Egypt Museum ancient Egypt art culture and history

Nebseni & Baket

This family portrait features Nebseni, chief of the royal stables alongside his wife Baket, and their son named Imen, whose face has sadly been destroyed, but it appears the boy stands before an altar. Finely carved from limestone, the piece measures at 87cm tall and 35cm wide, with a depth of 33.5cm. It was discovered...

Side-lock of Youth

The term “side lock of youth” is not totally true, as the “side lock” is typically plaited hair rather than “a lock”, with the end twisted into a spiral. In Middle Kingdom portrayals, the end is rolled forward, rather like a lone ‘pigtail’. Alas, throughout history and even in modern times, a “lock of hair”...

Kushite King

This bronze statuette depicts a king of Kushite origin who ruled Egypt during the 25th Dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period. The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, or the Napatans after their city Napata, was Egypt’s final dynasty...

Nubkheperre Intef

Nubkheperre Intef VI (also known as Antef, Inyotef, and Intef VI) was an Egyptian monarch of the Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt who reigned in Thebes during the Second Intermediate Period, when Egypt was divided into rival dynasties, including the Hyksos in Lower Egypt. Nubkheperre Intef’s tomb was eventually discovered by early Egyptologists about 1881, but...

Early Period Skeleton

Human skeleton, likely dating from the 1st Dynasty, buried within a reed basket. Discovered at Tarkhan. This human skeleton of an adult was discovered in Tarkhan, laying in a fetus pose in a cane basket. Tarkhan is an ancient Egyptian necropolis located on the Nile’s west bank, approximately 50 km south of Cairo. Flinders Petrie...

Fragment of a Queen

This white limestone relief fragment shows an unidentified queen clutching a thick usekh collar in her raised left hand. Dressed in a translucent pleated garment with a headdress ornamented with a double uraei, cow horns, double plume and sun disc in the centre, the queen has divine status. The plumes are streaked with blue, brown,...

Wine

Grape cultivation & winemaking depicted within the Tomb of Nakht (TT52), Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, Western Thebes. Wine was a staple good in Ancient Egypt. It also played an integral part in ancient Egyptian ritual practices. Around 3000 BC, grape cultivation from the Levant led to the establishment of a rich royal winemaking industry in Egypt’s...

Paneb

Paneb was a chief of the Theban workers of Deir el-Medina, who is infamous for the numerous allegations against him including; debauchery, bribery, theft (including royal stone and objects from tombs), sexual assault and violence. The Papyrus Salt 124 (also known as the British Museum Papyrus 10055) (Museum number EA10055) presents the numerous charges against...

Tutankhamun's Trumpet: Ancient Egypt in 100 Objects from the Boy-King's Tomb

Tutankhamun’s Trumpet

“Marking the one hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s magnificent tomb, its incredible treasures are revealed as never before. In 1922, after fifteen years of searching, archaeologists finally discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun. There, buried alongside the king’s mummy, they found more than 5,000 unique objects, from the mundane to the extravagant, from...

Nefertiti in Nubian wig

This sandstone fragmented relief depicts Nefertiti wearing the so-called “Nubian wig” with uraeus. Blue pigment of the headdress remains in places, as with the reddish of Nefertiti’s skin. The profile is instantly recognizable with the famous bust of the queen and is delicately carved with a swan like neck, accompanied by a profile carving of...