This sandstone fragment depicts the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III, Queen Tiye. She wears the vulture headdress, and double plum (also known as the shuti, a two-feather adornment for crowns). Discovered at Kom el-Hettân, also known as the remnants of the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, the famous location of the legendary Colossi of...
Made from red fired clay, this jug depicts a woman nursing a baby. Based upon the medical-magical texts, it is believed this jug would hold milk for the mother and newborn. The baby has the traditional “side lock of youth“, a plait of long hair on an otherwise bald or shortly cropped head of hair,...
An Egyptian wood painted ushabti for lady Anhai, the chantress of Amun. There is a scene in the Book of the Dead where Anubis is found weighing the heart of a priestess named lady Anhai. The image is striking because it shows the young Anhai as she is being led to the afterworld even though...
This gold inlaid with carnelian, turquoise head-dress (Met Museum. 26.8.117), belongs to a queen of Thutmose III. The headdress is made from gold, gesso, carnelian, jasper, and glass. The Met Museum writes; “These rosettes from the funerary equipment of three foreign wives of Thutmose III have been displayed in various ways, since they came to...
Showcasing a clear resemblance to members of the Amarna royal family, it is not hard to see this piece dates from the late 18th Dynasty. Absolute identification of this head is uncertain, but resemblance to Tiye as well as her son king Akhenaten himself, as well as other heads of princesses (daughters of Akhenaten), make...
This striding statuette of a New Kingdom king, depicts the king in a kilt (shendyt) adorned with an elaborate belt, a usekh collar around his neck, and most notably, the “Blue Crown of War”, known to the Egyptians as the “Khepresh” upon his head, which is given a realistic glisten by the addition of rounded...
This wooden emblem of the goddess Anuket is a rather unique item and depicts the goddess with her famous ostrich feather headdress, with two depictions of the goddess on each side. She was the goddess of the First Cataract of the Nile and was associated with the Nubian region, she was worshipped at Elephantine. During...
This colourful fragment comes from the tomb of the foreman Inherkhau (TT359), at Deir el-Medina. Inherkhau held the title, “Foreman of the Lord of the Two Lands in the Place of Truth“, and worked under the reigns of king Ramesses III and Ramesses IV. The piece shows Inherkhau alongside his son Kenna. Kenna is noticed...
Painted in brisk strokes upon a limestone ostracon from Deir el-Medina, two lithe figures whirl their canes in the art of tahtib, a stick-dance still enlivening weddings along the Upper Nile today. The tradition’s pedigree stretches back to the Old Kingdom, with reliefs in the Pyramid of Sahure at Abusir (c. 2500 B.C.) depicting soldiers...
This painted limestone talatat originally came from the dismantled experimental capital of Akhetaten (modern Tel el-Amarna) founded by Akhenaten, but was used as building fodder in Hermopolis, likely during the reign of king Ramesses II. The piece depicts a bald man in a pleated wrapped kilt (shendyt) slaughtering cows. It is possible that the man...
