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Block statue of a priest called Djed Khonsu Iou.ef Ankh seated in a squatting position and holding in his hands symbols of power and wealth. Six lines in relief cover the statue with the names and titles of the owner and his ancestors and prayers to the gods, and the back of the statue is also covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions. The priest wears a wig and appears serene. The base of the statue is covered with inscription offerings to the god Amun-Ra. The statue was discovered in the Karnak Cache.
The first examples of block statues date back to the Middle Kingdom. They continued to exist until the Late Egyptian Period. The massive form of the statues protected them from breakage. In addition, it offered a large surface for inscriptions. Some of these statues have simple offering verses or record an idealized version of the person portrayed, emphasizing his greatest virtues. Placing a similar statue of oneself within the temple was naturally a privilege reserved above all to those who performed some service directly for the god, namely priests.
The inscriptions on some of these statues indicate that reading the hieroglyphic text incised on the statue acted as a form of prayer for the deceased person represented. The pilgrim capable of reading would have performed a charitable act simply by pausing in front of the statue and pronouncing what is written. By invoking the name of the figure, his memory was thus perpetuated in the realm of gods, allowing him to make conceptual use of any offerings, which were his nourishment in the eternal afterlife.
Siltstone
Provenance Karnak Temple, Thebes
26th dynasty, reign of Psamtek I
BAAM 597
Antiquities Museum of Bibliotheka Alexandrina
On the outer surface at the sides is a rare portrayal is the deceased's funeral some 2900 years ago. It must be seen from the left to the right. After the weeper-women and the bearers of the grave goods, the series ends with the ritual of opening the mouth. The ritual is conducted in front of the grave by a priest of Sem, who restores to the deceased abilities he had in life: to be able to hear, speak, digest food, and procreate. At the extreme right, the wife of the deceased bids her last farewell to the mummy which is standing before the grave.
New Kingdom, 21st dynasty
Egypt of Glory exhibition, Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
9.10.2020-21.3.2021
From the collection of the National Museum of Finland,
14460:660 Cat 173
The sides of the throne are decorated with a baboon; on the left side, he is holding a special mirror, called ankhet, which was associated with the ritual of rebirth and with sun symbolism.
A detail of the group statue depicting a nurse and four princes and princesses.
Painted limestone
18th dynasty, no provenance
(JE 98831)
NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Fustat Cairo
Sokar was the ancient celestial god of the Memphis region. He was associated with craftsmanship, which is why he is often united with Ptah, the god of craftsmanship and the chief god of Memphis. These gods were joined by another god, Osiris. Since the New Kingdom Ptah-Sokar-Osiris became almost more popular than Osiris himself. Books of the Dead were often hidden inside Ptah-Sokar-Osiris statues.
Wood
Late Period
Egypt of Glory exhibition, Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
From the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy
9.10.2020-21.3.2021
This group of statues portrays the family of Neferherenptah, a Wah priest who supervised the funerary cult of the two great kings of the Fourth Dynasty, Khufu and Menkaure.
Neferherenptah, also known as Fifi, the head of the family is represented as a characteristic pose for male statuary. His statue rests on a base that rises at the back to form a wide dorsal pillar. Both pillar and base are painted black although areas of this colour are now faded.
Fifi wears a medium-length curly black wig that covers his ears completely. A white and blue usekh necklace hangs around his neck. He is dressed in a short white kilt with a belt in relief at the waist. Fifi's plump face has large painted eyes with blue irises topped by long raised eyebrows that follow the shape of his eyes slanting gently down at the outer ends. His calm gaze appears to be directed heavenwards. His nose is fairly large and broad and a narrow moustache above his small, fleshy mouth provides a decorative touch.
Fifi's body is well proportioned and with visible if not prominent muscles. Regardless of its relatively small size and a certain rigidity of form, this statuette is an appealing example of the sculpture produced at the end of the Fifth Dynasty. Inside the serdab Fifi's tomb his statuette was placed in the centre, between his daughter (on the left) and his wife (right), while the couple's son was on the far side of his sister.
The statuette of Satmeret, Fifi's wife, stands on a low base with a dorsal pillar. Her rather stiff pose contrasts with the bright colours that are a striking feature of the statuette. Smaller in size than her husband, Satmeret is portrayed standing with her arms held rigidly against her body, hands on her thighs. She is wearing a medium-length black wig, its curls created with tiny grooves. On her forehead, her real hair can just be seen beneath the edge of the wig. The rigidity of her body is also reflected in her facial features: her wide-open eyes have dilated pupils, painted black. Her nose is short and her mouth appears to be firmly closed. Around her neck, she wears a multicoloured collar and a wide usekh necklace comprised of rows painted blue, white and red. Hanging from the necklace is another adornment: a wide rectangular band formed of rows of variously coloured beads, adding a colourful note to her white robe. The robe is tight-fitting and long, reaching to her calves. The fabric is meant to be flimsy and elegant, revealing the form of her body underneath. Her well-rounded breasts, stomach muscles and shapely legs - barely concealed - offer a striking, perhaps even deliberate contrast with the conventional posture and rigidity of the rest of the sculpture.
Although the statuette of Itisen, the couple's son, is smaller in size he is depicted as an adult rather than a child. He is sitting on a cube-shaped seat with a plinth but no back. His clenched right hand is placed vertically on his knee, his left hand is palm down. He is wearing a curly black wig, shorter than his father's, that follows the lines of his face. Around his neck is the white outline (not painted) of a broad necklace. He is clothed in a short white kilt with a pleated border, held up by a belt with a small piece of material projecting from it.
Itisen has a rather round face and large eyes with black-painted pupils surmounted by painted eyebrows in relief. His nose is neatly shaped, and his slightly protruding mouth is not wide but has fleshy lips. His slender neck is set on broad shoulders that contrast with his lean torso, divided vertically by a median groove that narrows noticeably towards the waist. Although thin his knees and legs are meticulously carved; their shape makes it possible to visualize the bone structure beneath. His skin is painted dark ochre. Like the statuettes of his parents, Itisen is also characterized by a marked rigidity of form, only partly relieved and brightened by the strong colours.
Of the four statuettes found in the serdab of Neferherenptah's mastaba, that of Meretites, sister of Itisen, is the most expressive. Admittedly it lacks much of the colour that in some way gives life and luminosity to the others, but the almost ecstatic look of Meretite's face and the soft lines of her body confer a particular elegance and hieratic grace. Slightly larger than her brother he is represented in the classic seated pose with her hands open, palms down on her knees. She is wearing an ankle-length robe and as a note of adornment, a broad, unpainted necklace. Covering her head is a rather voluminous, medium-length wig with tiny braids that start from a central parting. On her forehead, her real hair can just be seen beneath the edge of the wig. She is leaning her head very slightly backwards with the result that her rather wide face seems to be turned upwards. Her eyes too appear to be raised towards some unknown point and have an almost inspired look. Her nose is regular and her mouth, carved with soft, precise lines, has pronounced lips. Meretites has a straight back, less prominent breasts than her mother and more rounded torso and hips. She appears to have been fashioned in keeping with older aesthetic canons dating back to between the end of the Third and the beginning of the Fourth Dynasties.
(Egyptian Treasures from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, ed. Tiraditti)
From priest's mastaba tomb,
Giza cemetery
JE 87804, JE 87805, JE 87806, JE 87807
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Hidden away in the hills of Northwest India, some 200 miles from the busy streets of Mumbai, emerge a magnificent jewel of art and religion: the Ajanta Caves. There are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE. The Ajanta cave paintings and rock cut sculptures are described as among the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive painting that present emotion through gesture, pose and form. According to UNESCO, these are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art that influenced Indian art that followed. The caves were built in two phases, the first group starting around the 2nd century BC, while the second group of caves built around 400–650 AD according to older accounts, or all in a brief period of 460 to 480 according to Walter M. Spink.
Mural paintings survive from both the earlier and later groups of caves. Several fragments of murals preserved from the earlier caves (Caves 9 and 11) are effectively unique survivals of ancient painting in India from this period, and “show that by Sātavāhana times, if not earlier, the Indian painter had mastered an easy and fluent naturalistic style, dealing with large groups of people in a manner comparable to the reliefs of the Sāñcī toraņa crossbars”. Four of the later caves have large and relatively well-preserved mural paintings which, states James Harle, “have come to represent Indian mural painting to the non-specialist”, and represent “the great glories not only of Gupta but of all Indian art”. They fall into two stylistic groups, with the most famous in Caves 16 and 17, and apparently later paintings in Caves 1 and 2. The Ajanta frescos are classical paintings and the work of confident artists, without cliches, rich and full. They are luxurious, sensuous and celebrate physical beauty, aspects that early Western observers felt were shockingly out of place in these caves presumed to be meant for religious worship and ascetic monastic life.
The main colours used were red ochre, yellow ochre, brown ochre, lamp black, white and lapis lazuli which was imported from Northern India, central Asia and Persia. The green was made by mixing this lapis lazuli with Indian yellow ochre. In the pictorial cycles, all the characters are bright and multi-coloured but are never repeated, a fundamental concept in Indian art. Ceilings, walls and pilasters are all covered with overlapping figures, brought to life by the artists with strong and contrasting colours. The painting techniques at Ajanta are similar to European fresco technique. The primary difference is that the layer of plaster was dry when it was painted. First, a rough plaster of clay, cow dung, and rice husks were pressed on to the rough cave walls. This was then coated with lime juice in order to create a smooth working surface.
Source: www.openart.in/history/ajanta-cave-paintings-brief-note/
New Kingdom, 19th dynasty
Provenance: Thebes, Karnak / temple of Amun
Cat. 767 Museo Egizio
The exhibition 'Nefertari and the Valley of the Queens' from the Museo Egizio, Turin' in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, 2017
Model of pottery building divided into three sections with small wall-mounted statues - similar to Osirion ones.
Pottery
Provenance Al-Qurnah
BAAM 810
Antiquities Museum of Bibliotheca Alexandrina
This granite statue of Tutankhamun was sculpted of granite and found in Karnak. It shows the king with a lock of hair (the sidelock of youth) at the side of his head and Uraeus, a cobra over his forehead. He is holding the djed pillar, the nekhekh flail and the heka crook; wearing the large pectoral and its counterpoise, all these emblems signify god Khonsu.
As a member of the Theban Triad worshipped at Karnak, Khonsu was the son of the god Amun and the goddess Mut. Khonsu was a moon god whose name means 'the wanderer'. This may relate to the nightly travel of the moon across the sky. Along with Thoth he marked the passage of time.
In addition, he was worshipped as the son of Sobek and Hathor at Kom Ombo, where he was associated with Horus and called Khonsu-Hor.
In art, Khonsu is typically depicted as a mummy with the symbol of childhood, a sidelock of hair, as well as the menat necklace with crook and flail. He has close links to other divine children such as Horus and Shu. He is sometimes shown wearing an eagle or falcon's head like Horus, with whom he is associated as a protector and healer, adorned with the sun disk and crescent moon.
Granite
18th dynasty
From the Temple of Khonsu at Karnak
(CG 38488)
NMEC 838
NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Fustat Cairo
This head of a colossal statue of Hatshepsut would once have crowned one of the Osirian pillars that decorated the portico of the third terrace of the queen's temple at Deir el-Bahri. It was discovered there in 1926 by the mission of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The portico was divided into two by a granite portal which preceded the 'Festival Hall', on to which opened the more intimate rooms of the temple and the sanctuary of Amun.
Some of the characteristic stylistic features of the statuary of Hatshepsut are present in this head. The face is triangular and the features are very delicate. The striking almond-shaped eyes, decorated with a line of kohl extending to the temples, have large dilated pupils, imparting a sense of innocence and purity. The slightly arched nose is long and slim. The small mouth is set in a faint smile. The same face is found not only on many other statues of the queen but also on those representing private individuals of the same period.
One unusual element is the dark red colour of the skin, usually a feature of male images, it is justified in this case by the fact that the queen is represented here as a pharaoh in Osirian form. The false beard painted blue emphasizes the divine nature of the 'king'. The blue colour of lapis lazuli, together with gold, signified divinity.
From what remains of the queen's headdress, it can be deduced that she wore the Double Crown symbolizing the union between Upper and Lower Egypt.
JE 56259 A - 56262
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
This gilded cartonnage mask shows Yuya wearing a long wig. His eyebrows and eyes are inlaid with blue glass, marble and obsidian. He wears an elaborate collar that goes beneath his wig. It consists of eleven rows of golden beads and it ends in teardrop-shaped pendants. The inside of the mask is covered in bitumen.
Titles of Yuya:
King’s Lieutenant
Master of the Horse
Father-of-the-god
18th dynasty
From the Valley of the Kings, KV46
Tomb of Yuya and Tuya
Upper floor, gallery 43
CG51008 - JE 95316-SR93
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
The sarcophagus has a polished surface carved in a fine sunken relief, providing many details in each figure. On the surface of the relief, unpolished parts appear in a whitish shade on greywacke, so the relief stands out against the black background. The face is rather flat and round and has a beard with a detailed interior structure; the chin rests on the chest. Calves are merely indicated, the foot is vaulted and has a rounded plinth.
The decoration consists of eight scenes on the front, foot and plinth of the lid and is separated from the face and wig by a pt-hieroglyph with 29 stars inside.
The top register is formed by a winged protective goddess, below are the three forms of the sun god. The other elements are Isis and Nephthys on the left and right side, the ba-bird, usually hovering over the mummy, here on top of the text, the protective deities, and the jackal gods at the foot.
Material Greywacke
Date Ptolemaic Period
Provenance Saqqara
(AUC Press Archaeological Reports edited by Christian Leitz, Zeinab Mahrous, Tarek Tawfik 'A Selection of Ptolemaic Anthropoid Sarcophagi in Cairo')
TR 3 / 3 21 / 1
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
El Templo de Karnak es el templo más grande de Egipto y aún hoy en día se siguen encontrando restos y sigue siendo reconstruido.
...della splendida statua del dioscuro Castore, opera di Pelagio Pelagi, che funge da sentinella, in coppia col gemello Polluce, all'ingresso della Piazzetta Reale di Torino.
... of the beautiful statue of Dioscuri Castor, by Pelagio Pelagi, who acts as a sentry, a couple with twins Pollux, at the entrance to the Piazzetta Reale in Turin.
In the hedgehog shaped container is probably stored kohl.
Hedgehogs were believed to be observant as nocturnal animals, and a hedgehog awakening from hibernation was considered a symbol of rebirth. In ancient Egypt, hedgehogs were also eaten.
Faience
26th dynasty
Provenance unknown
Cat. 3375 Museo Egizio
Egypt of Glory exhibition, Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
From the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy
9.10.2020-21.3.2021
Protective goddess Nekhbet was found in the tomb of Amenhotep II in Valley of the Kings, Western Thebes.
Vulture goddess who was the protector of Upper Egypt and especially its rulers. Nekhbet was responsible for protecting the body of the king in his afterlife journey.
Wood
18th dynasty, New Kingdom
Tomb of Amenhotep II, Valley of the Kings
NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Fustat Cairo
Faience
Late Period
Egypt of Glory exhibition, Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
From the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy
9.10.2020-21.3.2021
Wooden cosmetic boxes
The lids of boxes attached at the back open to reveal compartments for cosmetics. The box could be secured by winding twine around the two knobs at the front.
The elaborate decorations of cosmetic boxes were intended to imitate more expensive boxes inlaid with ebony, ivory, and perhaps cedar or mahogany.
NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Fustat Cairo
The wooden anthropoid coffin of a man called "Aba son of Ankh Hor", ruler and governor of Upper Egypt and the Head of the treasury.
The coffin is fully decorated in the shape of a mummy resembling Osiris with the upturned ceremonial false beard and a wig. The eyes are inlaid with ivory and ebony. Iba wears a large multicoloured necklace, and the sky-goddess Nut appears on the chest area. The coffin lid is also decorated with texts from the Egyptian Book of the Dead and the base shows hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Organic material, sycamore wood
Late Period, 26th Dynasty, Saite Period
Provenance Upper Egypt, Luxor (Thebes), West Bank, Qurna
BAAM 829
Antiquities Museum of Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Statue of the sphinx, which has no history clearly. In the Ptolemaic period, it was common to place small sphinx statues in front of the temples to be used for protection and guarding.
Limestone
Ptolemaic Period
Kom Ombo
NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Fustat Cairo
The wooden anthropoid coffin of a man called "Aba son of Ankh Hor", ruler and governor of Upper Egypt and the Head of the treasury.
Organic material, sycamore wood
Late Period, 26th Dynasty, Saite Period
Provenance Upper Egypt, Luxor (Thebes), West Bank, Qurna
BAAM 829
Antiquities Museum of Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Table games were very much appreciated in ancient Egypt with the most popular being Senet. The game was for two people and played on a rectangular board with the upper surface divided into thirty squares; probably the game consisted of moving tokens around the board following the throw of small battens that corresponded to our modern dice. The lower surface of the board was used for playing the twenty-square game.
Tutankhamun had four senet boards of which the largest was the most lavish. The squares were inlaid with ivory and the board itself rests on a small frame with supports in the form of lion' paws and fitted with runners. The drawer on the short side was found empty and removed from its housing and, as the tokens were missing, it is supposed that they were made from a valuable material and stolen by the tomb thieves. The token shown in the picture belonged to other, less magnificent, boards.
During the New Kingdom, Senet took on a magical-religious value and in the introductory formula in Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead, it was considered essential that the deceased played a game against an invisible opponent to ensure his survival.
Valley of the Kings, Tutankhamun's tomb KV62
18th dynasty
JE 62059 - SR 1/82 - 580
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
When the Ptolemaic state was established in Egypt, art that arose in Alexandria was in a purely classical style. Then it was soon mixed with ancient Egyptian art and its ancient traditions. Statues of the Ptolemaic kings appeared in Egyptian features mixed with artistic influences from ancient Greece. This statue depicts a king from the Ptolemaic Period in a mixed style that expressed the merging of these two cultures together.
Black granite
Ptolemaic Period
unknown origin
NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Fustat Cairo
Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun hunting and fishing in the marshes.
Valley of the Kings, Tutankhamun's tomb KV62
18th dynasty
JE 62059 - SR 1/82 - 580
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
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In 1797 the British government authorized Matthew Boulton to strike copper pennies and twopences at his Soho Mint, in Birmingham. It was believed that the face value of a coin should correspond to the value of the material it was made from, so each coin was made from two pence worth of copper (2 ounces). This requirement means that the coins are significantly larger than the silver pennies minted previously. The large size of the coins, combined with the thick rim where the inscription was punched into the metal, led to the coins being nicknamed "cartwheels". All "cartwheel" twopences are marked with the date 1797. In total, around 720,000 twopences were minted.
This head of a colossal statue of Hatshepsut would once have crowned one of the Osirian pillars that decorated the portico of the third terrace of the queen's temple at Deir el-Bahri. It was discovered there in 1926 by the mission of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The portico was divided into two by a granite portal which preceded the 'Festival Hall', on to which opened the more intimate rooms of the temple and the sanctuary of Amun.
Some of the characteristic stylistic features of the statuary of Hatshepsut are present in this head. The face is triangular and the features are very delicate. The striking almond-shaped eyes, decorated with a line of kohl extending to the temples, have large dilated pupils, imparting a sense of innocence and purity. The slightly arched nose is long and slim. The small mouth is set in a faint smile. The same face is found not only on many other statues of the queen but also on those representing private individuals of the same period.
One unusual element is the dark red colour of the skin, usually a feature of male images, it is justified in this case by the fact that the queen is represented here as a pharaoh in Osirian form. The false beard painted blue emphasizes the divine nature of the 'king'. The blue colour of lapis lazuli, together with gold, signified divinity.
From what remains of the queen's headdress, it can be deduced that she wore the Double Crown symbolizing the union between Upper and Lower Egypt.
JE 56259 A - 56262
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
The sarcophagus shows a mummified person with a triangular face wearing a wig while the chin is raised and beardless. Furthermore, a neckband is rendered.
Sarcophagus of Hekenut
Limestone
Ptolemaic period
Provenance: Saqqara
JE 17431
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
This gilded cartonnage mask shows Yuya wearing a long wig. His eyebrows and eyes are inlaid with blue glass, marble and obsidian. He wears an elaborate collar that goes beneath his wig. It consists of eleven rows of golden beads and it ends in teardrop-shaped pendants. The inside of the mask is covered in bitumen.
Titles of Yuya:
King’s Lieutenant
Master of the Horse
Father-of-the-god
18th dynasty
From the Valley of the Kings, KV46
Tomb of Yuya and Tuya
Upper floor, gallery 43
CG51008 - JE 95316-SR93
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
A coffin lid, or alternatively a mummy board, has been found in the vicinity of Theba with nine small shabti statues. The mummy boards were corpse-shaped wooden boards evolved from the lids of the coffins, placed on top of the mummy.
The objects were part of the Egyptian Khedive ruler's donation to the Russian emperor in the 1890s, 10 of which were further donated to the Helsinki Historical Museum in 1895. The cover of the anthropomorphic or human-shaped coffin has a deceased resting with its arms crossed next to it, as well as the sacred ibis, scarabs, priests, and nine rows of hieroglyphs.
Wood
21st dynasty
From the collection of the National Museum of Finland
Egypt of Glory exhibition, Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
9.10.2020-21.3.2021
In the hedgehog shaped container is probably stored kohl.
Hedgehogs were believed to be observant as nocturnal animals, and a hedgehog awakening from hibernation was considered a symbol of rebirth. In ancient Egypt, hedgehogs were also eaten.
Faience
26th dynasty
Provenance unknown
Cat. 3375 Museo Egizio
Egypt of Glory exhibition, Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
From the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy
9.10.2020-21.3.2021
Naos is a small religious shrine. It was used as a portable shrine to carry a god. The headless figurine lying on top of the naos model is probably shrew.
Limestone
Late Period
Egypt of Glory exhibition, Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
From the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy
9.10.2020-21.3.2021
The Wedjat eye was a powerful symbol of protection encountered especially inside the shrouds of mummies. The Wedjat was also used for healing wounds; such an amulet was often placed on top of the incision made in the lower abdomen for the removal of the visceral organs.
Faience
Late Period
Egypt of Glory exhibition, Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
From the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy
9.10.2020-21.3.2021
Nesikhonsu was the young wife of Pinedjem (Pinudjem) II. The mummy of Nesikhonsu was buried in two coffins. This one is the outer and it is intact with the gilded hands and face untouched by robbers contrary to the second coffin which has lost their hands and face.
Wood
From Deir el-Bahri
21st dynasty, reign of Pinedjem II
CG 61030
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
The cow Hathor, one of a group of statues of the protective goddesses found in the tomb of King Amenhotep II.
They were responsible for protecting the body of the king in his afterlife journey.
Wood
18th dynasty, New Kingdom
Tomb of Amenhotep II, Valley of the Kings
NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Fustat Cairo
Fragment of wrapping bearing hieroglyphic inscriptions
Linen
Antiquities Museum of Bibliotheca Alexandrina
In each scene, the person conducting the rituals is portrayed as Pharaoh Sety I.
Red and black granite
19th dynasty
Provenance Heliopolis
S. 2676 Museo Egizio
Egypt of Glory exhibition, Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
From the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy
9.10.2020-21.3.2021
One of the most important objects in a tomb was naturally the coffin that would protect its owner's mummy and incidentally preserve important information and research material for modern-day Egyptologists. During the New Kingdom coffins were often human-shaped. A deceased could have as many as three nested coffins.
Nakhtkhonsueru's wooden meticulously crafted coffin is representative of a typical Late Period coffin style. The maker has spread a layer of white plaster on the wooden lid and executed the paintings on the plaster. The coffin was discovered in the tomb of Prince Khaemwaset, son of Ramses III, among several other coffins. According to the inscriptions on the coffin, Nakhtkhonsueru was an important Theban person, "the Lord of the Necropolis at the temple of Amun".
25th dynasty
Egypt of Glory exhibition, Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
From the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy
9.10.2020-21.3.2021
Detail of the statue of the Young Centaur discovered in Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli in 1736. Possibly a Roman copy in grey marble of a Hellenistic original in bronze. Capitoline Museum, Rome, 1998. Photographed with a Ricoh R1.
This statue represents one of the protective goddesses that were found in the tomb of king Amenhotep II. They were responsible for protecting the body of the king in his afterlife journey. It represents Meretseger in the form of the winged Cobra.
Meretseger, a Cobra goddess dwelling on the mountain overlooks the Valley of the Kings in western Thebes. During the New Kingdom Meretseger had great authority over the whole Theban necropolis area. She can appear as a coiled cobra or as a cobra with a female head and an arm projecting from the front of the snake’s hood.
Her name translated as ‘she who loves silence’, aptly descriptive of a deity protecting secluded royal tombs.
Wood
18th dynasty, New Kingdom
Tomb of Amenhotep II, Valley of the Kings
NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Fustat Cairo
Queen Hetepheres' tomb contained a magnificent collection of wooden furniture including this fine example of a gilded chair.
The space between the arms, the seat, and the backrest is decorated with an elegant floral design, the dominant decorative element of the armchair. The floral design is composed of three papyrus flowers whose stems are tied with a band.
Old Kingdom, 4th dynasty, reign of King Khufu
From the tomb of queen Hetepheres I, G 7000X Giza Plateau
(JE 53263)
NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Fustat Cairo
Este prisma de arcilla hexagonal es uno de los dos de Nínive con la misma inscripción real de Senaquerib escrita en acadio utilizando la escritura cuneiforme. Escrito en primera persona del rey, el texto describe ocho de las campañas militares de Senaquerib y la construcción de un nuevo palacio, el ekal kutalli (Palacio Trasero) para cumplir una función militar y residencial, en el montículo de Nebi Yunus en Nínive.
The god Nilus was a symbol of the Nile river. This statue is one of the rare pieces depicting him as a man leaning on a hippo over a rock from which the water flows. He is surrounded by a group of children symbolizing the high level of the flood.
Marble
Roman Period
From Qena
NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Fustat Cairo
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Megalithic Art, Knowth, Co. Meath, Ireland
Knowth contains more than a third of the total number of examples of megalithic art in all Western Europe. Over 200 decorated stones were found during excavations at Knowth. Much of the artwork is found on the kerbstones, particularly approaching the entrances to the passages. Many of the motifs found at Knowth are typical; spirals, lozenges and serpentiform. However, the megalithic art at Knowth contains a wide variety of images, such as crescent shapes. Interestingly, much of this artwork was carved on backs of the stones. This type of megalithic art is known as hidden art. This suggests all manner of theories as regards the function of megalithic art within the Neolithic community which built the monuments in the Boyne valley. It is possible that they intended the art to be hidden. It is also possible that they simply recycled stones and reused the other side.
www.megalithicireland.com/Knowth.htm
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