This finely carved limestone head depicts Akhenaten, the pharaoh who reshaped Ancient Egypt’s religion and art in devotion to the Aten, the radiant sun-disc. The king wears the blue war crown (khepresh), its smooth form contrasting with the sensitive modelling of his features. Traces of red pigment still tint the lips, lending warmth to the...
This limestone stela belonged to Pashed, one of the craftsmen of Deir el-Medina, the village whose inhabitants built and decorated the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. It is an example of what scholars call an akh iqer en Re, literally, “the excellent spirit of Re”. Such stelae were placed in domestic shrines,...
Rounded of belly, crocodile-tailed and lion-pawed, the goddess Taweret guarded childbirth and the nursery. Here her form is endowed with the features of Queen Tiye, great royal wife of Amenhotep III, weaving queenly authority into the most intimate sphere of protection. Such statuettes, small enough for chamber or chapel, were charms of presence, depicting the...
Among the innumerable treasures discovered within the tomb of Tutankhamun, none speak more tenderly of the Ancient Egyptian belief in the afterlife than his ushabtis; the small, spell-bound servants who would labour in eternity on behalf of their master. More than four hundred and fifteen of these figures were found within the Boy King’s tomb...
The so-called Faiyum portraits; hauntingly lifelike painted panels affixed to mummies from the Roman Period, are often misrepresented as evidence of Greek or foreign settlers in Egypt. Yet the scientific, archaeological, and cultural record tells a very different story. These portraits, dating mainly from the 1st century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D., come chiefly...
Founded in 1953, following Egypt’s transformation from monarchy to republic, the Order of the Nile (Nishan al-Nil) remains the nation’s highest honour; bestowed upon those whose service has strengthened Egypt’s standing or fostered friendship across borders. Over the decades it has adorned statesmen, monarchs, and visionaries alike, from King Hussein of Jordan to international diplomats...
Userkhaure-Setepenre Setnakhte came to the throne at a moment of uncertainty; a king without clear ancestry who nonetheless restored order and re-established divine kingship after the troubled close of the Nineteenth Dynasty. His reign, brief but decisive (c. 1189–1186 B.C.), marked the founding of Egypt’s 20th Dynasty, the final great line of the New Kingdom....
This luminous broad collar, fashioned from glazed composition, is a jewel of colour and meaning. Its three openwork rows bloom like the gardens of Amarna, with the upper ring bearing yellow mandrake fruits, beneath them unfurl green fronds of date palm, and below, a fringe of yellow, white, and mauve lotus petals. Between each pendant...
Delicate as a blossom and radiant as moonlight, this exquisite vase takes the form of a pomegranate, its rounded body swelling with natural grace. It once held perfumed oils or unguents; sweet offerings for eternity, and was discovered among the treasures of Tutankhamun’s tomb. The fruit itself, newly introduced to Egypt during the 18th Dynasty,...
Before Egypt’s first kings unified the Two Lands, local cultures along the Nile were already producing works of remarkable grace and imagination. The Predynastic Period (spanning roughly from 4500 to 3100 B.C.) was a time of experimentation and regional identity, when communities from Upper Egypt, particularly around Naqada, Abydos, and Hierakonpolis, evolved the symbols, rituals,...
Carved in lustrous ivory, this remarkable statuette represents a beardless king wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt, its weight seemingly pressing down upon his prominent ears. Cloaked in the short, stiff robe of the Heb-Sed festival, his posture conveys not youthful vigour but a striking sense of age; his shoulders stoop, his neck thrusts...
Discovered in a communal tomb at Medinet Gurob, near the lush margins of the Faiyum, the wooden statuette of the “Lady of the House, Tuty” offers a glimpse into the refined world of Egypt’s late 18th Dynasty, during the reign of Amenhotep III. Shimmering with detail of glittering gold, she stands poised and slender, her...
Across the sun-soaked civilisations of the ancient Mediterranean, few fruits captured the imagination quite like the pomegranate. Known to the Ancient Egyptians as “ḥnmt”, with its ruby skin and hidden constellation of seeds, the pomegranate became a living metaphor for fertility, abundance, and eternal renewal. To taste it was to share in nature’s secret of...
