Egypt Museum ancient Egypt art culture and history

Woman baking bread

This painted limestone statuette depicting a woman baking bread was discovered at Giza within Tomb G 2415. According to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where this piece currently resides, the statue was broken in antiquity and was fixed via a wooden peg, holding the base together. If you look closely, you can still see...

The boy Ptahneferti

The boy Ptahneferti

This painted limestone statuette of Ptahneferti (ptHnfrtj) as a boy, was discovered in Giza, Tomb G 2009. Dating from the Old Kingdom’s 5th Dynasty, c. 2465–2323 B.C., stands at 18 cm tall.In Ancient Egypt, children were often represented nude or partially dressed, with one long braided plait falling from the side of their head and...

Wooden face from a coffin

Wooden face from a coffin

This wooden face dates from around 1400 B.C. or later, making it of Ancient Egypt’s 18th Dynasty. It was originally a part of a coffin. Upon the top of the face is a large tenon, on which a wooden representation of a wig or headdress would have originally been placed. The face has a soft,...

Statuette of Amenemhab

Amenemhab and Huwebenef

These statuettes of brothers Amenemhab and Huwebenef were discovered in 1911 by Howard Carter’s Lord Carnarvon Excavations at El-Assasif, Thebes. The figures were found within Tomb CC37 (Hall C, burial 24), placed within the coffin of a woman named Ahhotep Tanodjmu (Ahhotep the sweet) presumed to be the boy’s mother. The figure of Amenemhab is...

Portrait of a woman, from Faiyum

Portrait of a woman, from Faiyum

The portrait was found by the archaeologist Albert Gayet during the excavation campaign of 1904 or 1905 at the necropolis of Antinoopolis in Middle Egypt. It entered the Louvre’s collections in 1905. A fragment of the right side of the board has been reglued. The paint has worn away on the nose, leaving a dark...

Osiride statue of Mentuhotep II

Osiride statue of Mentuhotep II

This head of king Mentuhotep II is made of sandstone and depicts the king in Osiride form. He is wearing the white Atef crown, worn by the god Osiris. With a slight smile, king Mentuhotep stares forth with lined eyes, red skin and a uraeus of royal insignia adorned upon his crown, his false beard...

Lady Wadjkaues

Lady Wadjkaues

This relief fragment was found in Deir el-Bersha, Egypt and depicts Lady Wadjkaues, mother of Sep and wife of the nomarch, sat before an offering of food. She has an Egyptian blue lotus flower held to her nose. Lady Wadjkaues is depicted in the typical style of her time with a slender physique, yellow skin,...

Mummy of Ankhef

Ankhef

Excavated by Dr David George Hogarth, the mummy of a man named Ankhef was discovered in Asyut, Egypt. Asyut Ancient Asyut was the capital of the Thirteenth Nome of Upper, c. 3100 B.C, on the western bank of the Nile. The two most prominent gods of ancient Egyptian Asyut were Anubis and Wepwawet, both funerary...

Administrator Kai

Administrator Kai

This seated statue of the administrator Kai was discovered in November of 1850, at the Memphite Necropolis. The Memphite Necropolis (or Pyramid Fields) is a series of ancient Egyptian funerary complexes occupying a 30-kilometer (19 mi) stretch on the Western Desert plateau in the vicinity of the ancient capital of Memphis, Lower Egypt, today in...

Life-size quartzite head of Nefertiti

Life-size quartzite head of Nefertiti

This life-size quartzite head of Nefertiti was discovered within the remains of the workshop of the Ancient Egyptian sculptor Thutmose at Amarna. Although unmarked, the resemblance to other portraits of Nefertiti identify her clearly. The head is made of quartzite, but has yet to be sanded to create a smooth finish. The face still has...