As a sphinx, Hatshepsut displays a lion’s mane and a king’s beard. Hatshepsut ruled as a man, not as a woman, and for this reason her royal protocols and titles are always written without the feminine qualification, which is the “T” letter in hieroglyphs. This is the case in the text inscribed on the base...
The shrine of Hathor and the cow’s statue were retrieved from under heaps of debris south of the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. The shrine is from the reign of Thutmose III. Its roof is painted blue with yellow stars to imitate the Vault of Heaven. The statue of Hathor as the divine...
This fine limestone statue probably comes from a chapel dedicated to the god Horus, in the vicinity of the tomb of King Djer at Abydos. At the time of the discovery, the statue still retained significant remains of its polychromy. The breast was covered with a gold leaf, and the wings still had, in places,...
This round-topped stele of the foreman Baki is carved in low relief and painted in several colors. The pictorial plane is divided into two registers, the upper one containing two rams facing each other. The animals, with cobras rising on their foreheads, wear tall headdresses composed of two tall plumes with a solar disk at...
The reconstructed sections of the sphinx of Hatshepsut have been cast from an almost identical, but more complete companion piece now in Cairo. The two small limestone sphinxes may have been on either side of the entrance to the upper terrace of Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari. The head of this sphinx differs markedly...
Painted limestone statue of Meryre, and his wife Iniuia. He is wearing two rows of gold beads presented by the King. Meryneith started his career under king Akhenaten as ‘Steward of the Temple of Aten’ and ‘Scribe of the Temple of Aten’ in Akhetaten and in Memphis. The latter title might imply that he worked...
This statue is one of ten, made out of white limestone, depicting King Senusret I seated on his throne wearing the nemes headdress decorated with the uraeus or rearing cobra. The statues differ slightly from one another and bear the harmonious features of a young man with a serene expression. The most remarkable thing about...
This seated scribe statue is considered to be the icon of all scribe statues and one of the most important symbols of sculpture at the Egyptian Museum. It is called the “Cairo Scribe” and is carved in painted limestone. It was unearthed in 1893 at the Saqqara necropolis. The scribe wears a wig with a...
A fragment of a low relief depicting the upper part of an image of the goddess Maat wearing ostrich feather of truth, a tripartite wig, a wide usekh collar, bracelets, and a tunic supported by shoulder-straps. Her head is surmounted by her emblem, a feather, the symbol of truth and justice. Maat was the symbol...
Prince Thutmose is best remembered for the limestone sarcophagus of his beloved cat, Ta-miu (she-cat). The body of this sarcophagus is completely decorated with scenes, while the lid is inscribed with hieroglyphs. It shows the cat sitting before an offering table heaped with goodies for the afterlife. It seems that her owner, Crown Prince Thutmose,...
