inventory number: 11.878
AP7: Wine Jugs, Roman Earthenware from Northern Africa, “terra sigillata chiara”/African Red Slip Ware
AP8: Roman decanter
AP9: Parthische ketting met gekleurde stenen en glas (ca. 2nc century BCE-2nd century BC, Iran, gold)
Inventory number: 9317
AP10: Oorhangers met filigraan en lotusbloem (ca. 1st-3rd century BC, Roman Empire (Egypt?), gold)
Inventory number: 9317
AP11: Bolle fles gedecoreerd met de horens van een bok (ca. 1400-1300 BCE, Cyprus)
Inventory number: 14.237
Reflections:
I got to the Allard Pierson bright and early. It’s weird coming back after the Museum After Dark party, since that was my first visit. Generally quite quiet and there wasn’t that many people when I arrived. There were a lot more attendants and guards though, especially compared to the Wereldmuseums. The one patrolling the first bit of the exhibit I entered into walked really forcefully, and that made me uncomfortable because I was just waiting for a telling off. Maybe he was just bored, but he walked super quick and very heavily, like he was a police officer or a teacher in a film hurrying off to tell someone off. It was wasn’t maybe that surprising, but VERY noticeable how much that changed my view and attitude!
I was a bit confused about how to get around, the signs point one way but then I sort of lost the end of the trail, so I didn’t really catch the first bit of the exhibition.
They had a lot of videos and stuff which was nice, but they also had all these interactive tablets that got me excited, a bit like the ones in Wereldmuseum Amsterdam just with a special program that was supposed to create some kind of map and let you explore objects? I thought it would be perfect to play with for this project, but either I’m just dumb and can’t figure out how they work, and they’re a bit broken, or third, maybe they just weren’t that interesting. There were some timelines and places, but when I clicked on things nothing really changed, so I don’t understand what the point was. They had a very cool and fun animated film about animal/pet mummies though, downstairs in the Egypt section. The animations were cool, but I was also sort of proud that I managed to understand at least 75% of it even though it was in Dutch (aimed at kids though, probably, so that’s why).
One of the exhibit spaces, that face outwards towards the canal and the houses on the other side, was SO visible in the reflection of the glass displays! It was really bad on camera, but also in real life. You could see the houses and also the H&M they’re fixing up very, very well. But at least that let me test a new thing! I tried drawing one of the items (the horse) from an angle I COULD see well (right hand side), to standing and looking at it right on, where my vision was disrupted. So then I could try to fill in the gaps from what I learned looking at the angle my vision was “clearer”, to describe it like that.
I noticed that I’ve been going on with this for a while now, because I got tired super quick, and I think so many of my drawings came out really bad.
I also started working in the sketchbook I made myself! I made one because I finished the bought ones I had, but they were from Van der Linde, and even though I did spend longer on making the sketchbook than I wanted/thought I would, it would have still taken me some time to go there both in terms of walking (especially now that they’re doing a lot of roadwork with the bridges that way) and because I don’t really go that way everyday. It’s nice, but the paper is much paler - although I keep being grateful for my A5 clipboard.
The exchanged the copic markers with some Windsor and Newt ones, because I thought they would bleed less, but at least with this paper they still did. I thought drawing on top of a bleed through page would be fine, but I sort of regret it. It turned out nicer than I thought. I didn’t keep with [my old print instructor] saying to “print every print as if it’s your final”, and also the teachers basically telling us the same thing, but oh well. I guess it’s fine, overall, though.