18th Dynasty

Plaster Amarna Royal

This plaster head depicts an Amarna royal, likely a king, and based upon resemblance it is even more likely to be a casting of king Akhenaten. The head is life-size, and measures at 20.5cm long, and 14.5cm wide, with a 13cm depth. If the head is of king Akhenaten, it could be from early in...

Colossal Tutankhamun

This colossal statue of king Tutankhamun is one of two colossal figures of the king discovered at Medinet Habu, within the remnants of the Hypostyle Hall of the Funerary Temple of king Ay and Horemheb. Made of quartzite, this statue stands around 10ft tall. The remnants of paint remain, giving us a clear indication of...

Pet Monkey

Relief of a Pet Monkey

This relief depicts a small pet monkey standing under a chair on which Maia, the wife of the dignitary Rij, is seated. The scene is part of the north wall of the antechapel within Rij’s tomb at Saqqara. The presence of the pet monkey in this relief highlights the ancient Egyptians’ appreciation for animals and...

Trial pieces

Ostracon are various shards of limestone and/or pottery, which were used by Ancient Egyptian artisans and scribes as a tablet. The term osatracon however, is not just used for the study of Egyptology, but used by historians studying the geographical regions of various other ancient cultures too. These fragmentary pieces have provided vast amounts of...

Relief of Queen Tiye

This sandstone fragment depicts the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III, Queen Tiye. She wears the vulture headdress, and double plum (also known as the shuti, a two-feather adornment for crowns). Discovered at Kom el-Hettân, also known as the remnants of the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, the famous location of the legendary Colossi of...

Vessel in the form of a nursing woman

Made from red fired clay, this jug depicts a woman nursing a baby. Based upon the medical-magical texts, it is believed this jug would hold milk for the mother and newborn. The baby has the traditional “side lock of youth“, a plait of long hair on an otherwise bald or shortly cropped head of hair,...

Rosette headdress

This gold inlaid with carnelian, turquoise head-dress (Met Museum. 26.8.117), belongs to a queen of Thutmose III. The headdress is made from gold, gesso, carnelian, jasper, and glass. The Met Museum writes; “These rosettes from the funerary equipment of three foreign wives of Thutmose III have been displayed in various ways, since they came to...

Head of Amarna Royal

Showcasing a clear resemblance to members of the Amarna royal family, it is not hard to see this piece dates from the late 18th Dynasty. Absolute identification of this head is uncertain, but resemblance to Tiye as well as her son king Akhenaten himself, as well as other heads of princesses (daughters of Akhenaten), make...

Amenhotep I or Ramesses II wearing the Khepresh

This striding statuette of a New Kingdom king, depicts the king in a kilt (shendyt) adorned with an elaborate belt, a usekh collar around his neck, and most notably, the “Blue Crown of War”, known to the Egyptians as the “Khepresh” upon his head, which is given a realistic glisten by the addition of rounded...

Tahtib Dance

This ostracon from Deir el-Medina shows two men performing the traditional stick-fighting martial art known as Tahtib, which is still practised and performed in Egypt to this very day. The oldest traces of tahtib were found on engravings from the archaeological site of Abusir, an extensive necropolis of the Old Kingdom period, located in the...