This statuette, fashioned from an arsenical copper alloy, portrays the noblewoman and princess Sebeknakht in the intimate act of nursing her infant son. Adorned with a diadem crowned by a regal uraeus, she is gracefully depicted in a crouched position, her left arm and bent knee tenderly supporting the child as he feeds. The infant,...
One of the most remarkable paintings to survive from ancient Egypt, this depiction of the noblewoman Tjepu came from a tomb built for her son Nebamun and a sculptor named Ipuky. Egyptian artists usually did not depict individuals as they truly looked, but rather as eternally youthful, lavishly dressed, and in an attitude of repose....
The faces on most statues of Amenhotep II differ slightly from those of his two immediate predecessors. Compared with the sculpture of Thutmose III or Hatshepsut exhibited nearby, for example, this statue’s face is a little longer, the eyes somewhat narrower, the brows a bit straighter, the nose slightly thicker, and the mouth less curved....
This diorite statue of a Priest of Amun dates to the 30th Dynasty of the Late Period. The priest is depicted wearing a wig in the style of the Old Kingdom, though rendered with the sculptural conventions of the Late Period. His body has been polished to a smooth finish, and his facial features reflect...
This small fragmentary head made from white limestone is clearly of the Amarna Period. During Akhenaten’s reign, royal portraiture witnessed significant changes., there are numerous sculptures of Akhenaten and his royal household which deviate from traditional depictions of the monarchy. Akhenaten is sometimes shown what some deem “androgynous” and highly stylized, with huge thighs, a...
This limestone piece, despite damage and missing aspects, depicts a scene of a man and a woman copulating. The man’s phallus is oversized, for symbolism, but the tenderness of the scene showcases an interesting and unique representation of erotic artworks from Ancient Egypt. As the couple lay upon their side facing one another, the man,...
Fragment of limestone raised relief with remains of original paint, representing three mourning women. They stand, facing left, each holding the flaps of their dress in one hand and beating their breast with the other. Surviving paint is concentrated in the areas of their upper and middle bodies. Some blackish and brownish patches over surface....
These limestone fragments were originally part of a scene in which royal hairdressers attended Queen Neferu. The relief on the right represents Neferu, referred to as “The King’s Wife,” wearing a magnificent beaded usekh collar. Behind her, Henut, the hairdresser, has already pinned one strand of hair and twisted another. The relief on the left...
“Paddle dolls” got their nickname from their likeness to modern Ping-Pong paddles. They all include exaggerated images of female genitalia. Some are painted with crude representations of couples having sexual intercourse, while others have pictures of birth-gods. The motif of birth and reproduction shows that “paddle dolls” increased fertility for both the living and, most...
This white limestone relief fragment shows an unidentified queen clutching a thick usekh collar in her raised left hand. Dressed in a translucent pleated garment with a headdress ornamented with a double uraei, cow horns, double plume and sun disc in the centre, the queen has divine status. The plumes are streaked with blue, brown,...
