These limestone fragments were originally part of a scene in which royal hairdressers attended Queen Neferu. The relief on the right represents Neferu, referred to as “The King’s Wife,” wearing a magnificent beaded usekh collar. Behind her, Henut, the hairdresser, has already pinned one strand of hair and twisted another. The relief on the left...
“Paddle dolls” got their nickname from their likeness to modern Ping-Pong paddles. They all include exaggerated images of female genitalia. Some are painted with crude representations of couples having sexual intercourse, while others have pictures of birth-gods. The motif of birth and reproduction shows that “paddle dolls” increased fertility for both the living and, most...
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...
This mummy mask of a woman dates from the 11th Dynasty, around 2000 B.C. The woman is adorned in a usekh collar, headband with exposed breasts. Her eyes and brows are lined with blue. She wears a heavy wig of black hair and her skin is painted yellow. Most notably about this mummy mask are...
This figure of a man is 15 7/8 inches tall with base (40.4 cm), and depicts a male in traditional Middle Kingdom. Carved out of wood, interestingly, the different parts of the body were created separately and then placed together via nails. After this, they were plastered over and painted. The man is currently unknown,...
A weeping cow is milked by a man. A calf is investigating a ribbon or some kind of rope around its mother’s leg.This scene is depicted upon the sarcophagus of Kawit, queen consort of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II. Discovered within her tomb (DBXI.9) at Deir el-Bahari.Middle Kingdom 11th Dynasty c. 2061-2010 B.C.Now in the Egyptian Museum,...
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...
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...
This Ancient Egyptian model boat is almost 4000 years old! It comes from an 11th Dynasty in the Middle Kingdom shaft tomb at Beni Hasan in central Egypt. The tomb belonged to an official called Ja’Y or Tjay – described on his coffin as a Steward or “Controller of the Household”. The wooden boat is...
King Mentuhotep II being embraced by the falcon-god of war Montu (no longer visible) Middle Kingdom, 11th Dynasty, c. 2055-2004 B.C. Temple of Mentuhotep, Deir el-Bahari. Limestone relief of Mentuhotep II: this section of raised relief shows Mentuhotep II, wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, embraced by the god Montu. Montu embraces the king...
