In February 1925, a team from Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, working on the Giza Plateau under the direction of Dr George Andrew Reisner, discovered the Fourth Dynasty Tomb of Queen Hetepheres I. Hetepheres was the wife of King Sneferu (c.2613-2589 BC) and the mother of Khufu, whose Great Pyramid dominates the Plateau. The tomb entrance, which is situated close to Khufu’s pyramid, is currently surrounded by a metal fence and the open tomb-shaft is covered by an iron grille.
Once the importance of the tomb had been recognised, it was resealed to await Reisner’s return to Egypt from the USA. The tomb was reopened and the excavation by Dows Dunham began, under Reisner’s supervision, in January 1926. The most important finds in the tomb were the fragmentary remains of a set of gilded furniture, a head rest, and a bed canopy. Meticulous excavation and recording of this material took 17 months to complete and has provided an extraordinary insight into how the contents of the tomb were found and recovered. It would fall to William Arnold Stewart to rebuild much of the furniture that was discovered in the tomb.
An education in Yorkshire
Stewart was born on 17 July 1882 in the former spa town of Ilkley, West Yorkshire, the youngest of at least six children born to John Reich Stewart and Naamah Arnold. He commenced his secondary studies at Bradford Technical College in the Department of Textile Industries as a full-time day student in September 1897, aged 15. Students would undertake practical activities in specialist dye and loom workshops, and pursue their academic studies in lecture rooms equipped to teach spinning techniques or set up with testing equipment. By 1905, Stewart was employed as head designer at Lister and Co. in Manningham, the largest silk mill in the north of England.
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