Late Period

Basalt male torso with magical spells carved

Male torso with magic spells engraved

The basalt torso of Pa-Maj is entirely covered in engravings of magical spells and images of gods. Such items became highly collectable in Europe by the 1700s. This splendid statue in mutilated basalt, represents a standing man usually with his arms along the body and the palms of his hands turned inside and is leaning...

Sarcophagus lid of the Vizier Sasobek

Sarcophagus lid of the Vizier Sasobek

Black siltstone base and lid of the anthropoid sarcophagus of Sasobek, northern vizier of Egypt during the reign of Psamtik I: the lid is finely carved, showing the deceased wearing wig, beard and collar and with two vertical registers of hieroglyphic offering texts, surmounted by a figure of Nut. “It may have been found in...

Block Statue of Harsomtusemhat

Block Statue of Harsomtusemhat

Sistrophorus block statue, showing Harsomtusemhat sitting on a socle, with his legs grouped and the hands on his knees. Before the arms and between the legs, the man is holding the sesheshet sistrum, with the face of the goddess Hathor and the monumental gate in raised relief. This statue was meant to be placed inside...

Apis Bull Statuette

Apis Bull Statuette

In this ivory statuette of Apis bull, the white triangle is indicated by a sunken area on the head, while engravings of a vulture with wings spread and a winged scarab flank an elaborate blanket on the back. One of the most important animal deities of ancient Egypt was the sacred Apis bull, whose worship...

Statuette of the official Bes. Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon. Inv. 158

Statuette of the official Bes

The inscription on the base of this statuette of the official Bes reads ‘Count and Prince, Companion of His Majesty’. Bes is portrayed sitting in a position that was widely used in the Old Kingdom (c. 2660–2180 BC), at the beginning of the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BC) and again by the officials, including this...

Amulet of Isis, Horus, and Nephthys

Amulet of Isis, Horus, and Nephthys

According to the myth the sister goddesses Isis and Nepthys cared for the body of Osiris and later they protected his son Horus as a young child. The three deities depicted in this triad amulet are some of the main protagonists in the Osiride myth that tells the murder and revival of the god Osiris...

Coffin of Besenmut, Priest of Montu at Thebes. British Museum. EA22940

Besenmut, Priest of Montu at Thebes

This is the anthropoid wooden coffin of a man called Besenmut, who was a Priest of Montu at the Theban Temple. Dating from the 26th Dynasty, c. 664-525 B.C. also known as the Sais Dynasty or Saite Period, which was the last true Native Egyptian ruling Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian empire before the later conquests of the Persian and Greeks, which eventually led to the collapse of Ancient Egypt under Roman rule.

Coffin of Takhebkhenem, Lady of the House, daughter of Pedikhons

Coffin of Takhebkhenem, Lady of the House, daughter of Pedikhons

This coffin, belonging to a woman called Takhebkhenem, is made of wood, with polychrome painted decoration. The British Museum notes that, “the vignettes, which are executed in a very conservative style, show the deceased carrying a sistrum before Osiris, her mummy on a bier, and a strange hawk-headed kneeling figure, described as Osiris, there is...

Relief of Mentuemhat as a priest. Cleveland Museum of Art. 1949.492

Relief of Mentuemhat as Priest with Staff and Scepter

Relief of Mentuemhat in his robes as a priest of Amun and carrying the wand used to consecrate food offerings to the god. Raised relief in the style of his time, but showing some influence of Middle Kingdom work. Mentuemhat is one of the most recognizable nonroyal names from ancient Egypt. He was a rich...

Gold and enamel earring with Hathor and rosette Meroë, Nubia (Kushite region), c. 90 B.C. –50 A.D. Boston Museum of Fine Arts. 23.341

Golden Hathor earring found in Meroë

This golden earring depicting the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor was discovered in the location of the ancient city of Meroë, capital of the Kingdom of Kush for several centuries from around 590 B.C., until its collapse in the 4th century A.D. The golden Hathor earring would have been a representation of the goddess and may...