This beautiful winged scarab pectoral illustrates the throne name of King Tutankhamun, “Neb- khepreu-re.” The central element is the scarab “Khepri” made of a fine piece of lapis lazuli, and three strokes of plural “sign in hieroglyphs” below it. Between the forelegs of the scarab, the risen sun disk “Re” is depicted. The pectoral is...
After a short reign of about six and a half years (1155-1149 BC), Ramesses IV died and was buried in tomb (KV2) in the Valley of the Kings, West Thebes. His mummy was found in the royal cache of Amenhotep II’s tomb (KV35) in 1898. His chief wife is Queen Duatentopet or Tentopet or Male...
Interior of the vestibule within the tomb of Queen Nefertari. At center is the entrance to a larger room known as the First east side annexe. Nefertari Meritmut, who lived around 1300-1255 BC, was the Great Royal wife of king Ramesses II. The tomb of Nefertari is located in the Valley of the Queens, near...
This pair of earrings is the most beautiful of the four pairs discovered in the Tomb of Tutankhamun. The ducks with outstretched wings form a circle and its feet hold the shen sign. The head is made of translucent blue glass and the wing is fashioned in cloisonné. Under the duck hang gold and blue...
An ostracon sketch of animals such common crane, a vulture, and a hound possibly basenji. This probably a series of trial sketches, not an integrated composition, and the subjects were sketched independently. Sketches of animals on ostraca were a common form of artistic expression in ancient Egypt. These sketches depicted a wide range of animals,...
An ostracon depicted in two faces, the verso depicted with a double-figure of the Nile god Hapi standing, with a fat body wearing a crown of the two plants of Upper and Lower Egypt and a short kilt. On the left, the god raises his left leg while the right one raises his right leg...
Fragmentary limestone ostracon with a hieratic inscription recording the resolution of a dispute over a hut inherited by the workman Wennofer. The inscription is unusual in being incised and filled with blue frit, a technique used for formal hieroglyphic inscriptions. Perhaps Wennofer set this ostracon into a wall of the disputed hut like a stele....
One of the most typical royal scenes is reproduced on this illustrated ostracon, king Ramesses III in the act of crushing the defeated enemy. The scene was widely used on pylons and external walls of temples. On this piece the king is shown upright, his head adorned with red crown topped by the two feathers...
This ostracon is depicting a scribe as a prayer, drawing on a piece of limestone. The ancient Egyptians drew on ostraca for a variety of reasons; for example, while planning work on tombs or as exercises. Ostraca are simple splinters of limestone or shards of pottery, on which the ancient Egyptians wrote or drew. This...
Ostracon of a cat, standing on its hind legs, acts as guide and protector to a flock of six ducks or geese, arranged in two registers, or sections. The ostracon shows a cheerful episode from an Egyptian folktale. In this tale the roles of the natural world are reversed. Above the birds is a nest...
