This finely gilded wooden statue represents Ptah, the ancient Egyptian god of craftsmen, artists, and architects, and revered as a lord of creation. He was especially venerated in the city of Memphis, which served as Egypt’s administrative capital around 3000 B.C., during the time of unification. Known in antiquity as Ineb-hedj or “White Walls”, Memphis...
This painted sandstone figure of king Akhenaten was found besides a slightly shorter statue of his beloved queen Nefertiti, and depicts them both in an “offering” stance. Although the forearm and hands are missing from this statue, it is evident from the pose and positioning of what remains of the arms, that this piece would...
This stele comes from the tomb (most probably in Thebes; its current location is unknown) of this well-known Vizier Ptahmose from the reign of Amenhotep III. The quality of the carving shows the level of perfection achieved by certain specialist workshops in Upper Egypt during this period. In the middle section is Ptahmose, sitting next...
Gold and carnelian necklace composed of 29 hollow gold flies alternating with spherical carnelian beads and tubular gold foil beads. Fly ornament necklaces, occasionally presented to courageous soldiers, may have been worn as talismans to ward off insects. Small fly amulets have been found in Egypt made from gold, silver, bone, lapis lazuli, faience, carnelian,...
This bronze mirror portrays Isis as a figure of fertility and maternity. She holds her son, Horus, who appears as a miniature adult. As the mother of Horus, the protector of the king, Isis was essentially the queen of the gods, and thus the universal mother. The form above her head looks much like the...
Thuya or Tjuyu was an Egyptian noblewoman and the mother of queen Tiye, and the wife of Yuya. She is the grandmother of Akhenaten, and great grandmother of Tutankhamun. The statuette of Thuya is carved from two species of wood that the Egyptians imported from the south – shea wood for the base, and African...
Typical 18th Dynasty side chair of an unidentified hardwood, having legs imitating the fore and hind legs of a lion. It has a high sloping back hollowed to fit the occupant’s back. Ornamentation consists of alternation of light and dark wood and nine inlays of bone or ivory simulating broad headed nails of no constructional...
A cosmetic spoon in the form of a jackal. The jackal’s head is seen from above and is symmetrical, while the body is seen from the left. The tail of the jackal is long and thick and reaches to the paws of the outstretched back legs. The two forepaws are placed symmetrically one above and...
In this portrait statue, Senenmut is kneeling and grasps a symbolic cobra that supports a sun disk and cowhorns and rests on a base composed of two upraised arms (the hieroglyphic sign for ka)—a magical gesture intended to preserve life and ward off evil. The inscription consists of three vertical lines of incised hieroglyphs on...
This tomb relief shows several Nubian prisoners with negroid features, tightly curled hair and earrings who are seated on the ground submissively as three Egyptian soldiers with batons watch over them. Depicted in sunk relief is also a scribe who is writing a report. A scribe is writing a report about the occurrence and is selecting...
