New Kingdom

Trumpeter plays as dancers perform

This limestone fragment was once a part of a full scene that appears to be depicting the king’s procession (almost certainly, king Akhenaten) as he arrived at the temple. On the far left of the fragment, you can see the elbow and arm of a trumpeter, who blows his horn as women in translucent linens...

Menat Necklace from Malkata

A menat necklace was created out of a substantial keyhole-shaped counterpoise and an assortment of beaded strands. Despite its title of necklace, the menat necklace is seldom depicted being worn, but was most commonly carried by females engaging in sacred ceremonies and rituals. The necklace served as a percussion instrument, shaken to produce a calming...

Cult Stele of King Ahmose

Cult Stele of King Ahmose

This unique stele commemorates the deceased ruler Ahmose (1539-1515 BC), who inaugurated the 18th Dynasty in the New Kingdom. The relief style places the stele’s manufacture later in the reign of Tutankhamun (1332–1323 BC). At this time, royal cults were reinstated after the reign of Akhenaten, who wiped out the cults of other gods in...

A Syrian man carved into a schist statue base

This fragment of a statue base shows a Syrian man’s head and shoulders. He wears a fringed robe embroidered with rosettes and has long hair and a headband. He also has a beard and a moustache, something that Syrians were usually depicted with. The man’s complete figure was positioned flat on his belly, his back...

18th Dynasty Wig

This wig made of human hair, also referred to as a “double/duplex wig” due to the two contrasting styles in one piece, would have been worn by a male of elite status in New Kingdom Egyptian society and was discovered in Thebes. The wig is made of real human hair, plaited and tousled, and its...

Steatite Tiye

Made of glazed steatite, often known as soapstone, and at 29cm tall, this figurine shows Queen Tiye in full royal regalia. She is pictured wearing the double-plume crown, with a triple uraeus upon a falcon-winged headpiece cascading over her extravagant and expansive wig. A finely detailed usekh collar is worn around her neck and rests...

Lady Tjepu

Lady Tjepu

One of the most remarkable paintings to survive from ancient Egypt, this depiction of the noblewoman Tjepu came from a tomb built for her son Nebamun and a sculptor named Ipuky. Egyptian artists usually did not depict individuals as they truly looked, but rather as eternally youthful, lavishly dressed, and in an attitude of repose....

Mummified Dog

This mummy of a dog was discovered besides the mummy of a baboon within Tomb KV50, near King Amenhotep II’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Edward R. Ayrton unearthed Tomb KV50, within the Valley of the Kings, in 1906 while excavating on behalf of Theodore M. Davis. The tomb is part of the...

Nebamun’s pool

Nebamun was a middle-ranking official “scribe and grain accountant” during the period of the New Kingdom in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have lived ca. 1350 BC and worked at the vast temple complex near Thebes, where the state-god Amun was worshiped. His name was translated as “My Lord is Amun”, and his association...

Yellow Akhenaten

This statue depicts a king, almost certainly Akhenaten, and is made from yellow limestone. The king holds the heqa scepter (crook and flail), and is seated upon a cushioned throne, wearing a pleated linen kilt, and a striped nemes headdress with the royal insignia of a uraeus upon the centre of his forehead. Often overlooked...