Terracotta statuette of two actors

Terracotta statuette of two actors

The two figures are set on a thin base and are shown standing and embracing. On the basis of their posture and facial expressions they have been identified as actors. The right figure is male and the left figure is female because of the indication of breasts. Both wear short-sleeved chitons girded around the hips, hanging down to above the knees. Another interpretation of this group statuette identifies the figures as a pair of beggars.

Present location PELIZAEUS-MUSEUM [04/030] HILDESHEIM

Inventory number 0464

Dating PTOLEMAIC PERIOD

Archaeological Site ALEXANDRIA ?

Category HUMAN FIGURINE

Material CLAY

Technique FORMED BY HAND; BURNED

Height 14.5 cm

Width 12.5 cm

Depth 6 cm

http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/detail.aspx?id=10566

Bibliography•Roeder, G., Die Denkmäler des Pelizaeus-Museums zu Hildesheim, Hildesheim 1921, S. 168, Abb. 70.

•Kayser, H., Die ägyptischen Altertümer im Roemer-Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim, Hildesheim 1973, S.125, Abb. 109.

•Meisterwerke altägyptischer Keramik : 5000 Jahre Kunst und Kunsthandwerk aus Ton und Fayence, Montabaur 1978, Kat.-Nr. 414.

•Götter und Pharaonen, Hildesheim 1979, Kat.-Nr. 196.

•Cleopatra's Egypt : age of the Ptolemies, Brooklyn 1988, Kat.-Nr. 114.

•Kleopatra : Ägypten um die Zeitenwende, Mainz 1989, Kat.-Nr. 110.

Coffin of Ahmose

Coffin of Ahmose

Period:New KingdomDynasty:early Dynasty 18Reign:reign of Ahmose I to HatshepsutDate:ca. 1550–1458 B.C.Geography:From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Asasif, probably Tomb CC 64, burial 9, Carnarvon Excavations 1907–1914Medium:Sycomore wood, stucco, paint Dimensions:L. 229 cm (90 3/16 in); h. 60 cm (23 5/8 in)

The rishi coffin of the Second Intermediate Period (see for example 30.3.4a, b) gave way in the early New Kingdom to the type seen here, an anthropoid coffin made of large planks, coated with stucco and painted white. Two long vertical bands run down the center of the lid, and transverse bands wrap around lid and trough. These bands represent the tapes that bound the outer layers of linen wrappings around the body, identifying the coffin with the mummy and thus as an additional repository for the intangible aspects of the person thought to survive death. The bands are also thought to echo the architectural features seen on earlier rectangular coffins (see 32.3.429a, b) that characterize the coffin as the eternal dwelling place of the deceased.

This coffin was inscribed for Ahmose, son of the Lady of the House, Nakht. Strapped to his chin is the long, curved beard of divinity, around his shoulders is a broad collar with falcon-head terminals, and on his chest is a winged vulture. The amuletic wedjat eyes seen on earlier coffins are translated here into single large eyes in panels on either side of the box. On the sides of the coffin are the members of Ahmose's family, here to pay their eternal respects. To the right his wife Hapu and daughter, also named Ahmose, raise their arms in gestures of mourning; behind the women are two sons, Djehuty and Mekyniwetef. Hapu appears again to the left, this time with a different daughter, Tet, and two sons, Nebseny and Siamun. On the foot end are figures of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, along with a male offering bearer. The long bands on the lid are also used to carry offering prayers for the benefit of Ahmose: one calls on the mortuary god Osiris, like many such prayers; the other is more unusual in that it invokes the great state god of the New Kingdom, Amun-Re.

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/543865

Ineni

Nubierinnen, Wandmalerei aus dem Grab des Ineni (TT81)

Stela of the lady Astemakhbit

Stela of the lady Astemakhbit

Wooden stelae were placed beside the coffin in the first millennium BC. This example is from the tomb of a woman named Astemakhbit, who bears the title 'good follower of the divine adoratrice' (i.e. of the leading priestess in the cult of Amun-Ra at Thebes). At the top, beneath the winged solar disc, is a depiction of Astemakhbit adoring the sun god Ra-Harakhty, who is accompanied by the winged goddess Isis and three of the four Sons of Horus. The text contains the standard request for bread, beer and other funerary offerings, and names in addition to the deceased a woman Tadiamun (her mother ?) and Sen, a priest of Mont lord of Thebes.

Present location NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND [30/002] DUBLIN

Inventory number L1091:17

Dating 26TH DYNASTY

Archaeological Site THEBES: WEST BANK

Category STELA

Material WOOD

Technique PAINTED; CARVED

Height 34 cm

Width 22 cm

http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/detail.aspx?id=2942

Translation

good follower of the divine adoratrice Astemakhbit true of voice

Tadiamun daughter of the god's servant of Mont lord of Thebes Sen true of voice.

Sarcophagus of Nes-shu-tefnut

Sarcophagus of Nes-shu-tefnut

The shape of the sarcophagus of Nes-shu-tefnut [Esshutfêne] is something of a compromise. Because it has no face, it does not qualify as mummy-shaped. Nevertheless, its outline tapers towards the foot end and its head end has been rounded. The lid, on the other hand, has a vaulted shape as if it were the lid of a rectangular coffin, but without the distinctive high boards at the ends or the corner posts. The sarcophagus of Nes-shu-tefnut was carved out of one piece of volcanic rock, found in one location in the First Cataract region near Aswan. The combination of pitch black and bright spots is the result of complex volcanic activity. It is interesting to observe how the irregularity in the stone at the foot end was simply ignored by the sculptor. The lid is made of a different material: granodiorite. Both the box and its lid have been fully smoothed inside and out and they have been carved with outstanding relief work and hieroglyphic inscriptions. The decoration and inscriptions are typical for sarcophagi from Saqqara, the necropolis of Memphis, in the Ptolemaic Period.

One of the principal themes of the decoration is the nocturnal course of the sun, the superb image of death and resurrection. The entire cosmos has been represented. The interior of the lid bears an image of the night sky, showing the goddess Nut swallowing the sun in the evening and giving birth to it again in the morning. She extends herself over the mummy with the stars of the firmament behind her, including the twelve stars of the nocturnal hours represented in human form. On the bottom of the sarcophagus is a representation of the goddess of the west, a personification of the necropolis. It is this goddess who accepts the body of the deceased. She is also a personification of the realm of the dead, the Netherworld. She is surrounded by the emblematic goddesses for Upper Egpyt and Lower Egypt, Nekhbet and Uto, who appear as winged cobras on either side of the head of the mummy. At the head end of the coffin's interior decoration is the goddess Nephthys, depicted as a woman whose vulture's wings are extended in a protective gesture around the head of the deceased. The inscription around this figure is an adaptation from the Book of Amduat, from the beginning of the seventh hour of the night. Nephthys has taken the place of Isis in her role as divine protectress against the annihilating powers of the hereafter. The remaining beings and symbols on the interior faces of the sarcophagus have the same protective purpose. There is the god Anubis in the shape of a crouching jackal, the Eye of Horus, the four Sons of Horus with the heads of a human, a baboon, a jackal, and a falcon (on both sides), and also the four protective goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selkis (divided between the two sides). The goddesses are ranked higher than the sons of Horus, each being in charge of one of the four canopic jars. Finally, on the foot end of the decoration is the djed-pillar, hieroglyph for "duration" and symbol of the back of Osiris' body, together with two protective symbols of the blood of Isis.

Present location KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM [09/001] VIENNA

Inventory number 1

Dating PTOLEMAIC PERIOD

Archaeological Site SAQQARA NECROPOLIS

Category COFFIN/SARCOPHAGUS/CARTONNAGE

Material DIORITE

Technique STONE-TECHNIQUE

Height 108 cm

Width 115 cm

Translation

These gods are as follows: their arms are curved around their heads, they have their shadows (= the staffs) hovering in front of them; they mourn over the secret corpse of the Lord of the Netherworld. The two goddesses who tear out their hair. There is water coming forth from the jars, which stems from the eyes of the two goddesses, like blood; the inhabitants of the Netherworld breathe on account of it. The Great god speaks to them, when their souls enter behind him. The speech of the speaker (= the god) to those who hide their character at the divine site of the hidden being: You two gods, you two goddesses, who are in the place of mysteries: Let the Osiris NN (here is the title and name of the deceased) pass by you! Your souls rejoice because they breathe. He enters at your place, you see him who owns nothing.

The speech of the speaker to the catfish gods who receive the secret of the "earthling": You catfish gods, who have received the secret of your "earthling", I let your souls breathe! When NN enters, I will let his soul breathe.

Greetings, you lords of truth, who are free from sin ..., I have been transformed in your image, I have become powerful through your magic, I have been counted amongst you, so that you may save me from the angry one who is in this land of the two truths; so that you may give me my mouth for speaking! My offerings will be given to me in your presence; for I know you and I know your names, and I know the name of that great god to whom you give your offerings... When I am not dispelled, he will not be dispelled; when he leaves, I will leave - and vice versa! I will not be dispelled from the Milky Way!

No enemies will gain power over me, you will not dispel me from your gates, you will not shut your doors against me; because my bread is in (the sacred city of) Buto and my beer is in (the sacred city of) Dep ...

Bibliography•Arneth, J., Bericht über die Entdeckung dreier merkwürdiger Sarkophage des Herrn Ritter von Laurin (Sitzungsber. der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 1849).

•Bergmann, E. von, Übersicht über die ägyptischen Alterthümer (11876).

•Bergmann, E. von, Der Sarkophag des Nesschutefnet in der Sammlung ägyptischer Alterthümer des österreichischen Kaiserhauses, in: Recueil de Travaux rélatifs à la philologie et à l'archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes (RecTrav) VI (1885).

•Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM). Führer durch die Sammlungen. Wien 1988.

•Satzinger, H., Ägyptische Kunst in Wien (Wien 1980).

•Komorzynski, E., Das Erbe des alten Ägypten. Wien 1956.

•Satzinger, H., Das Kunsthistorische Museum in Wien. Die Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung. Zaberns Bildbände zur Archäologie 14. Mainz. 1994.

http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/detail.aspx?id=4501

Flower garland

Flower garland

A floral garland, the flowers twisted and secured with a papyrus knot. Bodies were buried with garlands and wreaths from the earliest times, the plants that were used are indicative of the time of year the burial took place.

Present location LIVERPOOL MUSEUM [03/061] LIVERPOOL

Inventory number 56.20.755

Dating GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD

Archaeological Site HAWWARA

Category GARLAND

Material ORGANIC

Technique TWISTED

globalegyptianmuseum

Harwa

Block statue of the chief steward Harwa / Harua

XXVI dynasty

Neues Museum

Berlin