“Marking the one hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s magnificent tomb, its incredible treasures are revealed as never before. In 1922, after fifteen years of searching, archaeologists finally discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun. There, buried alongside the king’s mummy, they found more than 5,000 unique objects, from the mundane to the extravagant, from the precious to the everyday. Tutankhamun’s spectacular gold mask is justifiably famous, but the rest of the treasures remain largely unknown, their stories untold. Tutankhamun’s Trumpet: Ancient Egypt in 100 Objects fro ..read more

This sandstone fragmented relief depicts Nefertiti wearing the so-called “Nubian wig” with uraeus. Blue pigment of the headdress remains in places, as with the reddish of Nefertiti’s skin. The profile is instantly recognizable with the famous bust of the queen and is delicately carved with a swan like neck, accompanied by a profile carving of her famous face, where the queen has an air of serenity and confidence in her forward stare. Brooklyn Museum. 35.1999 This piece was gifted to the Brooklyn Museum by the Egypt Exploration Society, and was originally discovered within the remnants of Akhen ..read more

Kemsit was an ancient Egyptian queen consort and the wife of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the 11th Dynasty. Her titles included “King’s Beloved Wife” (ḥmt-nỉswt mrỉỉ.t=f), “King’s Ornament” (ẖkr.t-nỉswt), “King’s Sole Ornament” (ẖkr.t-nỉswt wˁtỉ.t), and “Priestess of Hathor”. Her tomb (TT308) and modest ornate chapel were discovered in her husband’s Deir el-Bahari temple complex, behind the main building, alongside the tombs of five other ladies: Ashayet, Henhenet, Kawit, Sadeh, and Mayet. The majority of them were Hathor priestesses, thus they may have been buried there as part of the goddess’ r ..read more

Neferhotep’s limestone stela has two registers on the face of its spherical top. In the upper register, Amenhotep I and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari sit on thrones facing an altar with a water pot and a floral bouquet. The figurines and text are all carved in raised relief. In the lower register, the foreman Neferhotep, son of the foreman Nb-nfr, is depicted bowing to the left, arms lifted in worship. His figure is carved in sunk relief, and the lower register has an engraved supplication to Amenhotep I and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. The stela is damaged at the right and bottom margins, causing some lo ..read more

Taharqa, also spelled Taharka or Taharqo (Egyptian: ???? tꜣhrwq, Akkadian: Tar-qu-ú, Hebrew: תִּרְהָקָה, Modern: Tīrhaqa, Tiberian: Tīrhāqā, Manetho’s Tarakos, Strabo’s Tearco), was a Nubian king of the 25th Egyptian Dynasty rulers of the Kingdom of Kush, c.747–656 B.C. The Sphinx of Taharqa is a granite gneiss statue of a sphinx with the face of Taharqa. He was a Nubian king, who was one of the 25th Egyptian Dynasty (about 747–656 BC) rulers of the Kingdom of Kush. It is now in the British Museum in London. This granite sphinx of Taharqa, the Kushite ruler of Egypt, measures at 40.6cm in heig ..read more

Thie painted sandstone of Nefertiti, found besides a statue of her husband king Akhenaten in the same pose, depicts an offering scene and stands at 73.5cm tall. Now both headless, the statue of Nefertiti was found fragmented at the waist. Neferiti wears a pleated linen dress, remnants of a usekh collar can be seen upon her upper chest, falling just upon her bust. Her arms would have once been holding an offering tray, but are now sadly gone at the elbow and wrist. Remnants of paint remain. The realism by the sculpture showcases a soft figure, with a belly button visible, and shapely thighs and ..read more

This limestone statue, which stands at 171cm tall, depicts the 19th Dynasty king, Ramesses II, knelt before a hes-vase shaped offering platform, whilst the king himself holds an offering tray. British Museum. EA96 The bottom has been restored onto a modern platform, but the rest of the statue is in remarkable condition. Ramesses II can be seen wearing a striped nemes (headdress), with cobra uraeus, a sign of his royal status. He wears a false beard, also striped. His features are recongizable; almond deep set eyes, an aquiline prominent nose and a slight smile upon his lips. British Museum. EA ..read more

Takait was a priestess of the god Amun Ra, sometime during the 19th Dynasty, c. 1300 B.C. Her beautiful coffin lid is 170cm in length and is made from wood that has been plastered and painted. Liebieghaus, Frankfurt:”Over the body, the kneeling sky goddess Nut spreads out her winged arms. In the inscription that runs vertically down her legs, Takait addresses the goddess as her mother and asks to be transported to the polar stars so that she may attain eternal life. While on the outermost wooden coffin the face was still painted an earthly shade of yellow, Takait appears on the innermost layer ..read more

Nefertiti, Queen and Pharaoh of Egypt: Her Life and Afterlife (Lives and Afterlives). Egypt’s sun queen magnificently revealed in a new book by renowned Egyptologist, Aidan Dodson. “During the last half of the fourteenth century BC, Egypt was perhaps at the height of its prosperity. It was against this background that the “Amarna Revolution” occurred. Throughout, its instigator, King Akhenaten, had at his side his Great Wife, Nefertiti. When a painted bust of the queen found at Amarna in 1912 was first revealed to the public in the 1920s, it soon became one of the great artistic icons of the w ..read more

Inscribed with, “Wadj-shemsi-su, engendered by Betyu-ka (his father), born of […] (his mother)”, as well as in cursive hieroglyphs, a fragment of Spell 17 from the Book of the Dead, this fragmentary lid belonged to a man who lived during Ancient Egypt’s 18th Dynasty named Wadj-shemsi-su. Princeton University Art Museum. 1998-37 From approximately 1500–1425 B.C., the coffin lid is made out of wood and painted plaster as well as limestone. Also, present are inlaid eyes of obsidian, and bronze. It measures at 61.0 x 39.5 x 20.5 cm (24 x 15 9/16 x 8 1/16 in.). Profile view. Unfortunately, the prov ..read more