Rijksmuseum

Imertnebes

This wooden figure of a priestess named Imertnebes was discovered in Thebes and dates from the Middle Kingdom period, c. 1991-1783 B.C. Imertnebes was a high-ranking priestess who bore a title that would eventually be designated for princesses who served as high-priestesses of Amun; “God’s Wife“. Depicted in typical Middle Kingdom fashion, Imertnebes’s figure is...

Mertites & Chennoe

This piece was discovered at Giza, and the inscription indicates that two persons are depicted, a woman named Mertites (who is depicted twice) and a boy named Chennoe (also sometimes written as Shenoe). The relationship between Mertites and Chennoe is not documented upon the piece, however, it is more than likely that they are mother...

Maya and his wife Merit, depicted in a life-sized limestone double-seated statue.

Maya and Merit

Maya was a high ranking official, with titles such as, “Overseer of the Treasury“, who lived towards the end of the 18th Dynasty. With the collapse of the Amarna Period (Akhenaten and Nefertiti’s Aten experiment purposely dissolved), Maya was an important figure who held special status during the reigns of Tutankhamun (it is said Maya...

Mehen, the Serpent Game

Limestone Mehen gaming board (also known as the Serpent game or Game of the Snake) Old Kingdom, 4th-6th Dynasty, c. 2543-2152 B.C. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Netherlands. F 1968/3.1 The earliest known existence of the Serpent Game dates from the Naqada II, Pre-Dynastic Period of Ancient Egypt, c. 3600-3200 B.C. There is a depiction of the...

Coffin Cover of Panehesy

Coffin Cover of Panehesy

The mummy case of the priest Panehesy is a very nice specimen, decorated with winged figures of gods and hieroglyphs. These paintings have a general protective significance. On the back of the sleeve you can see a ‘djed pillar’, the Egyptian symbol for sustainability and eternal existence. For the ancient Egyptians, life after death was...

Bracelets of General Djehuty

Bracelets of General Djehuty

These gold bracelets were once belonged to general Djehuty, one of them is inscribed with the prenomen cartouche of king Thutmose III. Kind of bracelets that Egyptian kings presented to their most deserving generals and high officials. General Djehuty was famous in ancient Egyptian literature for capturing the city of Joppa on Thutmose III’s behalf...

Bracelet Inscribed with the Cartouche of Thutmose III

Bracelet of General Djehuty

This golden bracelet belonged to the funerary treasures of general Djehuty and inscribed with the prenomen cartouche of king Thutmose III, together with four more in the RMO collection. A gold bracelet of the kind that Egyptian kings presented to their most deserving generals and high officials. General Djehuty was famous in ancient Egyptian literature...

Mummy of the Priest Ankhhor

Mummy of the Priest Ankhhor

The Egyptian priest Ankhhor lived around 650 BC. He worked in the temple dedicated to Montu, a war god who was venerated in Thebes, the religious center of Ancient Egypt. The priests of Montu were interred in mass graves, most of which were discovered in the 19th century. Ankhhor was mummified according to the ‘fashion’...

Model Ship with Figurine in a Fetal Position

Model Boat with Figurine in a Fetal Position

An early example from Predynastic Egypt, is a ceramic model of a boat with a man in a fetal position, sailing to the afterlife where he will be reborn. Belief in a physical afterlife endured for thousands of years. This totemic item from predynastic Egypt shows the deceased curled up in the fetal position in...