Museum Pieces - Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure

Image © National Museums Scotland

Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure

Museum reference
A.1911.259

Description
Figure of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris in wood coated with gesso and painted, on base with lotus flower and with crosspiece supporting two Uraeus topped standards: Ancient Egyptian, possibly from El Bersha, Ptolemaic Period, c. 332-30 BC

Production information
Unknown
ANCIENT EGYPT

Date
Ptolemaic Period

Materials
Wood

Collection place
El-Bersheh, ANCIENT EGYPT

Museum Pieces - Coffin cover of King Antef Sekhemrê Herouhermaât

Coffin cover of King Antef Sekhemrê Herouhermaât

By Rigault Patricia

The coffin cover of Antef Sekhemrê Herouhermaât represents the king as a mummy wrapped in a shroud decorated with two large winged figures. On his head the dead sovereign is wearing the pleated cloth headdress known as a "nemes," adorned with feathers. A broad necklace with fasteners in the shape of falcon heads covers his chest. The relatively rudimentary depiction of the body and face, as well as the brightly colored design, give this royal coffin a rather crude appearance. 

"Rishi" coffins

These mummy-shaped coffins, entirely decorated with feathers and known as "rishi" ("feathered" in Arabic), appeared primarily in the Theban region from the Seventeenth Dynasty. This highly unusual style continued into the Eighteenth Dynasty. Constructed or carved from wood, they were decorated according to the status of the dead person, whether a member of the royal family or merely a private citizen. In general, the latter made do with a crudely carved coffin decorated with a bright, colorful design. Royal coffins, by contrast, were more sophisticated and were sometimes even richly gilded.

A modest royal coffin

The coffin of King Antef Sekhemrê Herouhermaât is exceptional in that it is more like the coffin of a private individual than that of a sovereign. This may have been due to the brevity of his reign. Royal or not, the head was almost invariably covered with the "nemes," a pleated cloth headdress, while the pharaonic emblem of the cobra was often placed on the forehead. Finally, a large necklace with fasteners in the shape of falcons' heads often adorned the chest.

The Antef kings and the Seventeenth Dynasty

An inscription painted in a vertical column in the center of the coffin indicates the birth name of the king, Antef, while another inscription on the necklace, added in ink probably at a later date, gives his pharaonic name, also inscribed in a cartouche: Sekhemrê Herouhermaât. 
This is therefore one of the Antef kings who reigned in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, a troubled time that still has not been fully elucidated. In the Seventeenth Dynasty, for example, the sequence of kings has not been established with certainty, and Sekhemrê Herouhermaât's place in the order of succession is unsure. Was he the direct successor of Antef Oupmaât, whose magnificent gilded coffin, displayed alongside this one in the Louvre, was discovered at the same time? The inscriptions on this second coffin indicate that this was a "gift from his brother, King Antef." Or did he rather accede to the throne after Antef Noubkheperrê, whose beautiful coffin, also gilded, is now in the British Museum? At present, we do not know the answer to these questions.

Technical description
Couvercle du cercueil d'un roi Antef (Sékhemrê Hérouhermaât)
vers 1600 avant J.-C. (17e dynastie)
proviendrait de Dra Abou'l Naga
bois enduit et peint, yeux incrustés de pierre
H. : 1,88 m. ; L. : 0,48 m.
E 3020

Source: http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/coffin-cover-king-antef-sekhemre-herouhermaat

Museum Pieces - Tomb Relief

Tomb relief with an inscription in raised relief: rp´ h3tj-´ (sd3wtj) bjtj.

Photocredit: Medelhavsmuseet 2013

 
Titles and status were important. This relief fragment tells that the tomb owner was a nobleman, a member of the elite and a governor. The bee at the bottom of the column hints at a connection with the king, which was very prestigious.

Photocredit: Medelhavsmuseet 2013

Inventory number: MM 11433

Object: Relief

Material: Limestone; Stone

Period: 25th Dynasty (c.735-656 BC), Late Period

Dimensions: H. 36,5 cm, W. 25 cm, D. 4 cm

The ancient Egyptian Bee (hieroglyph), Gardiner sign listed no. L2, is the representation of a honeybee. The bee figures prominently throughout Ancient Egyptian history, and started in the early Protodynastic Period, for example with Pharaoh Den. His timeperiod famously produced 20 tomb-labels (tags) that recorded events, and told short stories, with the first use of hieroglyphs, that by 2900 BC time had included biliterals, some triliterals, and the Egyptian hieroglyphic uniliterals.

The form of the bee on Den's labels, and others in the timeperiod (Semerkhet), show similar form, a flying bee, at an angle. The later forms are more "horizontal, wings outspread".

 

The bee became the symbol for "King of the North" (the Nile Delta (Lower Egypt), and northern Egypt); the sedge (hieroglyph)

represented the opposite: the "King of the South" (the King of Upper Egypt). A combined form also came to be used: the "King of the South & and the King of the North".

Sources:
http://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-mhm/web/object/3013029
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_(hieroglyph)

Museum Pieces - Sunk Relief Representation of Ptolemy II

Sunk Relief Representation of Ptolemy II

Although the Ptolemaic Period ushered in a long period of foreign rule, the Macedonian kings of that dynasty did not interfere with the Egyptian artistic traditions of the preceding three milennia. Ptolemy II Philadelphos, like his father Ptolemy I Soter, the founder of the dynasty, continued the practice of building and decorating temples in traditional Egyptian fashion.

While this is not to say that the Macedonian rulers did not have Greek artists portray them according to Greek artistic conventions, here the Greek ruler is shown in a purely Egyptian guise, wearing the traditional nemes-headdress of the pharaoh. The style of the relief, including the deeply cut navel, the horizontal treatment of the torso muscles, the "golf ball" chin, and the upturned smile, is common in representations from Dynasties XXIX and XXX (circa 399–342 B.C.) and was readily adopted by the Ptolemies into their iconographic program. Visible behind the king is the figure of a goddess in another scene.

Medium: Granite

Place Made: Behbeit el Higra, Egypt

Dates: 285 or 282-246 B.C.E.

Period: Ptolemaic Period

Dimensions: 27 3/16 x 23 5/8 x 2 3/8 in. (69 x 60 x 6 cm) (show scale)

Accession Number: 72.127

Credit Line: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Rights Statement: Creative Commons-BY

Museum Pieces - Bronze statuette of the moon god Iah

Bronze statuette of the moon god Iah

From Egypt
Late Period, after 600 BC

Height: 22.000 cm
EA 12587

The moon god Iah holding the eye of Horus

The god Iah, whose name means 'moon', first appears in the Late Period (661-332 BC). The moon god was assimilated with Osiris, god of the dead. Perhaps because, in its monthly cycle, the moon appears to renew itself. Iah also seems to have assumed the lunar aspect of Thoth, god of knowledge, writing and calculation; the segments of the moon were used as fractional symbols in writing.

Thoth was seen as the intermediary between rage and peace among the gods. According to myth, Thoth was responsible for returning the solar eye to Re after a goddess, variously interpreted as Hathor, Sekhmet or Tefnut, had fled with it to Nubia. At this time the sun-god was ruler on earth and had learned that humans were plotting against him. He decided to send the solar eye to destroy them. After the first day of destruction Re was so sickened with the carnage that he decided to spare mankind. To make the goddess forget her task, Re tricked her by making her drunk with 7000 jars of red-stained beer. When she became sober again she retreated to Nubia in embarrassment. Thoth was sent after her by Re, who eventually coaxed her into returning.

S. Quirke and A.J. Spencer, The British Museum book of anc (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)

Source: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/b/bronze_statuette_of_moon_god.aspx

Museum Pieces - Bronze Situla

Bolton Museum

Bronze Situla

Cast bronze situla, votive offering, with lotiform petal base decorated with scenes in three registers around vessel.

ID: 197113A
Object: Situla
Provenance: North Saqqara
Period: Late Period; C4 B.C. (?)
Material: Copper-alloy (bronze)
Reference number: 1971.13:A


Situla - A sacred vessel used for religious ceremonies, the situla is a very small round-bottomed bucket or pail, usually cast from bronze and decorated with mythological motifs. During the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, the situla was carried by the priests of Isis and used in rituals and processions. The situla held holy water from the Nile or milk as a symbol of Isis in her form as a mother goddess.








Sources: 

http://www.boltonmuseums.org.uk/collections/item/439?keyword=situla&subjectId=4

Egyptian Mythology, A to Z,  By Pat Remler, page 180

Museum Pieces - Canopic Chest of Hornedjitef

Canopic Chest Of Hornedjitef

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Leiden

In the 30th Dynasty (380-343 BC), the four packages with embalmed entrails were no longer interred in vases or between the mummy's legs, but placed in a small wooden chest in the form of a shrine or naos. These chapel-shaped canopic chests are also found in the subsequent age of the Ptolemies. The chest consists of a square base plate on which stand four painted side panels, which incline inward slightly and are bounded by a characteristic hollow cornice. A wooden figure of a falcon mummy has been attached to the lid, representing Sokar, the god of the dead. The owner of this chest was Hornedjitef, a priest of Amon. His grave lay along the road leading to Queen Hatshepsut's temple of the dead, in Deir el-Bahari. Other burial gifts belonging to this person are now in the British Museum.

Date created:
250 BC - 200 BC

Measurements:
58 x 28 x 28 cm

Objectnr:
AH 215

Source: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/canopic-chest-of-hornedjitef/GQEyRicBwCqseQ?projectId=art-project

Museum Pieces - A Complete Set of Canopic Jars

A Complete Set of Canopic Jars

This set of canopic jars was made to contain the internal organs removed from the body during the mummification process. The four sons of the god Horus were believed to protect these organs. The jackal-headed Duamutef protected the stomach; the falcon-headed Qebehsenuef, the intestines; the baboon-headed Hapi, the lungs; and human-headed Imsety, the liver.

Period: ca. 900-800 BC (Third Intermediate)
Accessionnr.: VO.7 (41.171, 41.172, 41.173, 41.174)
Medium: limestone with paint
Measurements: Qebehsenuef: 12 5/8 x 4 5/8 x 5 1/8 in. (32 x 11.7 x 13 cm); Imsety: 13 9/16 x 4 3/4 x 5 3/16 in. (34.5 x 12 x 13.2 cm); Duamutef: 14 3/16 x 5 11/16 x 5 5/16 in. (36 x 14.4 x 13.5 cm); Hapi: 13 3/8 x 4 13/16 x 5 5/16 in. (34 x 12.3 x 13.5 cm)

Museum Pieces - Statue of Khaemwaset

This statue fragment portrays Khaemwaset, son of Ramesses II and Isetnofret, who was the high priest of Ptah at Memphis. He is often called the 'first archaeologist', and he restored a number of ancient tombs at Memphis and also constructed the Serapeum. He became especially important in the Graeco-Roman Period, and two demotic stories depict him as a master magician. The Brussels statue shows the prince standing, wearing an archaising wig and a false beard. He holds in his hands an indeterminate cult object. Two identical vertical columns of text on the back pillar tell us that the prince was here shown as the god Horus Iunmutef.

Inventory number: E.6721
Dating: RAMESSES II/USERMAATRE-SETEPENRE
Archaeological Site: SAQQARA NECROPOLIS ?
Category: FIGURINE/STATUETTE
Material: BASALT ?
Technique: HEWN; POLISHED; ENGRAVED; SCULPTURED
Height: 25.4 cm
Width: 15.5 cm
Depth: 19.3 cm

Translation
The god Horus Iunmutef, the sem priest, the prince, Khaemwaset, that he might give...

Bibliography
F. Lefebvre et B. Van Rinsveld, L'Égypte. Des Pharaons aux Coptes, Bruxelles 1990, 127-128
W. Seipel, Gott. Mensch. Pharao. Viertausend Jahre Menschenbild in der Skulptur des Alten Ägypten (Exposition), Vienne 1992, 293-295 n° 110
Le Roman de la momie. Les amours d'une princesse égyptienne (Exposition Saint-Gérard de Brogne), Namur 1997, 112 n° 43

Source: http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/detail.aspx?id=1096

Museum Pieces - Belt buckle inscribed for Nefertari

Belt buckle inscribed for Nefertari

Egyptian
1295–1186 B.C.

Findspot, Thebes, Egypt

DIMENSIONS
Height x width: 4.7 x 11.5 cm (1 7/8 x 4 1/2 in.)

ACCESSION NUMBER
04.1955

MEDIUM OR TECHNIQUE
Silver, gold, feldspar, carnelian, blue frit, glass

Inscribed for “the Osiris, great royal wife, his beloved, mistress of Lower Egypt.”

Provenance
Said to be from the Valley of the Queens (Thebes), Tomb of Queen Nefertari (QV 66). 1904: purchased for the MFA from Mohamed Mohassib, Luxor, Egypt by Albert M. Lythgoe as part of a group (04.1953-04.1956, 04.1766-04.1769) for £40. (Accession Date: January 1, 1904)

Credit Line
Emily Esther Sears Fund

Museum Pieces - Lady Tjepu

Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum

LADY TJEPU

One of the most remarkable paintings to survive from ancient Egypt, this depiction at the noblewoman Tjepu came from a tomb built for her son Nebamun and a man named lpuky. Egyptian artists usually did not depict individuals as they truly looked, but rather as eternally youthful, lavishly dressed, and in an attitude of repose.

Tjepu was about forty years old when this painting was executed, but she is shown in what was the height of youthful fashion during the reign of Amunhotep III: a perfumed cone on her heavy wig, a delicate side tress, and a semitransparent, fringed linen dress.

Medium: Limestone, gessoed and painted
Place Excavated: Thebes, Egypt
Dates: ca. 1390-1353 B.C.E.
Dynasty: XVIII Dynasty
Period: New Kingdom
Dimensions: 14 13/16 x 9 7/16 in. (37.6 x 24 cm)  (show scale)
Collections:Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
Museum Location: This item is on view in Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity, Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
Accession Number: 65.197
Credit Line: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Source: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/3743/Lady_Tjepu

Museum Pieces - Aegis of Isis

Photocredit: British Museum

Aegis of Isis

From Kawa, Sudan
Kushite, late 3rd century BC
Height: 17.500 cm
Width: 16.000 cm

Excavated by Prof Francis Llewellyn Griffith

EA 63585

Ornamental head of a goddess, possibly Isis

The term aegis is used in Egyptology to describe a broad collar surmounted by the head of a deity, in this case a goddess, possibly Isis. Representations in temples show that these objects decorated the sacred boats in which deities were carried in procession during festivals. An aegis was mounted at the prow and another at the stern. The head of the deity identified the occupant of the boat and it is likely that this example came from a sacred boat of Isis.

The eyes and eyebrows of the goddess were originally inlaid. The large eyes, further emphasized by the inlay, are typical of later Kushite art. The rectangular hole in her forehead once held the uraeus, which identified her as a goddess. The surviving part of her head-dress consists of a vulture - the wing feathers can be seen below her ears. The vulture head-dress was originally worn by the goddess Mut, consort of Amun of Thebes, but became common for all goddesses. The rest of the head-dress for this aegis was cast separately and is now lost, but would have consisted of a sun disc and cow's horns. The piece bears a cartouche of the Kushite ruler Arnekhamani (reigned about 235-218 BC), the builder of the Lion Temple at Musawwarat es-Sufra.

S. Wenig, Africa in antiquity: the arts, Vol II, exh. cat. (Brooklyn, N.Y., Brooklyn Museum, 1978)

M.F. Laming Macadam, The temples of Kawa (Oxford, 1949 (vol. I) 1955 (vol. II))

Source: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/a/aegis_of_isis.aspx

Museum Pieces - Spoon in the Form of a Young Girl Carrying a Vase

Spoon in the Form of a Young Girl Carrying a Vase

Credit: Musée du Louvre/C. Décamps

H. : 31,50 cm. ; L. : 7 cm.
E 8025 bis

This delicate decorated spoon is quite remarkable both for its size and for excellent condition, with well-preserved inlays of blue pigment. The figure is carved from a strip of wood, while the interior details are in bas-relief. The decoration depicts a servant girl carrying a large earthenware jar, which is actually a receptacle fitted with its own cover, so creating a perfect correspondence between the object and its subject. 

A heavily laden servant

Though smiling, the young woman seems to move forward with difficulty, slightly bent under the weight of her burden. She is entirely naked except for a broad necklace that covers her shoulders; jewels, now lost, once adorned her legs, but she still wears her earrings, visible under her thick braided hair. Her nudity contrasts with the rich decoration of the objects she carries: a stemmed krater with scroll handles on her right shoulder, and a bag in her left hand. Both these objects are decorated with water lily petals, the ubiquitous plant motif in art of this period, which also reappears on the plinth supporting the figure. The vase is hollowed into the shape of a spoon, which is concealed under a cover that pivots on a tenon. The composition is perfectly balanced and the object is in an impeccable state of preservation.

Carved spoons

This object imbued with an artistic aesthetic belongs to a category that is well represented in museums around the world; as in almost every domain of Egyptian art, none of these spoons is similar to any other. This one is particularly large, and its slender shape suggests a date from the early Ramesside period. The figures adorning these objects, generally female, are placed in bucolic, artistic (dance or music), or domestic scenes, as with this example. They are not identified as either historic figures or divinities. The action does not seem intended for a deity, and there is no accompanying inscription. Other spoons feature images of flowers, elaborate bouquets, animals in action, and trussed game animals: a repertoire that is ultimately fairly similar to the genre scenes and still lifes of western art.

A purpose that remains a mystery

The purpose of these objects has never been fully determined. The receptacles are shallow, which suggests they might be cosmetic spoons. These highly colored and oily products would have left traces on the spoons, however, and yet the wood is perfectly clean. Though fragile, the handles bear no marks or signs of wear.
The elaborate bouquets and trussed game animals represent temple scenes of offerings to the gods. Such subjects may have been adapted for objects intended as gifts, which would correspond well with their generally attractive themes and subjects, a reflection of the sensibilities of the upper echelons of New Kingdom society. Indeed, many of these spoons were found in the necropolis of the royal harem of Medinet el-Ghurob, in the Faiyum region.

Bibliography

J. Vandier d'Abbadie, Musée du Louvre Département des Antiquités Egyptiennes - Catalogue des objets de toilette égyptiens, Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris, 1972, pp. 20-1, entry 30.

Author(s): Pierrat-Bonnefois Geneviève

Source: http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/spoon-form-young-girl-carrying-vase

Museum Pieces - Amulet in the form of a head of an elephant

Amulet in the form of a head of an elephant

Period: Predynastic, Naqada II

Date: ca. 3500–3300 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt

Medium: Serpentine Bone

Dimensions: h. 3.5 x w. 3.6 x d. 2.1 cm (1 3/8 x 1 7/16 x 13/16 in.)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1959

Accession Number: 59.101.1

Few amulets from the Predynastic Period are known. In the past, Egyptologists identified these amulets as representing a bull's head, but the round face and eyes, the horns that curve inward to the face, and a snout with a defined ridge make a strong argument for its identification as an elephant. During this period, elephants lived in oasis-like zones in the high desert created by greater rainfall than today. They were probably a rare sight to floodplain dwellers, but their size, tusks, and aggressive displays made them an awe-inspiring creature and an excellent subject for a potent amulet.

An amulet is a small object that a person wears, carries, or offers to a deity because he or she believes that it will magically bestow a particular power or form of protection. The conviction that a symbol, form, or concept provides protection, promotes well-being, or brings good luck is common to all societies: in our own, we commonly wear religious symbols, carry a favorite penny, or a rabbit's foot. In ancient Egypt, amulets might be carried, used in necklaces, bracelets, or rings, and—especially—placed among a mummy's bandages to ensure the deceased a safe, healthy, and productive afterlife.

Egyptian amulets functioned in a number of ways. Symbols and deities generally conferred the powers they represent. Small models that represent known objects, such as headrests or arms and legs, served to make sure those items were available to the individual or that a specific need could be addressed. Magic contained in an amulet could be understood not only from its shape. Material, color, scarcity, the grouping of several forms, and words said or ingredients rubbed over the amulet could all be the source for magic granting the possessor's wish.

Small representations of animals seem to have functioned as amulets already in the Predynastic Period (ca. 4500–3100 B.C.). In the Old Kingdom (ca. 2649–2150 B.C.), most amulets took an animal form or were symbols (often based on hieroglyphs), although generalized human forms occurred. Amulets depicting recognizable deities begin to appear in the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2030–1640 B.C.), and the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1070 B.C.) showed a further increase in the range of amulet forms. With the Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1070–712 B.C.), there was an explosion in the quantity of amulets, and many new types, especially deities, appeared.

Sources:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/59.101.1
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/547235
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/egam/hd_egam.htm

Museum Pieces - "New Year's" bottle

Medium:

Faience (glazed composition)

Type:

Faience, Vessel

Origin:

Egypt

Topic:

new year, Late Period (664 - 332 B.C.E.), Egypt

Credit Line:

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Date:

664-332 B.C.E.

Period:

Late Period

Accession Number:

F1907.11

Data Source:

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Flasks of this type are known as "New Year" gifts because of the inscriptions they often bear, which invoke the gods of the city of Memphis to give the owner all life and health, and a happy New Year. Almost invariably made of a fine light blue or pale green glazed faience, the flasks are usually decorated with garlands around the neck and have an ape of the god Thoth, recorder of time, seated on each side of the neck.

Sources: 

http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/edan/object.cfm?q=fsg_F1907.11

http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleObject.cfm?ObjectNumber=F1907.11

Museum Pieces - Model of Nubian Soldiers

Model of Nubian Soldiers

Photocredit: Museums for Intercultural Dialogue

datation: Early Middle Kingdom (11th Dynasty around 2055-1985 BC)
provenance: Asyut
area: Egypt
period: 3000-2000 BC
materials: Wood.

These small figurines of different sizes, wood stuccoed and painted, represent Nubian soldiers as if in a parade. They are fixed on a base composed of five boards joined by three cross boards below. This group was found in a tomb dated to the beginning of the Middle Kingdom in the necropolis of Asyut in Middle Egypt, accompanied by a second group representing a troop of Egyptian soldiers.

These objects are in fact what we call “models”, made to accompany the deceased in his/her trip to the afterlife. They probably belonged to the governor of the nome (province) that they call Nomarch, perhaps Mesehti, who lived during the late 11th Dynasty.

The black skinned figures, dressed in a red or white loincloth and wearing a necklace and hair band, are standing in a way which represents the march of the parade: the bare feet, with the left leg forward. The left arm is brought back to a right angle and holds a bow. The other arm is left dangling by the body with the hand holding a set of arrows. The squad consists of four lines of ten soldiers giving a total of forty soldiers.

In Pharaonic Egypt, from the earliest times, there existed a military organization consisting of both Egyptians and other ethnic groups such as Nubians. The Nubian and Medjay auxiliaries appeared in the Middle Kingdom. Some stelae testify that a garrison of Nubian and Medjay archers was established in the late 11th Dynasty at Gebelein in Upper Egypt. In this period, it was primarily the infantry of defeated soldiers who were enlisted in the Egyptian troops.

With the New Kingdom and expansive aims of Egypt the army became professionalized. The pharaoh, supreme commander of armies, was surrounded by important management personnel. Titles connected to the military were numerous; from scribe to chief of troop (so-called General).

The Old and Middle Kingdoms defended their borders and did not venture out much, except to Sinai and Nubia up to the Second Cataract. With the appearance of the horse, a new military unit was created: the chariot, which will have a big influence in conflicts starting from the New Kingdom, especially considering it was a period when ambitions for the Near East intensified. In this period, other ethnic groups from Libya and the Near East will be incorporated into the army. The foreign reinforcements in the army will be continued in future periods as pharaohs will not hesitate to call on foreign mercenaries from the Saite period and onwards: a practice which will become the norm in Antiquity from Hellenistic Greece to Rome.

Source: http://www.unesco.org/culture/museum-for-dialogue/item/en/70/model-of-nubian-soldiers

Museum Pieces - Diorite bust of Horemheb

Photocredit: Nicholson Museum

Diorite bust of Horemheb

Collection: Nicholson Museum: Stone Artefacts, Ancient Egyptian
Object Category: Sculpture - Bust
Name/Title: Fragmentary statue of the pharaoh Horemheb as a kneeling scribe
Media: Stone - diorite
Measurements: 45.5 h/l x 40.0 w x 26.0 d cm, 147 kg
Acquisition Credit Line: Donated by Sir Charles Nicholson 1860
Museum Number: NMR. 1138

Production:

Place: Ptah Temple, Memphis, Egypt
Date: 1330-1320 BC

Description:

The figure wears a very fine garment with pleated sleeves and collar at base of the throat. Almost certainly Horemheb from his pre royal career.

History Notes:

Description and Function (Author: Dr Sophie Winlaw)

There are no inscriptions on the surviving section of this statue (including the narrow back pillar - an area which is usually inscribed with the subject's name). However, the identity of this individual can be determined through an examination of his facial features, the distinctive style of sculpture, the clothing and the wig. The long unstructured wavy wig is commonly worn by scribes who are usually represented in statuary as seated figures with crossed legs and in many cases papyrus scrolls on their laps (the fold of skin of our piece below the breast is suggestive of either a seated or squatting figure).

Scribes form a well respected professional class who are literate - unlike the majority of ancient Egyptians - so for this man to be represented as a scribe it reflects his high social status. This is also reflected by the style of wig and the garment he wears - types which were worn by high officials of the late 18th and early 19th dynasties (1550-1213 BC). Scribes are also protected by the god Thoth - the ibis headed god of writing and knowledge.

Many of the scribal statues depict the subject as being bare-chested but in this case he wears a distinctive type of robe which is draped loosely over his upper arms. The facial features are very distinctive, especially the shape of the eyes and the fullness around the jaw line and cheeks (representative of the Amarna Period). This statue has been carved, smoothed and polished with great precision and there would have been few officials who could have afforded a statue of this quality.

Museum Pieces - A Worshipper Kneeling Before the God Anubis

Photocredit: Walters Art Museum

A Worshipper Kneeling Before the God Anubis

A bronze statuette of the anthropomorphic god Anubis facing a kneeling worshipper. He has the head of a jackal and the body of a human male. The piece has been cast in three sections and then joined. The eyes of Anubis are inlaid with gold and there are traces of gilding on the shoulders, wrists, ankles, neck, wig, and ears. The gilding was delicately applied to the eyes, eyebrows and muzzle, but in other areas it appears to have been applied in a more careless fashion. The piece is well preserved in general but there is a break on the lower back corner of the base and there is some green and bright blue corrosion on the lower side of the base. 

A hieroglyphic inscription runs around the main base, the base of the Anubis figure and along the back pillar of the worshiper, identifying the dedicant as one Wdja-Hor-resnet, son of Ankh-pa-khered, who is asking for the blessings of the god Anubis. The figure of Anubis is in a striding position with his proper left leg advanced. His proper right arm hangs at his side and the right hand is clenched into a fist with the thumb protruding. The proper left arm is raised and bent at the elbow and there is a drilled hole in the hand for the insertion of an object. Earlier photographs of this piece in Darresy's "Statues de Divinités," show that the missing object was a "was" scepter. He wears a tripartite wig, "shendyt" kilt with deep pleats and a striated belt. A broad collar, armlets and bracelets are incised and gilded. Anklets are suggested by the gilding around the ankles but they are not incised. The musculature of the limbs and the torso is clearly defined. The ears of the god are large and the inner detailing has been carefully modeled. The muzzle comes to a delicate point, accentuating the skillfully modeled eyes, sweeping brows, nose and mouth. 

There are two cobras at the feet of the deity facing the worshipper. The proper right cobra wears the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and the left cobra wears the White Crown of Upper Egypt. The head of the left cobra is raised slightly higher than that of the right. A worshipper kneels before the god with his back against an inscribed pillar which is pyramidal at the top. He kneels with both knees down on a flat rectangular base, which is attached to the larger main base below. He extends his hands to the god palms down. He wears a "shendyt" kilt, but the pleats are not carved with the same precision that is seen on the kilt of the god. The bent knees are squared off unnaturally and the legs blend together below the kilt. He has an inscribed broad collar. He also wears a skull cap, the front line of which is clearly marked across his brow. The face is round with full cheeks and no definition of the chin. The ears are large and set high. The eyes are natural and do not have cosmetic brows. The nose is straight and the mouth is small with slightly pursed lips. The overall surface of the worshipper is pitted whereas the figure of Anubis has a high polish.

[Translation] May Anubis, give life, health, long life and great and good old age to Wdja-Hor-resnet, son of Ankh-pa-khered, whose mother is Ta-gemiw(t), who is born (made) of the Mistress of the house, Hy-inty for Pen-pa-djew./ May Anubis give life to Wdje-hor-resnet, son of Ankh-pa-khered./ May Anubis, who is before the place of the divine booth, give life, health, strength, a long life, and a great old age and happiness to the son of Ankh-pa-khered, whose mother is Ta-gemiw(t), who is Mistress of the House, Hy-inty for Pen-pa-djew.

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1930

PERIOD: ca. 747-525 BCE (Third Intermediate Period-Late Period, 25th-26th dynasty)

MEDIUM: bronze with gilt, gold inlay

ACCESSION NUMBER: 54.400

MEASUREMENTS: H: 8 3/16 x W: 5 11/16 x D: 2 1/16 in. (20.8 x 14.4 x 5.3 cm)

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Museum Pieces - Counterpoise of a menat

Counterpoise of a menat

A bronze decorative counterpoise of a menat. It has the form of Sakhmet, with her body represented as a shrine. A figure of the goddess stands within the shrine wearing a sun or moon-disk. The menat, a bead necklace with counterpoise, was an important ritual object used by priestesses in temple ceremonies, and could be rattled to accompany singing and dancing.

Present location: LIVERPOOL MUSEUM [03/061] LIVERPOOL
Inventory number: 1987.408
Dating: 18TH DYNASTY
Archaeological Site: UNKNOWN
Category: MENAT
Material: BRONZE
Technique: FULL CAST
Height: 15 cm

Menat

The menat (mnit) consists of several strings of beads joined together to a two-part end piece shaped like a rectangle or trapezium with a disk attached. This part functioned as a counterpoise whenever the menat was worn as a necklace. The menat was also often carried in the hand. The strings of beads resulted in the menat making a rattling noise when shaken, similar to that of a sistrum. Together with the sistrum, the menat was used as an accompanying instrument for song and dance.

The first illustrations date from the 6th Dynasty and show the menat being held by women who had functions in the cult of Hathor. Hathor is often shown herself with a menat around her neck, and it can even be seen as one of the manifestations of Hathor, with the counterpoise often taking the shape of the face of Hathor. Hathor's son, Ihy, uses the menat as a musical instrument, just like the musicians named after him who performed at Hathor festivals. Via Ihy, the instrument was transferred to Khons.

The menat is considered to be multifunctional - it could be used for protection, to calm a divine power, or to transfer something of the being of the goddess to the person who touched the menat. The close connection to Hathor meant that contact with the menat would transfer zest for life and love. One relief shows the goddess holding a menat to the nose of the king, as if it were an ankh sign. It is also related to the sphere of fertility and birth. From the late New Kingdom on, the deceased was given the end piece of a menat; in representations they wear it as a kind of pectoral. The friezes on sarcophagi dating to the Middle Kingdom already show complete menats; they represent the menats which were offered to the deceased in the tomb reliefs by dancers.

Bibliography

Piotr Bienkowski and Angela Tooley., Gifts of The Nile: Ancient Egyptian Arts and Crafts in Liverpool Museum., 1995., 62; pl.96.

Sources:

http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/detail.aspx?id=3521

http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/glossary.aspx?id=238