Known as the Salt Head, after the British collector and diplomat Henry Salt, this arresting portrait of a shaven-headed man is one of the more enigmatic works in the Louvre’s Egyptian collection. The long, finely modelled face, prominent lips, narrow eyes and pierced ears have encouraged comparisons with the distinctive portraiture of the late 18th...
Among the most evocative wooden figures of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom are the offering bearers: small, brightly painted attendants created to ensure that the dead would never lack nourishment in the afterlife. This elegant female figure, dating to the 12th Dynasty, carries a basket laden with loaves and meat upon her head. Said to have come...
At first glance, this beautifully painted wooden boat appears ready to set sail across the Nile. Yet it was never intended to touch water. Created as a funerary model, it was placed inside a tomb to ensure that its owner could continue their eternal journey through the Afterlife. During Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, miniature wooden models...
Strung some four-and-forty centimetres in length and weighing scarcely fifty grams, this Middle Kingdom girdle (c. 2055–1650 B.C.), said to be from Thebes, is a miniature treasury of electrum, silver, and semi-precious stone. Six hollow electrum cowries, each painstakingly punched in two halves, soldered, and pierced for threading. With oblate lapis-lazuli and green-feldspar beads, amethyst...
With a quiet dignity and timeless simplicity, this finely carved wooden statue of Nakhti, a man of status in Middle Egypt, stands poised with his left foot slightly advanced, a convention in Ancient Egyptian art that gently implies vitality, movement, and readiness for eternity, often referred to as the “striding pose”. Discovered nestled beside his...
This painted limestone headrest features two standing female figures, their arms gracefully dangling at their sides, clad in elegant robes, and adorned with necklaces and bracelets. Each woman wears a Hathoric headdress, suggestive of the goddess Hathor’s attributes of femininity, protection, and fertility. While the precise identification of these figures remains debated, it is likely...
This delicate Middle Kingdom limestone figurine (E 8000), dating from approximately 2035–1680 B.C., depicts a nude woman standing with truncated legs, wearing a tripartite wig, a cowrie shell belt, and a broad necklace, while tenderly carrying a small child. The figure’s soft curves, subtle modelling, and the inclusion of symbolic jewellery;particularly the cowrie shell belt,...
This finely carved sandstone group statue, dating from the 12th Dynasty of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (c. 1981–1802 B.C.), portrays Senbebu, an Overseer of Stonemasons, seated prominently between two women. The figure to his left is likely his wife, Abetib, while the woman to his right is named Peryt. Senbebu held a distinguished title that indicates...
A model domestic figure is a small, carved representation of a person (often crafted from wood and painted) that was placed in Ancient Egyptian tombs to symbolise aspects of daily life. These figures typically depict servants, labourers, or household workers engaged in domestic or agricultural tasks such as grinding grain, baking bread, brewing beer, carrying...
The Seated Statue of the Steward Sehetepibreankh is a notable example of Middle Kingdom Egyptian sculpture, dating to approximately 1919–1885 B.C. during the reign of Amenemhat II. This limestone statue was excavated in 1923–24 from Pit 6L.P19 in the tomb of Sehetepibreankh at Lisht South, located in the Memphite region of Egypt. The statue exemplifies...
