Summary
Ned Harkness became friends with Albert Lythgoe, the first curator of Egyptian art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lythgoe was married to the cousin of Harkness' wife, Mary Stillman Harkness. When J. Pierpont Morgan led the Met, he established the Department of Egyptian Art in 1906 and supported the museum's early excavations in Egypt. When Morgan died in 1913, Harkness became a patron of the department, visiting its expedition headquarters in Egypt and contributing financially. In the same year, he bought the complete Tomb of Perneb and had it installed in a prominent location in the museum's Egyptian galleries.
If you have the opportunity to visit the Metropolitan Museum in New York, be sure to visit the Egyptian wing and notice the hundreds of items that were supplied by the "Harkness Gift".
Side Note: The fifth Earl of Carnarvon funded much of Howard Carter's quest to find the tomb of King Tut. He also "collected" many Egyptian artifacts through the years. You might recognize Highclere, the ancestral home of the Earl, from the Downton Abbey series. I was able to visit Highclere and spend time with the archivist going through the visitors logs to see if Edward Harkness ever visited. We could find no record of a visit, but Edward did provide more than $200,000 for the purchase of the Carnarvon Collection for the Metropolitan Musem.
Lythgoe knew Howard Carter and once the news came about the tomb of King Tut being found in 1922, Lythgoe kept in touch. Lythgoe and Ned Harkness arrived at the tomb on Dec 12, 1923, and stayed through early February. Their timing was perfect since Carter opened the fourth shrine that contained the sarcophagus of King Tut on Feb 2, 1924, and Ned Harkness and Albert Lythgoe were there with him!
Harry Burton, Howard Carter with Innermost Coffin of Tutankhamun (Tutankhamun Archive, Griffith Institute, University of Oxford
Howard Carter's Journal Entries
Had conference with Maxwell (who came today especially), Harkness & Lythgoe upon letter to be sent to the Dir. Gen. S. des. A.
In the afternoon lifted the lid of the fourth shrine (239). Exposing the lid of the sarcophagus. Lythgoe & Harkness were present.
With the good aid of Winlock, Lythgoe and Harkness dismantled the fourth shrine (239) exposing the whole of the sarcophagus (240). This proved to be of magnificent type and workmanship though the actual lid of poorer work, was of granite, cracked in two, and appears to be a makeshift.
The sarcophagus is of yellow crystalline sandstone, slightly tinted, having the four goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Neith, and Selkit carved in high relief at the four corners with their winged arms outstretched protecting the sides and ends of the casket. The upper part has the same entablature as the three outer shrines - namely: cornice, of cavetto moulding, torus moulding, and frieze, the latter bearing a legend. At the base is a dado of <> in relief, and on the four sides of the casket bands of text. On the south side of the sarcophagus, placed nearly central, was a large wooden painted emblem of <> . The lid, of granite, cracked in halves, takes the form of the roof of a naos, thus: <> and is slightly let in the top of the cornice.
If you want to learn more about the King Tut discovery, the video below is an excellent source.
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