Pair of Furniture Supports in the Form of Female Figures

Discovered among the celebrated Drovetti Collection and now preserved in the Musée du Louvre, these two wooden female figures are remarkable survivals of Egyptian furniture craftsmanship from the Late Period, likely the 25th Dynasty (c. 760–656 B.C.). Their form finds close parallels in the elegant bed and couch supports unearthed in the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62), where carved lion-headed legs and lotus-borne figures adorned the royal couches of rebirth. Similar motifs also occur on furniture fragments from Thebes and Saqqara, attesting to a long-standing artistic tradition in which domestic and funerary furniture was imbued with sacred meaning. Carved in wood and originally painted, such supports were both functional and symbolic, their human and floral forms evoking regeneration, divine protection, and the eternal rhythm of life and death.

The proportions and design of these female supports (standing some 63 cm high, poised upon lotus bases and crowned with a square abacus) are characteristic of the bed or ceremonial couch legs produced during Egypt’s Late Period. Each figure portrays a woman in a close-fitting sheath dress and tripartite wig, rising gracefully from a lotus blossom and bearing a flat support upon her head. More than mere ornament, these caryatid figures served both a structural and symbolic role, uniting craftsmanship with theology; the lotus symbolising rebirth, and the female form embodying the divine strength that upholds creation.

Funerary Bed of Tutankhamun

The lotus pedestal recalls that of known funerary beds, where the flower’s daily blossoming signified the sun’s renewal and the resurrection of the soul. The square abacus and vertical tenon above the head would once have fitted neatly into the wooden framework of the bed, supporting the side rails or footboard. Beds and couches of this period frequently featured such human or divine figures; women, lionesses, or protective deities like Bes and Taweret, as corner supports, guarding the sleeper in both life and death. It is therefore highly probable that these carvings once formed the front legs of a wooden bed, positioned symmetrically at either end of the footboard.

Tutankhamun Emerges from a Lotus Blossom

A secondary, though less convincing, interpretation would see them as chair supports, for certain elite seats of the Third Intermediate and Late Periods employed small female caryatids at the front corners beneath the armrests. Yet, their slender proportions and considerable height make a reclining frame (rather than an upright throne) the more plausible reconstruction.

If, as seems most likely, they adorned a bed, the symbolism is deeply resonant. The lotus evokes the emergence of life from darkness, while the female figure embodies nurture, fertility, and eternal renewal. Together they uphold not merely the weight of furniture, but the cosmic principle of rebirth itself; a reminder that, in Egyptian thought, even the simplest domestic object could serve as a microcosm of creation and resurrection.

Material and Provenance

Wood of the Nile:

Although the Louvre’s register simply records the medium as bois, the material composition of these Late Period furniture supports invites closer consideration. The carving’s scale, weight, and fine modelling strongly suggest the use of Egyptian sycamore fig (Ficus sycomorus), the most common hardwood available in Ancient Egypt. Valued for its smooth, close grain and durability, sycamore was the favoured material for domestic furniture, coffins, and sculpture throughout Pharaonic history. Its warm tone and resilience allowed for detailed carving and surface painting, as seen in the subtle contours of the figures’ limbs and the soft curve of their wigs.

Wood in Ancient Egypt

While native timbers such as tamarisk, acacia, and sidder (Ziziphus spina-christi) were also used, the tall, stable proportions of these figures required a wood capable of bearing structural weight without splitting; qualities characteristic of sycamore. In elite workshops, cedar of Lebanon or boxwood might occasionally be employed for high-status furniture, yet these imported timbers were rare and typically reserved for royal commissions. The present figures, though finely executed, exhibit the practical elegance of Theban or Memphite craftsmanship, pointing to local production for a wealthy, perhaps priestly household.

The figures entered the Louvre in 1827 through the Drovetti Collection, which consisted largely of objects acquired in Upper Egypt, particularly around Thebes, Luxor, and the western necropolis of Dra Abu el-Naga. It is therefore probable that these supports were excavated in or near Thebes, where Late Period burials frequently included wooden beds and couches with lotus and caryatid motifs. Comparable furniture fragments from Deir el-Bahari, Saqqara, and Tanis confirm that such forms persisted well into the 25th and early 26th Dynasties, under both Egyptian and Kushite rule.

Lotus Symbology in Ancient Egypt

Thus, though their precise provenance remains undocumented, these figures most plausibly originated from a Theban workshop of the 25th Dynasty, carved from locally grown sycamore fig and once forming the front supports of a bed or ceremonial couch. Their survival is a rare testament to the continuity of Egyptian carpentry traditions, linking the domestic artistry of everyday life with the symbolic language of rebirth and divine protection.

Summary:

Female Caryatid Supports from a Bed or Ceremonial Couch

Late Period, 25th Dynasty, c. 760–656 B.C.

From the Drovetti Collection, acquired 1827

Musée du Louvre. N 2309 A