Egypt Museum ancient Egypt art culture and history
This sandstone fragment depicts the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III, Queen Tiye. She wears the vulture headdress, and double plum (also known as the shuti, a two-feather adornment for crowns). Discovered at Kom el-Hettân, also known as the remnants of the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, the famous location of the legendary Colossi of...
This greystone square shape vessel was used to hold kohl. Along the sides, a design of what is said to be temples. This piece was sold at an auction by a Private East Coast collection, via the Palmyra Heritage Gallery in New York City, and dates from between the 2nd and 5th Century A.D. Kohl...
Made from red fired clay, this jug depicts a woman nursing a baby. Based upon the medical-magical texts, it is believed this jug would hold milk for the mother and newborn. The baby has the traditional “side lock of youth“, a plait of long hair on an otherwise bald or shortly cropped head of hair,...
An Egyptian wood painted ushabti for lady Anhai, the chantress of Amun. There is a scene in the Book of the Dead where Anubis is found weighing the heart of a priestess named lady Anhai. The image is striking because it shows the young Anhai as she is being led to the afterworld even though...
This mummy mask of a woman dates from the 11th Dynasty, around 2000 B.C. The woman is adorned in a usekh collar, headband with exposed breasts. Her eyes and brows are lined with blue. She wears a heavy wig of black hair and her skin is painted yellow. Most notably about this mummy mask are...
Royal temple lintel of Amenemhat III: a rectangular limestone raised relief from a temple door lintel. The text is arranged symmetrically, with the central cartouche placed over the axis of the doorway. The text cannot be deciphered into a single sentence, since the elements are arranged according to heraldic rather than linguistic principles. In the...
This gold inlaid with carnelian, turquoise head-dress (Met Museum. 26.8.117), belongs to a queen of Thutmose III. The headdress is made from gold, gesso, carnelian, jasper, and glass. The Met Museum writes; “These rosettes from the funerary equipment of three foreign wives of Thutmose III have been displayed in various ways, since they came to...
“King’s Son of his Body”“Chief Justice”“Greatest of the Five of the House of Thoth” Prince Hemiunu was the son of Nefertmaat and Itet, grandson of king Sneferu, and nephew of king Khufu. Therefore, it is safe to say that Hemiunu, was a man at the centre of Egypt’s pyramid age. As well as the grand...
This painted limestone stela with raised relief carving depicts an Old Kingdom era woman named Nefer who held the title, “Acquaintance of the king”. Discovered within her mastaba, this stela was used to supply offerings to Nefer beyond death, including; “a thousand alabaster vessels, a thousand pieces of cloth“, “purification of 3 pellets of natron”,...
Showcasing a clear resemblance to members of the Amarna royal family, it is not hard to see this piece dates from the late 18th Dynasty. Absolute identification of this head is uncertain, but resemblance to Tiye as well as her son king Akhenaten himself, as well as other heads of princesses (daughters of Akhenaten), make...