About this objectThe toe of an Egyptian colossal statue. This may be from a colossal statue of Amenhotep III from Luxor, possibly from his mortuary temple at Kom el Hisn on the West Bank of the River Nile.
The toe was donated to the museum in 2019 by the sculptor John Mills who had been gifted the toe 50 years prior by the textile artist Peter Collingwood. The two young artists lived and worked at Digswell House near Welwyn Garden City and Peter, who had been using the toe as a doorstop, passed the toe to his sculptor friend. Both artists went on to become internationally famous. John Mills added the base of Carrara marble to the toe, a 21st century British addition by a famous artist, building on the work of the unknown sculptor from Ancient Egypt. A combined sculpture made across thousands of years.
The toe likely entered the Collingwood family through Lord Cuthbert Collingwood an 18th Century Admiral who probably brought the to this country at some time during his naval service in the 1700s or very early 1800s. John Mills the sculptor behind the Women of World War Two Memorial in London added the Carrara marble base to the toe.
