Egypt Museum ancient Egypt art culture and history

Egyptian Faience Statuette of a Hippopotamus

Faience Statuette of a Hippo

This statuette of a hippo was molded in faience, a crushed quartz glazed and fired at a relatively low temperature. Copper salts in the glaze impart the bright blue or blue-green color so characteristic of faience objects. Over the animal’s naturalistic shape, the craftsman painted lily plants that appear as a giant tattoo. Small sculptures...

Statue of Ranefer

Statue of Ranefer

The statue depicts Ranefer, standing and is wearing an overlapped kilt of medium length. His hair was cut short and the eyes are painted. This splendid statue was found together with another statue, almost identical, in two niches in the chapel at his tomb at Saqqara. This one shows him in an old age while...

Amulet of a Papyrus Column, Wadj

Amulet of a Papyrus Column, Wadj

The Wadj amulet (also known as the papyrus column or scepter) is an Ancient Egyptian amulet in the shape of a papyrus stem. These amulets were made out of turquoise feldspar, as is indicated in the Book of the Dead. This faience amulet represents a papyrus column. Incised lines on the umbel delineate the leaves....

Gold Snake Bracelet

Gold Snake Bracelet

Ancient Egyptian hollow and smooth gold snake bracelet. The scales and details of the snakes’ head were chased after casting. Snake bracelets were very popular in antiquity. This type of bracelet was worn coiled around the wearer’s arm, the continuation of a fashion known earlier in the Greek world in the Classical and Hellenistic periods....

Funerary Papyrus of Djehutymes

Funerary Papyrus of Djehutymes

Vignette from the funerary papyrus of the scribe Djehutymes. In ancient Egypt, jackals and dogs were very common in the land between desert and urban areas, so they were associated with the world of necropolis and the dead. Specifically, their wandering among the tombs was interpreted as a perpetual guard service to the deceased. The...

Chest of Tutankhamun with Miniature Panoramas

Chest of Tutankhamun with Miniature Panoramas

This magnificent wooden chest of Tutankhamun is painted on all its surfaces with hunting and war scenes. On one side of the lid, King Tutankhamun is depicted in his chariot, hunting gazelles, deers, ostriches, and other desert animals. On the other side, he is shooting arrows at lions. The short sides shows the king is...

Understanding Hieroglyphs: A Quick and Simple Guide

Understanding Hieroglyphs

“If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to read and understanding hieroglyphs, this book is the perfect guide. This book will teach you all you need to know about deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, with the help of hundreds of the most commonly used hieroglyphs arranged in easy-to-use tables, with translations, plus examples from monuments, ancient documents...

Head of a King

Head of a King

This rare head of a king with beard and one eye-ball missing; ear chipped; tip of crown broken off and replaced. Recent bruises on the left cheek and the crown. The right eye-ball is carved of fine marl, originally held in place by a copper hand, of which two small fragments (completely oxidized) remain. The...

Gold Dagger and Sheath of Tutankhamun

Gold Dagger and Sheath of Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun’s mummy was provided with two daggers encased in gold sheaths, one with an iron blade and the other with a blade of hardened gold. It is the latter specimen ceremonial Egyptian dagger which is shown here. The handle is exquisitely decorated with gold granulation and glass inlays and is fitted with a knob of...

Personalized cartouche jewelry pendant

Cartouche Jewelry Pendant

Translate your name into ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on this beautiful personalized handmade cartouche jewelry pendant. The pendant will be custom made, by hand, in the ancient bazaar of Khan el-Khalili in the heart of Cairo. Each cartouche is stamped, often in two places, with the Egyptian government’s hallmark certifying the gold or silver content. Each...