Egypt Museum ancient Egypt art culture and history

Fragment of a Queen

This white limestone relief fragment shows an unidentified queen looking left and 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...

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...

Kemsit

Kemsit was an ancient Egyptian queen consort and the wife of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the 11th Dynasty. Her titles included “King’s Beloved Wife” (ḥmt-nỉswt mrỉỉ.t=f), “King’s Ornament” (ẖkr.t-nỉswt), “King’s Sole Ornament” (ẖkr.t-nỉswt wˁtỉ.t), and “Priestess of Hathor”. Her tomb (TT308) and modest ornate chapel were discovered in her husband’s Deir el-Bahari temple complex, behind...

Stela of Neferhotep

Neferhotep’s limestone stela has two registers on the face of its spherical top. In the upper register, Amenhotep I and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari sit on thrones facing an altar with a water pot and a floral bouquet. The figurines and text are all carved in raised relief. In the lower register, the foreman Neferhotep, son of...

Sphinx of Taharqa

Taharqa, also spelled Taharka or Taharqo (Egyptian: 𓇿𓉔𓃭𓈎 tꜣhrwq, Akkadian: Tar-qu-ú, Hebrew: תִּרְהָקָה, Modern: Tīrhaqa, Tiberian: Tīrhāqā, Manetho’s Tarakos, Strabo’s Tearco), was a Nubian king of the 25th Egyptian Dynasty rulers of the Kingdom of Kush, c.747–656 B.C. The Sphinx of Taharqa is a granite gneiss statue of a sphinx with the face of Taharqa....

Sandstone painted statue of Nefertiti seemingly holding offering tray

Sandstone statue of Nefertiti

Thie painted sandstone of Nefertiti, found besides a statue of her husband king Akhenaten in the same pose, depicts an offering scene and stands at 73.5cm tall. Now both headless, the statue of Nefertiti was found fragmented at the waist. Neferiti wears a pleated linen dress, remnants of a usekh collar can be seen upon...

Female Acrobat

This limestone statuette of a female in an arched position dates from the Middle Kingdom and was discovered within Tomb D303, at Abydos. The tomb is associated with a man named Sa-Inher. The woman is archived as an acrobat due to the pose, however, it is also quite likely she was a dancer. Perhaps she...