Granite is extremely hard, but the sculptor of this statue was able to give the king’s plump face and small features a softly natural quality, perhaps suggesting the subject’s actual appearance rather than an idealized version. Originally, this fragment surmounted an oversize figure, achieving the same monumental quality as the pyramids being built at this...
This statue of Khasekhemwy, last king of the 2nd Dynasty of Egypt, enthroned with conquered foes incised around the base, is the oldest surviving stone royal sculpture from ancient Egypt. The king is wearing the White Hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt and is wrapped in a long robe with long sleeves associated with the heb-sed...
This bust of Ramesses II closely resembles a statue of Ramesses in the Egyptian Museum of Turin. However, the Cairo piece wears a long wig, rather than the Blue Khepresh Crown worn by the Turin statue (Cat. 1380). A uraeus can be seen at the king’s forehead, and he is shown with a young face,...
This statue represents the god Thoth in the form of a sitting ibis. The artist’s careful choice of materials, the bronze of the head and the white limestone of the body, give the statue the appearance of a real bird. The feathers of the body are in light relief while the tail, which is separate...
The statue of King Ramesses VIII presenting Amun-Re is an example of hasty workmanship. It lacks vigor. One of the few statues that survive from the Ramesside Period, it demonstrates that the great era of creativity had ended. The face of the statue is heavy with a troubled expression devoid of interior strength. The wig,...
Statue of King Ramesses VI standing, grasping the hair of a Libyan captive in his left hand and an axe in his right. A short military campaign might have ensued and from Ramesses VI’s second year on the throne onwards these troubles seem to have stopped. This campaign could be connected with an unusual statue...
This small statuette depicts King Seti I, father of Ramesses II as a Standard Bearer. The statuette is a portrait of the king in which grace and grandeur are mixed. The sensitive face is framed by the short, round, thick wig decorated at the front with the uraeus, or royal cobra. The narrow slits of...
Bas-relief depicts sculptors working on statues, detail of a wall carving from the joint Mastaba of Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, royal servants. They shared the title of Overseer of the Manicurists in the Palace of King Nyuserre Ini. In the Old Kingdom of Egypt, sculpting statues held great importance for several reasons. Firstly, statues were created to...
Although this snake goddess is not named in an inscription, her human face and the two finger-shaped feathers on her crown identify her as Meretseger (She Who Loves Silence), a patroness of fertility and the harvest. Like this statue, most images of Meretseger are modest in quality and were placed in small chapels or shrines...
Fragment of a limestone statue (snout restored) of the chief god of Faiyum, the crocodile-headed Sobek. The statue comes from the mortuary temple of Amenemhat III, attached to his pyramid in Hawara. Although the temple was begun by Amenemhat III, it was incomplete at the time of his death. It was finished by his daughter,...
