The Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge has an exhibition on at the moment, "Made In Ancient Egypt", and I got a chance to visit last weekend. It was absolutely fascinating, involving finds not only from their own collection, but borrowed from museums all over the world.
It might have been made for me, foregrounding the skill of the ancient artists and artisans, but also their own pride in their accomplishments, with tomb stelae which, essentially, said "I was very good at what I did, and so were my ancestors before me!
The exhibition was illuminated, and illustrated, with large reproductions of watercolours by a number of recording artists, showing various artists and artisans at work, and they covered a variety of skills: jewellery making, metalworking, carving, textiles, faience making.
I found an old friend, only ever seen in photos before, one of the items whose story told me so much about ancient skill, because I heard a modern glass artist describing the difficulty involved in recreating this small vessel.
If anything I found the little fish even more enchanting in person, as it were, than I found it in the photos I originally saw. I think my version is about half the size of his model and forerunner, and I wish he'd stowed away in my pocket for an introduction!
If you have an interest in ancient Egyptian art and artisans, and the Fitzwilliam is somewhere you can get to, do go - it was well worth the time and the money - this was a ticketed exhibition, not surprisingly with so many items borrowed from far and wide.