Artifacts

Shrine Amulet. British Museum. EA59402

Shrine Amulet

Green glazed steatite amulet in the form of a naos or a shrine. A naos (Greek ναός “temple, shrine”) is the descriptive name given to Egyptian hieroglyph Gardiner O18 (see below). Within the inner shrine, an aegis of a leonine (lion) goddess remains. Each side of the shrine is decorated with representations of the leonine...

Torso of Amenpayom. Cleveland Art Museum. 1948.141

Torso of Amenpayom

Life-sized granodiorite torso inscribed for Amenpayom, the great army general of the district of Mendes in the Nile Delta.Ptolemaic Dynasty, 200–100 B.C.From Tanis, Egypt. Now at the Cleveland Art Museum. 1948.141

Mummy mask of Sebni. Cleveland Museum of Art. 1914.731

Mummy mask of Sebni

This mummy mask of a man named Sebni dates from the 12th Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom period of Ancient Egyptian history, c. 1980–1801 B.C. It was purchased in Asyut, Egypt by Lucy Olcott Perkins through Henry W. Kent and is originally thought to be from the Necropolis of Meir. Meir was the functioning cemetery...

Relief of Mentuemhat as a priest. Cleveland Museum of Art. 1949.492

Relief of Mentuemhat as Priest with Staff and Scepter

Relief of Mentuemhat in his robes as a priest of Amun and carrying the wand used to consecrate food offerings to the god. Raised relief in the style of his time, but showing some influence of Middle Kingdom work. Mentuemhat is one of the most recognizable nonroyal names from ancient Egypt. He was a rich...

Osiris with Isis and Nephthys. Book of the Dead of the scribe Hunefer. New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, c. 1300 B.C.British Museum. EA9901,3

Osiris with Isis and Nephthys

Osiris with Isis and NephthysThe Book of the Dead of the scribe HuneferNew Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, c. 1300 B.C.British Museum. EA9901,3 Hunefer was a scribe during the 19th Dynasty (c. 1300 B.C.). He was the owner of the Papyrus of Hunefer, a copy of the funerary Egyptian Book of the Dead, which represents one of the...

Roman funeral shroud of a woman

Roman funeral shroud of a woman

In this beautiful Roman funeral shroud, the woman’s rosy face and large eyes are striking. A long bone or ivory pin holds coils of her hair in place on top of her head, and she holds a small wreath in one hand. Over her abdomen Isis and Nephthys mourn, and over her lower body are...

Statuettes of Amenhotep and Rannai

Wooden statuettes of Amenhotep and Rannai

This pair of statuettes are of the Theban priest Amenhotep and his wife Rannai, who was a Singer of Amun at the Theban Temple.Made of precious black ebony wood (Egyptian: hbny), these figures stand 44 and 33 cm high, with glass inlay and gold trim. The couple both stand in the famous striding pose with...

Statue of wife of Nakhtmin

Statue of the wife of Nakhtmin

The statue of the wife of Nakhtmin is one of the most elegantly sculptured women figures from ancient Egypt. She is depicted wearing a transparent garment of fine, pleated linen and a wig with a band of petals with a blooming lotus flower in the center.

Gold Vase with the Royal Cartouches of Psusennes I and Henuttawy

Gold Vase with Cartouches of Psusennes I and Henuttawy

This gold vase or bowl of Psusennes I with carved stripes on the body reveals the fine taste and skills of the craftsmen of the period. It bears four cartouches engraved on it, saying “The Adoratress of Hathor Henuttawy, Mother Divine of Khonsu, Aakheperre chosen of Amun, Psusennes beloved of Amun.” It is unclear if...

Ancient Egyptian turquoise faience (mounted on swivel bezel in modern gold ring)

Gold Scarab Ring

Ancient Egyptian turquoise faience scarab (mounted on swivel bezel in modern gold ring). From the end of the third millennium B.C., the scarab beetle served as an amulet in Egypt where it represented the sun god. The scarab integrated into a gold ring appears in the fourth century B.C. The articulation of the insect and...