This is a vessel in the shape of a cat that dates from early in the 12th Dynasty of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, 1990–1900 B.C. Made from Egyptian alabaster, the cat is sculpted beautifully and inlaid eyes of rock-crystal, lined with copper bring an eerie sense of realism to this piece. Cats held a significant and...
This fragment depicts face and upper torso of Akhenaten with the exaggerated but sensitive features characteristic of representations of this king. The full scene would have shown the king worshiping his sole god, the Aten. This relief is currently on long-term loan to the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung in Berlin. Akhenaten was a progressive king...
This group of objects was found in a plundered chamber in Tomb MMA 840, excavated by Herbert Eustis Winlock (1884-1950), an archeologist who worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, reached by a shaft in the portico of a rock-cut tomb in the Asasif section of the Theban necropolis. Among the finds were parts of...
Egyptian-Alabaster Canopic jar of an 18th Dynasty queen, found within tomb KV55. New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, Amarna Period, c. 1349–1330 B.C. One of four Canopic jars believed to have belonged to Akhenaten’s secondary wife, Queen Kiya. Despite being associated with Kiya, the image of the beautifully carved wig adorned royal upon the jar lids has...
Wooden tomb models were deposited as grave goods in the tombs and burial shafts throughout ancient Egypt since its early history, most notably in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. They included a wide variety of wooden figurines and scenes, such as boats, granaries, baking and brewing scenes and butchery scenes. These served as ways to...
Although this example is uninscribed, its size and style identify it as a “heart” scarab, meant to be placed within the wrappings of the mummy. Many such scarabs bear the text of Chapter 30B of the Book of the Dead, in which the owner asks his or her heart not to testify against them at...
Blue glazed faience composition amulet of Nut, the goddess of the sky, depicted with outstretched wings, but similar representations are also known for the goddess Isis. This kneeling woman is a goddess with protective outspread wings. On her head are cows’ horns and a sun disk, which are elements that could be worn by various...
This statue was made before Horemheb ascended the throne. Horemheb was a royal scribe and general of the army under Tutankhamun. He continued to serve during the reign of Ay and eventually succeeded Ay as king. By having himself depicted as a scribe, Horemheb declares himself to be among the elite group of literate individuals,...
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...
On this block from a temple relief, Akhenaten, recognizable by his elongated features, holds a duck toward the Aten. With one hand he wrings the bird’s neck before offering it to the god. In this relief, the artist has cut the outlines of the figures into the surface in a technique called sunk relief. Sunk...
