26th Dynasty

Pyramidion of Iufaa

Pyramidion of Iufaa

This steep-sided pyramidion is inscribed for Iufaa, a priest of Osiris, ruler of the Netherworld, at his sacred site of Abydos, and originally would have surmounted a memorial chapel at this site. It is decorated on all four faces, with almost identical images on each pair of opposing sides. An inscription at the top of...

Standing Statue of Mentuemhat

Statue of Mentuemhat

This standing statue portrays the nobleman Mentuemhat, who played an important role in the clergy of Amun-Re at Karnak and in the administration of Thebes. It shows him as a middle-aged man in the usual striding pose. Although the body was rendered in the traditional artistic style, well built and proportioned, his wrinkled facial features...

Bust of Mentuemhat

Bust of Mentuemhat

This bust head belongs to Mentuemhat, the Fourth Prophet of Amun, Mayor of Thebes and Governor of Upper Egypt. He was the greatest man in Upper Egypt during the 25th Dynasty and at the beginning of the 26th Dynasty. The head depicts him as an old man who is bald. He has narrow eyes, well-defined...

Mummy of Ankh Hor

Mummy of Ankh Hor

Originally Egyptologists at the museum thought that the mummy of Ankh Hor was untouched, but recent x-rays found modern pins and clips. A re-examination of the cartonnage revealed that it had been cut, re-sealed and painted over. Although no one knows why it was opened, it is possible that Victorian researchers started to unwrap Ankh...

Statuette representing Isis and Osiris

Statuette representing Isis and Osiris

A bronze statuette of the goddess Isis with outstretched wings around her husband and brother the god Osiris. In a bloody battle, Seth dismembered Osiris and spread his remains all around Egypt. Isis searched for the fragments to make a mummy and thus bring her beloved husband to life once again. Nevertheless, certain versions of...

Statuette of a Royal Woman with the Cartouches of King Necho II

Statuette of a Woman with Cartouches of Necho II

This nude sensual female figure has the cartouches of Necho II on her upper arms. A small tightly fitted wig caps her head, and two holes with silver wires are located in the wig over her forehead; their placement suits a uraeus. She wears a finely wrought broad collar plus earrings (only one of which...

Boulaq Museum, 1870s

Artifacts from the Tomb of Psamtik, 1870s

Artifacts discovered in a deep pit in the Tomb of the scribe Psamtik at Saqqara, Boulaq Museum, 1870s. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Seated statue of god Osiris – CG 38358 Osiris is shown seated, wrapped tightly, and holding the crook and flail – symbols of kingship – in his hands, crossed at his...

Thoth, God of Writing and Knowledge, as a Baboon

Statuette of the god Thoth as a baboon

In this faience statuette, Thoth, the God of Writing and Knowledge, represented as a baboon. Thoth, god of wisdom, learning, science, and medicine, was also a patron of art and scribes who recorded the judgment on the dead in the underworld. Often the god is depicted with the head of a sacred ibis and body...

Mummy of the Priest Ankhhor

Mummy of the Priest Ankhhor

The Egyptian priest Ankhhor lived around 650 BC. He worked in the temple dedicated to Montu, a war god who was venerated in Thebes, the religious center of Ancient Egypt. The priests of Montu were interred in mass graves, most of which were discovered in the 19th century. Ankhhor was mummified according to the ‘fashion’...

Base and lid of an anthropoid outer coffin of Seshepenmehyt

Anthropoid outer coffin of Seshepenmehyt

The outer coffin of Seshepenmehyt is made of sycamore fig wood, with elaborate polychrome painted decoration. A winged solar disc covers the right breast, and below, a narrow scene showing the weighing of the deceased’s heart (at right). At the level of the knees, Anubis is represented mummifying the deceased as she lies on a...