A 12th dynasty Egyptian Middle Kingdom pectoral belonging to princess Mereret, the daughter of king Senusret III and sister of king Amenemhat III. The pectoral shows the cartouche or royal name of king Amenemhat III and depicts this king triumphantly defeating his enemies. “The king himself appears on either side in a stance familiar to...
A gold diadem of Princess Khenmet, possibly daughter of King Amenemhat II. She is mainly known from her unrobbed tomb containing a set of outstanding personal adornments. This masterpiece was found in the tomb of Khnemet and her sister Princess Ita in Dahshur. The crown is made of a network of interlaced gold wires that entangle...
This large model shows a courtyard where the inspection of cattle took place. Meketre, his son, and four scribes sit under a columned canopy with scribes and guards standing nearby. Cattle are driven before them by several farmers and herdsmen in order to be counted for inspection purposes. All men are wearing short kilts and...
The diadem of princess Khenmet is formed of a series of horizontal and vertical decorations made of gold with inlays of semiprecious stones and glass paste. Each horizontal element is composed of a rosette flanked by two bell-shaped flowers heavily inlaid with carnelian, turquoise, and lapis lazuli. This decoration is repeated eight times. Two delicate...
This benevolent-looking hippopotamus figurine slips into the marshes, taking on their color and half-engulfed in water plants. Bright-blue Egyptian faience figures of hippopotami such as this were placed in the tombs of high-ranking civil servants toward the end of the Middle Kingdom. The hippopotamus was associated with the fertility of the Nile mud or silt....
The girdle of the Princess Sithathor is made of eight gold, half-open cowry shells. The ones at each end have flat reverses, and were joined by means of grooves to serve as a clasp, fastening the girdle when they slid one into the other. The shells are separated from each other by rhomboidal polychrome beads...
Fragment of a limestone statue (snout restored) of the chief god of Faiyum, the crocodile-headed Sobek. The statue comes from the mortuary temple of Amenemhat III, attached to his pyramid in Hawara. Although the temple was begun by Amenemhat III, it was incomplete at the time of his death. It was finished by his daughter,...
Bas relief depicts the royal cartouche of Senusret I (Kheperkare, The Ka of Re is created). The cartouche is nothing more than the elongated shape of the circular sign “shen”, which was most probably the symbol of the solar disk. It was exclusively used for the name of the king, protecting him and functioning almost...
Relief depicts King Senusret I being embraced by the god Ptah. Detail of an elegant pillar of King Senusret I, is finely decorated with relief on four sides. Each side shows the king in the presence of a different deity: the falcon Horus of Edfu; Atum of Heliopolis wearing the Double Crown; Amun of Thebes...
This fishing model was found in the serdab of Meketre’s tomb which contained twenty-five wooden models of men and women performing various daily tasks typical of life along the Nile. One vivid and animated scene shows fishermen on board two green-hulled boats used on the river in ancient times; the boats are made from strips...
