Gold Inlaid Pectoral of Queen Ahhotep I

This inlaid pectoral of Queen Ahhotep I is in the shape of a shrine. Its base is decorated with wavy lines in reference to the primeval water.

It is protected by two falcons. In the center of a boat, King Ahmose I is shown with the gods Re and Amun. The two gods are pouring water on the king in the purification process during the coronation ceremony.

Ahhotep I is the wife of Seqenenre Tao and mother of Ahmose I. Ahhotep II is the queen known from the gilded coffin found at Dra’ Abu el-Naga’ and possibly a wife of Kamose.

Most of the objects found in the tomb of Queen Ahhotep bear the names of her sons, Kamose and Ahmose, the kings that chased the Hyksos out of the country.

The queen played a major role during the war of liberation as testified by the many objects that her sons donated to her grave goods. Some of those gifts were weapons, unusual for a woman’s tomb.

Second Intermediate Period, 17th Dynasty, ca. 1560-1530 BC. Width 9.2 cm, height 7.2 cm. From Dra’ Abu el-Naga’, West Thebes. Excavation by A. Mariette (1859). Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 4683