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...
Within the tomb of Horemheb at Saqqara, one of the most striking reliefs depicts a quiet yet powerful moment: the documentation of Nubian prisoners following a southern campaign. Unlike the common scenes of bound captives, these men are shown seated in orderly rows, their hands resting calmly upon their knees, awaiting registration by the Egyptian...
Military Life in the Memphite Tomb of Horemheb Horemheb is, unusually, a man with two tombs. The first; his Saqqara tomb, was prepared during his rise to power, at a time when no one could confidently predict that he would one day don the double crown. When he later became king, a second tomb fit...
This sphinx was unearthed in 1912 by Flinders Petrie near the remains of Memphis. It is one of the largest monuments ever made from Egyptian alabaster. Sphinxes are often guards or protectors of ancient Egyptian sacred places. Some represent kings (pharaohs), with their human faces attached to the body of a lion – an animal...
Statuette of Tutankhamun wearing the white crown and holding staff and flail, carried upon the back of a black leopard. The king is shown standing with his left leg forward on a rectangular pedestal fixed to the back of the leopard. The exaggeration of the king’s features shows the influence of the Amarna style of...
In this unique marble statue, King Thutmose III is shown kneeling in a pose of worship, offering two Nu vases for libation to Amun-Re. He wears the royal nemes headdress, surmounted by the uraeus, or rearing cobra. His body is well modeled with defined muscles. The king is kneeling on the nine bows, which represent...
This royal face of Thutmose III remained from a head of a statue. The style suggests that the sculpture was done during the first half of the 18th Dynasty, most probably for Thutmose III. Although only parts of this face carved in obsidian remain, it is clear that the features were very delicate. The eyes...
On this block from a temple relief, Akhenaten, recognizable by his elongated features, holds a duck toward the Aten. With one hand he wrings the bird’s neck before offering it to the god. In this relief, the artist has cut the outlines of the figures into the surface in a technique called sunk relief. Sunk...
He rises from the stone like a vision half-remembered from creation itself: Akhenaten, carved at a scale that dares the onlooker to step closer and question what they believe a king should be. His arms are crossed in the eternal gesture of sovereignty, cradling the heka and the flail, the twin emblems of divine command....
This relief of trading scenes of Punt is one of many decorated blocks that record the trading expedition sent to the land of Punt by Hatshepsut. Punt was a locality near the Red Sea and the south of Egypt, now southern Sudan or Eritrea or Ethiopia. The block shows Parehu, the Ruler of Punt, holding...
