Among the loveliest relics of the Amarna Period are a handful of carved slabs, now scattered across the world (from the Kestner Museum in Hanover to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Brooklyn Museum of New York) showing Akhenaten as a human-headed sphinx. He crouches in the classic pose, forepaws extended, muscles taut...
In the late 19th century, when Cairo’s streets were a swirl of dust, donkeys, perfumed coffee, and antiquities hawkers. It was among these souqs (markets) which Sir Flinders Petrie, the legendary British Egyptologist, acquired a small, rough-hewn limestone head, scarcely 10–12 cm high. These markets were, at the time, half curiosity-shop and half archaeological gamble,...
Excavated at Koptos (Qift) by Sir Flinders Petrie in the 1890s, this statue is one of three, which are among the earliest monumental sculptures known from Ancient Egypt, dating to the dawn of its civilisation. At 4 metres tall and 2 tonnes in weight, this towering figure was created to honour the fertility god Min....
This finely carved limestone head depicts Akhenaten, the pharaoh who reshaped Ancient Egypt’s religion and art in devotion to the Aten, the radiant sun-disc. The king wears the blue war crown (khepresh), its smooth form contrasting with the sensitive modelling of his features. Traces of red pigment still tint the lips, lending warmth to the...
This limestone head (British Museum. 1879,0712.15) shows a woman with a hooked nose, curved nostrils, pointed chin and almond-shaped eyes; features strikingly close to those seen on coin portraits of Cleopatra VII. The hair is styled in the “melon” coiffure, drawn back into a plaited knot, with two ringlets falling by the ears. The ears...
Amenhotep III and his Great Royal Wife, Tiye‘s firstborn son, was a prince named Thutmose. As the eldest royal son, he was heir to the throne, and so Thutmose bore prestigious titles such as High Priest of Ptah, indicating his early grooming for both religious and royal responsibilities. A carved statuette depicting him as a...
Akhenaten’s devotion to the Aten was not just religious; it was artistic and philosophical. In hymns likely written or commissioned by the king himself, such as the Great Hymn to the Aten, Akhenaten exalts the sun’s warmth as the giver of all life, with language that reads more like sacred poetry than royal decree. This...
Painted upon a modest shard of limestone (known as an ostracon) this whimsical yet charming sketch from the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1069 B.C.) captures a lively monkey mid-climb as it scales the familiar forked trunk of a doum-palm tree. Measuring just 11 by 9.7 centimetres, the piece, though small, radiates the playful curiosity and natural...
Among the many sculptural treasures of the New Kingdom are those tenderly carved family group statues intended for tomb chapels; silent participants in the rituals of memory and honour. One such ensemble features the noble figure of Ptahmai, an esteemed official who served under the mighty Ramesses II. As a mark of royal favour, he...
Despite the front of the statue having extensive damage, the back provides us with quite a bit of information about Minmose, thanks to the wonderful inscriptions having survived. Minmose’s primary titles reveal his close association with the cult of Osiris; the deity central to Egyptian beliefs about resurrection and the afterlife. He is described as...
