Kemsit was an ancient Egyptian queen consort and the wife of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the 11th Dynasty. Her titles included “King’s Beloved Wife” (ḥmt-nỉswt mrỉỉ.t=f), “King’s Ornament” (ẖkr.t-nỉswt), “King’s Sole Ornament” (ẖkr.t-nỉswt wˁtỉ.t), and “Priestess of Hathor”. Her tomb (TT308) and modest ornate chapel were discovered in her husband’s Deir el-Bahari temple complex, behind...
This cartonnage coffin belongs to a woman called Tanetreti-Scherit or “Ta-Reti”, and she was an Ancient Egyptian “Chantress of Amun”, somewhere between, 1070-713 B.C. Ta-reti came from a family of priests and singers or “Chantresses“. Her father was a man named Ankhpakhered (whose title is upon her coffin), who held the title of “Gatekeeper of...
This limestone fragment from a statue of a woman was found in the remnants of the Temple of Mentuhotep II, at Deir el-Bahari. At 26.50cm tall, unfortunately, her lower body and right arm are missing. She was discovered among other statues, known as “votive statues”, during an excavation of the Temple of Menuthotep II. It...
This pair of statuettes are of the Theban priest Amenhotep and his wife Rannai, who was a Singer of Amun at the Theban Temple.Made of precious black ebony wood (Egyptian: hbny), these figures stand 44 and 33 cm high, with glass inlay and gold trim. The couple both stand in the famous striding pose with...
This inlay of a vulture headdress is said to have been discovered among the Treasure of Dendara, and dates from the Ptolemaic Period, c. 100 – 1 B.C., and is made from gold and over 100 semi-precious stones. Thin plates of over 100 perfectly cut precious stones were cut to make this delicate piece. The...
This is the coffin lid of a woman named, Iawttayesheret (also known as Tayesheret), who lived during Egypt’s 25th Dynasty, c. 722-655 B.C. Iawttayesheret was the daughter of Padikhnum and Tadiaset. Iawttayesheret held the title of The Divine Adoratrice of Amun, which was a title given to those secondary to the God’s Wife of Amun....
Lady of the House; Chantress of Amun-Ra, Tentosorkon, as appearing in her Papyrus (Book of the Dead), discovered in Thebes. c. 945 B.C. British Museum. EA9919,2 The name means ‘The (female) servant of Osorkon’. Tentosorkon (That of Sorkon), a name of Libyan origin which appeared around the 21st dynasty in the Delta, and was popularised...
This bust is just a fragment of a statue of a Priestess of Hathor from the New Kingdom in Egypt. The priestess served the Egyptian cow goddess Hathor who unlike many other gods and goddesses had both male and female servants. Egyptian priests were meant to serve the gods and with this responsibility many of...
Sha-Amun-en-su was an Ancient Egyptian ritualistic singer and priestess of Amun at the Temple of Karnak. Her name translates to “Fertile Fields of Amun”, and she died around 750 B.C. Sha-Amun-en-su lived during the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt (Bubastite Dynasty), where the kings ruled from the city of Bubastis (“House of Bast“, Ancient Egyptian: “Per-Bast“)....
Although the coffin belongs to an Ancient Egyptian man named Pa-Di-Tu-Amun, the coffin lid was originally made for a female priestess, with the titles “mistress of the house, chantress of [Amun]”. The feminine quality of the art is still noticeable. Acquired in Egypt during the 1920s, by the Swedish scientist Olof Vilhelm Arrhenius, this Third...
