Painting of the goddess Isis offers the ankh, the symbol of life, to Nefertari. A detailed view of Pillar II in Chamber K (the burial chamber). The tomb of Nefertari is located in the Valley of the Queens, near the ancient city of Thebes. It is one of the best preserved and most ornate of...
The Louvre’s scribe, known as the “Seated Scribe”, is indeed sitting cross-legged, his right leg crossed in front of his left. The white kilt, stretched over his knees, serves as a support. He is holding a partially rolled papyrus scroll in his left hand. His right hand must have held a brush, now missing. The...
This earrings of King Seti II was found in 1908 with other artifacts belonging to the king and to Queen Tausert in a hiding place in the Valley of the Kings. It is composed of a flat trapezoidal centerpiece from which hang seven pendants in the form of cornflowers. At the end of the upper...
The tomb of Meresankh III was discovered by American archaeologist George Reisner on April 23, 1927, with subsequent excavations undertaken by his team on behalf of Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Queen Meresankh III was the daughter of Hetepheres II and prince Kawab and a granddaughter of king Khufu. She was...
At the Egyptian Museum in Cairo reside two extraordinary granite statues representing the Souls of Pe and Nekhen, sculpted during the reign of Amenhotep III in the 18th Dynasty, around 1391–1353 B.C. Hewn from grey granite and originally set within the grand temple precinct of Karnak, these figures (JE 41210 and JE 41211) encapsulate some...
In this gold mask, Psusennes I appears with the royal headdress surmounted by the uraeus, or royal cobra. He wears a divine plaited false beard. The mask is made of two pieces of beaten gold, soldered and joined together by five nails that can be seen from the back. The king wears the royal nemes...
This papyrus column amulet, meant to be worn, carried, or offered to a deity in the belief that it will magically bestow a particular power or form of protection, depicts a papyrus scepter or column. This plant, named wadj, meaning “green” or “fresh”, and the choice of green-blue faience all strongly evoke vitality and regenerative...
This wadjet eye pectoral was found on the mummy of the king Tutankhamun, symbol of the entity of the body. The cobra goddess Wadjet wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt “Deshret”, while the vulture goddess Nekhbet wearing the White Crown of the Upper Egypt “Hedjet”. Howard Carter believed that this pectoral was a piece...
The third outer shrine of Tutankhamun is of similar design to the second, with a sloping roof and somewhat smaller dimensions. It is gilded over its entire surface and decorated in sunk relief with vignettes and extracts from Egyptian religious texts. The sides of the shrine are inscribed with abridged versions of the second and...
Ancient Egyptian signet-ring with a rectangular bezel bearing a cartouche with the name of King Amenhotep II flanked by Nile gods (Hapi). The Egyptians primarily used signet, or seal, rings, in which a seal engraved on the bezel can be used to authenticate documents by the wearer. Egyptian seal rings typically had the name and titles...
