Discovered among the celebrated Drovetti Collection and now preserved in the Musée du Louvre, these two wooden female figures are remarkable survivals of Egyptian furniture craftsmanship from the Late Period, likely the 25th Dynasty (c. 760–656 B.C.). Their form finds close parallels in the elegant bed and couch supports unearthed in the tomb of Tutankhamun...
Diminutive in scale yet dazzling in presence, this statuette portrays Lady Mi, a courtly figure of the reign of Amenhotep III. Carved from wood and once richly embellished with gold leaf and inlays, she wears a heavy wig and broad earrings, fashionably in step with the royal court of her day. Unlike the eternal youth...
To the Ancient Egyptian imagination, the blue lotus (Nymphaea caerulea) was far more than a waterborne bloom. Each evening, its petals folded and sank beneath the surface, only to rise and open anew with the sunrise. This daily rhythm made the flower an emblem of cosmic rebirth, mirroring the sun-god’s own journey through the night...
The wooden figure depicts a naked woman holding what is identified as a cat to her chest, though the animal’s form is somewhat indistinct. Though undated in the museum’s entry, the figure was acquired by the early 19th-century Scottish traveller and collector Robert Hay of Linplum, who amassed a substantial number of antiquities during his...
Nestled within a specially designed museum at the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the so-called Khufu ship, more accurately known as the Solar Boat, is one of the most extraordinary archaeological survivals of the ancient world. Discovered in 1954, buried in a sealed limestone pit near the pyramid’s southern face, this full-sized cedar...
With a quiet dignity and timeless simplicity, this finely carved wooden statue of Nakhti, a man of status in Middle Egypt, stands poised with his left foot slightly advanced, a convention in Ancient Egyptian art that gently implies vitality, movement, and readiness for eternity, often referred to as the “striding pose”. Discovered nestled beside his...
These gold figurines discovered at Tell el-Farkha’s Eastern Kom, were unearthed by the Polish Archaeological Expedition to the Eastern Nile Delta, in 2006, during ongoing excavations that began in the late 1990s. Believed to date to the Naqada IIIB period (c. 3200–3000 B.C.), these figures are considered the oldest known depictions of Ancient Egyptian rulers...
This finely crafted statuette, carved from persea wood (Mimusops cf. laurifolia) and dating to the late 18th Dynasty (c. 1327–1295 B.C.), depicts a man in a composed striding pose. With one foot foward, he strides forth into eternity. Despite damaged, his refined image and the craftsmanship that went into creating this mini masterpiece is still...
The coffin of Tamutmutef, “Chantress of Amun”, is an exquisite example of funerary craftsmanship from the Third Intermediate Period, dating approximately between 1076 and 746 B.C. This period, following the decline of the New Kingdom, was marked by political fragmentation and a shift in religious power, particularly toward the priesthood of Amun at Thebes. Within...
A model domestic figure is a small, carved representation of a person (often crafted from wood and painted) that was placed in Ancient Egyptian tombs to symbolise aspects of daily life. These figures typically depict servants, labourers, or household workers engaged in domestic or agricultural tasks such as grinding grain, baking bread, brewing beer, carrying...
