Wooden Gilded arm-shaped incense burner, consisting of a handle with head of falcon end with a hand extended with a vase
Artefact Details
Gallery number:48 – Upper FloorPeriod: Ptolemaic Period
Place of discovery: Dimai – Fayum, 1893
Size: Length 55 cmMaterial: Gilded Wood
Censer of gilt wood. In the form of a human arm. The hand holds a goblet. Part of the censer is a box in the form of a cartouche. The end is in the form of the head of a sparrow hawk. On the front of the goblet is a uraeus.
The sistrum, essentially a rattle, was associated with Hathor, goddess of music, love and joy and was used extensively in temple music for rhythm and warding off harmful spirits. It is attested from Old Kingdom times and was used throughout pharaonic history. This particularly fine example features an image of Hathor on both sides of the sistrum, wearing her Hathor wig and her distinguishing cow’s ears, as she could also take the form of a cow. Powerful protective images of rearing cobras flank her head, one with the red crown of Lower Egypt, the other with the white crown of Upper Egypt. A ring of cobras (uraei) sits on a platform to hold the loop that forms the noise box, while yet another single one rears up into the loop that contains three rods in the shape of double-headed cobras. The three rings on each rod were the source of the noise.
Gallery number:29 – Upper FloorPeriod: Ptolemaic Period
Place of discovery: Saqqara
Size: Height: 35 cm, Width: 90 cm
Material: Papyrus
This papyrus was part of a funerary papyrus of Djoser, a priest of the goddesses Bastet, the lady of Memphis. It showing the Spell 125 from the Book of the Dead, better known as the Judgment of Osiris or The Weighing of the Heart. The goddess Maat, embodiments of the proper order of the Egyptian cosmos, lead the deceased into the hall of Judgment before the balance and his heart is weighed opposite the feather of the goddess Maat, embodiment of cosmic order and ethical behavior. To the left, Osiris, God of the underworld, sits on a throne inside a small kiosk and presides over the scene. He wears the white crown of Upper Egypt, and a curved beard that identifies him as divine. before him, the offering table and the ibis-headed god Thoth, holding scribal equipment in one hand to record the result of the trial.
At the culmination of this ceremony, the heart, seen as the center of intelligence and emotion, was weighed against a squatting figure of the goddess Maat by the jackal-headed god of embalming, Anubis. If the scales balanced, Osiris accepted the deceased into his company and granted him eternal life. If not, the heart would be eaten by the monster Ammut (the Devourer), shown as a hippopotamus with a crocodile head, and the person would die forever.
Place of discovery: Middle Egypt, Tuna el-Gebel, Necropolis
Size: W. 13 cm, L. 55 cm
Material: Papyrus
Only three examples of satirical papyri have survived from ancient Egypt. These examples represent animals imitating human behaviour with humorous or satirical purposes. The Egyptian artists used these animal symbols to express the state of Egypt in the periods of weakness by representing the cats (as Egyptians) waiting on and serving mice (the foreigners), who have become in the centre of power. It also parodies the political climate through scenes of cats and wolves taking care of geese, and the lion who plays the Senet with gazelles and musical groups of animals. Some cartoons also satirise funerary and religious customs, while in religious life, animal symbols with human actions are expressed in mythical events and religious rituals.
This papyrus contains two satirical scenes; a female rat (foreigner) is depicted sitting on a high chair to the left, with her foot resting on a footstool, a cat (Egyptian) helps her put on a wig, while another cat stands in front of her offering her a beverage. Behind her, a third cat is holding her son, and the fourth is holding a fan. The other scene to the right depicts a cat holding two pitchers, before which another cat offers libation in front of a statue of a cow (ritual of purification).
Egypt had several bull cults of which the Apis cult was the most popular. This sacred bull was known by a number of names including Api, Hapi, or Hep, before the Greeks introduced the name Apis. He was the god of fertility and primeval power associated with the creator god Ptah, where he becomes Ptah’s earthly incarnation.
Worship of Apis Bull can be traced as early as the 1st Dynasty where he was associated with festive occasions and ceremonies of fertility and regeneration. He is depicted commonly as a striding bull with a solar-disk and uraeus between its horns, or as a man with a bull’s head in later times. During the Ptolemaic period, he was represented as a bearded man in robes.
Each Apis Bull was chosen according to detailed specifications to embody this god, who was the patron of artisans and the tutelary deity of Memphis. When an Apis Bull died he would be embalmed and buried in grand style within the Serapeum at Saqqara, a series of chambers and corridors that grew as space for additional burials was needed. Over the periods during which the Serapeum was in active use, thousands of pilgrims dedicated stelae and figurines to honour the Apis Bull.
This statue depicts the bull’s striding forward, leading with the left leg. A sun-disk fronted by a uraeus cobra rests between its horns, indicating its divinity. The triangular patch on its forehead was one of the markings by which the living god was identified. Around its neck, incised lines create an elaborate collar, of the type worn by humans for festival occasions. There is a dedicatory inscription on the sledge.
Osiris was the god of the deceased, master of the underworld, afterlife and lord of eternity. According to the Heliopolis Ennead, Osiris was the son of Geb and Nut, the god of the earth and the goddess of the sky respectively, and was one of at least four siblings. He was also the brother/husband of Isis, the goddess of motherhood, magic, fertility, healing and rebirth. His brother Seth was the god of war, chaos and storms; and his sister Nephthys, wife of Seth, assisted in funerary rites, working with her sister Isis in a protective role. In some versions of the mythology there is another brother, Horus the Elder (Horus the Great). Osiris was also the father of Horus (the younger).
According to Egyptian mythology, Osiris ruled Egypt, providing civilisation to his people through the knowledge of agriculture and the law. Seth was extremely jealous of his brother and killed him, dismembering and distributing the corpse throughout the many Nomes of Egypt. On the death of Osiris, Seth became king of Egypt with his sister/wife Nephthys. Isis mourned her husband, and with her great magical powers decided to find and bring him back to life. With the help of her sister Nephthys, Isis searched every Egyptian Nome, collecting the pieces of her husband’s corpse, reassembling and holding them together with linen wrappings. Isis breathed life back into his body to resurrected him and soon conceived their child Horus (the younger). Osiris then descended into the underworld, where he became its ruler.
This statuette depicts Osiris sitting on a throne in a mummified form, wearing a close-fitting enveloping garment. He holds the royal crook and flail with his arms crossed on his chest. He wears the Atef crown flanked by two ostrich feathers, adorned with the uraeus cobra. A divine beard is attached to his chin.
These kinds of statuettes were commonly offered in temples and shrines belonging to Osiris. They were found as well near temples and shrines honouring other deities or in the animal necropolis.
Place of discovery: Memphite Region, Saqqara North, Animal Necropolei, Temple of Nectanebo II, Temple Terrace
Size: H 22.10 cm
Material: Bronze, gold
Isis was the goddess of motherhood, magic, fertility, healing and rebirth. According to the Heliopolis Ennead, Isis was the daughter of Geb, the god of the earth and goddess of the sky respectively, and was one of at least four siblings. She was also the sister/wife of Osiris, the god of the underworld and lord of eternity. Her brother Seth was the god of war, chaos and storms; and her sister Nephthys, wife of Seth, assisted in funerary rites, working with Isis in a protective role. In some versions of the mythology there is another brother, Horus the Elder (Horus the Great). Osiris was also the father of Horus (the younger).
According to Egyptian mythology, Osiris ruled Egypt, providing civilisation to his people through the knowledge of agriculture and the law. Seth was extremely jealous of his brother and killed him, dismembering and distributing the corpse throughout the many Nomes of Egypt. On the death of Osiris, Seth became king of Egypt with his sister/wife Nephthys. Isis mourned her husband, and with her great magical powers decided to find and bring him back to life. With the help of her sister Nephthys, Isis searched every Egyptian Nome, collecting the pieces of her husband’s corpse, reassembling and holding them together with linen wrappings. Isis breathed life back into his body to resurrected him and, soon conceived their child Horus (the younger). Osiris then descended into the underworld, where he became its ruler.
This statuette depicts the goddess Isis seated on a low-backed throne, suckling god Horus. Isis wears a long wig with the vulture headdress and a modius topped by a horned sun-disk on her head and a long sheath garment. Both her face and her dress are gilded, as is the sun-disk. Her left hand supports the head of Horus, who sits, leaning back slightly on her lap, while her right-hand cradles her left breast. Horus is naked except for a blue crown with a uraeus. The statuette is placed over a modern wooden throne and base.
Imhotep was the Chief Minister to King Djoser, an astrologer, mathematician, physician and priest. Being a brilliant architect, he is credited with building Djoser’s step pyramid and funerary complex at Saqqara. Due to his achievements and favoured position, Imhotep’s name was inscribed on the plinth of Djoser’s statue found in Saqqara and exhibited in the Egyptian Museum.
Imhotep was worshipped as a deity from the Late Period until the 7th century AD. Many temples and shrines were erected and dedicated to him, especially in Memphis and Philae, where the injured and sick people believed that Imhotep would provide cures. Imhotep was associated with the Egyptian god Thoth and the Greek god Asclepius, both of whom were gods of medicine and wisdom.
This statuette of Imhotep depicts him with close-cropped hair or covering his hair with a tight skull cap, his eyes are inlaid in silver and he is wearing a short-pleated kilt with a broad gilded collar. He holds a sheet of papyrus on his lap, which is rolled up on both ends, inscribed with a votive spell. His sandaled feet rest on a small square base inscribed with the name of Imhotep and the dedicator, Pediamun, son of Bes and Irteru.
Period: Ptolemaic, Macedonian, reign of Philip Arrhidaeus (c. 323-317 BC)
Place of Discovery: Tell Atrib (Athribis)
Size: Statue 78x43x25 cm, Base 93x53x38 cm
Material: Granodiorite
This Statue of Djed-Hor the Saviour, shows him squatting on a cushion and leaning against a pillar with his arms crossed on the knees in the typical block-statue form. He is wearing a garment that tightly envelops his entire body. The entire statue, apart from his face, hands and feet, is covered with hieroglyphic talismanic magical inscriptions arranged in columns against the stings and bites of crocodiles, snakes and scorpions.
Between his crossed arms and feet is a stele of Horus on the crocodiles. Horus the child (Harpokrates) stands naked upon two crocodiles, wearing the side-lock of youth with one finger held to his lips and the god Bes’s mask above his head. His hands grasp a number of dangerous animals; two snakes and a lion in his left hand, and a scorpion and an oryx in his right. He is flanked by the lotus of Nefertum on his left and a is and the papyrus crowned with a falcon on his right.
The statue is resting on a large plinth/socle that is entirely covered with inscriptions and contains two offering basins that are united by a channel. The smaller offering basin is located in front of the block statue, while a larger offering basin extends over the rest and surrounds the statue on four sides.
These types of statues could belong to a god or a person and were erected in public places as healing statues to gain divine protection, cure stings and bites, or even to prevent intimidating dangers. The general public would pour water, wine, or any other liquids onto the statue and drink it after it gathered inside the basin. These liquids were imbued with the protection of the powerful spells inscribed on the statue.
This circular painting is believed to represent a provincial version of the contemporary style of mummy portraits. This panel is made of two vertically divided halves and shows what are believed to be brothers standing side by side facing forward. The right-hand half of the painting has suffered much damage.
The man on the viewer’s right appears to be the elder of the two and wears white drapery with thin hair on his upper lip and chin, brown skin and comparatively prominent facial features. Above his shoulder is the small figure or gold statuette of Hermes, with winged sandals and carrying his staff entwined with snakes.
The man on the viewer’s left wears a white tunic with a purple border. The shoulder of his garment is decorated with a swastika symbol, representing fertility and his purple cloak is fastened together with a green and gold brooch. His skin is lighter than the other man and he has only the slightest trace of facial hair. Above his shoulder is the small figure or gold statuette of a figure holding a staff and wearing an Egyptian crown. The date 15 Pachon, is painted in black above his shoulder.
Commonly known as mummy portraits, these paintings were found throughout Egypt and combine Greek and Egyptian representations of the human form. They are popularly known as Fayoum mummy portraits after the first discovery and largest collections recovered from the Fayoum region of Egypt. Some of these portraits represent only the head of the deceased, while others depict the upper part of the body. They illustrate the facial features, clothing and hairstyle of the deceased, were placed over the face of the mummy and secured with parts of the outermost wrapping.
These portraits were painted on boards or panels and in some cases on linen using the encaustic painting technique. A mixture of pigments with hot or cold beeswax and other ingredients such as egg, resin, and linseed oil, or animal glue tempera made from an aqueous medium such as glue, egg, wax or beeswax.
This portrait is in a three-quarter pose with the right shoulder toward the front. The child has thinning brown hair, especially on the sides of the head. The face is full, nose and neck fleshy and the ears protrude forward. The brows are pushed downward and scrunched slightly together and the eyes stare straight ahead. The child’s skin is a yellowy-beige colour. This child wears a purple tunic with a white mantle over the left shoulder, and thick black sleeves, bordered by gold lines. Across the chest is a chain of circular ornaments in white (silver?) and gold that are shaped much like fruit. The top of this panel has been roughly shaped into a round edge with cut corners, the black outline followed by the cutter is still visible. Some paint is missing from the face and the left-hand side of the panel, where there are cracks. Spots of brown residue remain the surface.
Commonly known as mummy portraits, these paintings were found throughout Egypt and combine Greek and Egyptian representations of the human form. They are popularly known as Fayoum mummy portraits after the first discovery and largest collections recovered from the Fayoum region of Egypt. Some of these portraits represent only the head of the deceased, while others depict the upper part of the body. They illustrate the facial features, clothing and hairstyle of the deceased, were placed over the face of the mummy and secured with parts of the outermost wrapping.
These portraits were painted on boards or panels and in some cases on linen using the encaustic painting technique. A mixture of pigments with hot or cold beeswax and other ingredients such as egg, resin, and linseed oil, or animal glue tempera made from an aqueous medium such as glue, egg, wax or beeswax.
Cosmetic spoons were extremely popular during the New Kingdom. Egyptian craftsmen were able to combine great imagination and technical ability to create such charming household items. These cosmetic spoons were not only part of daily body care and adornment, they can also be interpreted as ritual objects related to various goddesses such as Nut and Hathor.
The handle of this cosmetic spoon depicts a naked young woman swimming with her legs nicely outstretched. The girl is fashioned with a simple wig on her head and a beaded-painted broad collar around her neck. Her arms are also outstretched holding the spoon, formed in a shape of a duck with an opening mouth and wagging tongue. The head of the duck was added separately, while its back is hollowed out to contain the cosmetic powder. The wings of the duck are missing, but were carved separately as a cover to the container, the top of which was originally attached with a peg that allowed it to swing open. It is possible that this piece could have been able to float for amusement.
Place of discovery: Deir el Bahari, Bab el-Gasus Cache, Thebes
Material: Painted wood
Padiamun was a priest of Amun buried in Bab el-Gusus cache in two yellow coffins with mummy board. The coffins, evoking the sun and the resurrection, are decorated with vignettes and texts from the Book of the Dead: cosmological deities as Geb the god of the earth, and Nut the goddess of the sky arched over Geb are also depicted.
Mummies of the big Nile crocodile (Crocodilus niloticus): these animals, very commons in the pharaonic times, are no longer present on the Nile River but still live in Lake Nasser.
Mummy of a hunting dog found in tomb KV 50 nearby tomb of king Amenhotep II (18th Dynasty) in the Valley of the King: dogs often were buried near their owners and probably this dog belonged to the king or a member of his family.
Mummies of rams, animals sacred to theGod Khnum in the Elephantina Island (Aswan), placed in a kneeling position like a sphinx and the heads adorned with gilded cartonnage.
The wooden outer sarcophagus of Yuya, mummy-shape, is completely covered with a gold leaf and adorned with glass paste. Inside the sarcophagus, there were two Osiriform coffins with the mummy.
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty – Reign of Amenhotep III (1387-1350 BC)
Place of discovery: Valley of the Kings – Thebes
Size: Length: 19,38 meters
This 19.37-meter long papyrus, complete and well-preserved, was found in the tomb of Yuya and Tuya: it contains the «Book of the Dead» written in cursive hieroglyphs. The Book of the Dead whose original name is Book of Coming Forth by Day is a series of around 190 chapters containing magical and ritual spells, illustrated with drawings, intended to help the deceased survive in the Underworld. The texts of this papyrus running from left to right are illustrated by scenes from funerary rituals and mortuary cult like the worship of Osiris and the funeral procession.
Size: Height: 275 cm , Length: 508 cm , Width: 328 cm
Material: Wood, gold leaf
The first shrine almost completely occupied the burial chamber. The outer walls of the first shrine, whose shape evoked that of the pavilion used by the pharaoh during the Jubilee celebration, were decorated with ged pillars, amulets associated with Osiris representing stability, alternating with tit or Isis knots, signs of protection, both of which stood out against a bright blue faïence background. Inside the shrine were passages from the Book of the Dead and the Book of the Celestial Cow.
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty, Reign of Tutankhamun (1327-1318 BC)
Size: Height: 85,5 cm, Lenght: 54 cm, Width: 54 cm
Place of discovery: Valley of the Kings – Thebes
Material: Alabaster, gold leaf
Inside the shrine, wrapped in a linen sheet, was the container for the canopic vases made of Egyptian alabaster (calcite) resting on a gilded wood sled. Its interior was divided into four compartments with lids with the pharaoh’s image in which were four small sarcophagi, miniature reproductions (39 cm tall) of the pharaoh’s intermediate anthropoid coffin that contained the viscera (lungs, stomach, intestine, and liver) extracted from the king’s body. The base of the container is covered with a gold leaf and decorated with djed and tit symbols.
Place of discovery: Deir el Bahari, Bab el-Gasus Cache, Thebes
Material: Painted wood
During the 21st Dynasty, many priests and priestesses of Amun were buried around the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahari. In 1891 the archeologist discovered a cache burial of 153 priests and priestesses of Amun named Bab el-Gasus (the gate of the priests) also known as the 2nd Cache of Deir el Bahari: inside there were 254 beautiful coffins, 110 boxes of ushabtis, about 100 papyri, amulets, and stelaes.
This sarcophagus belonged to Meritamun, a chantress in the temple of Amun, daughter of the High Priest of Amun: she was buried in only one coffin decorated with religious text and images showing deities and the judgment of the dead. The mummy board shows Meritamun wearing a long robe and a wig decorated with flowers.
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty – Reign of Amenhotep I (1514-1494 BC)
Place of discovery: Deir el Bahari, tomb TT358 – Thebes
Material: Painted wood
Ahmose-Meritamun was the daughter of the king Ahmosis I and the Great Royal Wife of his brother Amenhotep I: her tomb (TT358) was discovered by the American archeologist Herbert Winlock in 1929 at Deir el Bahari. The Queen originally had three coffins: the outermost one was broken up by the robbers, the middle coffin is displayed here and the inner coffin is now in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty – Reign of Amenhotep III (1387-1350 BC)
Size: Height: 40 cm
Place of discovery: Valley of the Kings – Thebes
Material: Wood lined with stucco, gold leaf, plant fibers
Princess Satamun was the daughter of Amenhotep III and the grand-daughter of Yuya and Tuya, and she placed this chair in the tomb of her grandparents. The back is decorated with two mirror images representing a young girl who hands a large necklace to a seated woman whom the hieroglyphic inscription identifies as «the daughter of the king, the great, his beloved Satamun».
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty – Reign of Amenhotep III (1387-1350 BC)
Size: Height: 77 cm
Place of discovery: Valley of the Kings – Thebes
Material: Cartonnage: Linen and stucco, gold leaf, glass paste, alabaster.
This magnificent funerary mask, made of stucco with golden leaf, belong to Tuya, the wife of Yuya, mother of the Queen Tiy, and great grand-mother of Tutankhamun, and has been found in the intact tomb KV 46 in the Valley of the Kings by the Egyptian Antiquities and Theodore Davis in 1905 with a very rich funerary equipment.
In 1888 the British archeologist Sir William Flinders Petrie discovered in the site of Hawara, where king Amenemhat III (12th Dynasty) built his pyramid, a series of beautiful and vivid paintings on wooden boards, known as «Fayum portraits», attached to upper-class mummies and made during the Roman period. The portraits covered the faces of mummies and at present-day about 900 portraits have been discovered. This young woman wearing two strings of emeralds and a pair of gold earrings was called Demos and died at the age of 24 during the reign of the emperor Domitian (51-96 AD). The Fayum portraits usually have inscriptions with the name and the profession of the deceased.
This ceremonial throne was the most beautiful object among all those found in the Antechamber of the tomb, entirely overlaid with an embossed gold sheet 3 mm thick and inlaid with vitreous paste and semi-precious stones. The back of this masterpiece of ancient Egyptian art depicts, in pure Amarna style, Queen Ankhsenamun, royal wife of Tutankhamun, under a kiosk rubbing an ointment on King Tutankhamun’s shoulder while the sun god spreads his rays on the couple. Howard Carter stated that this was “the most beautiful thing found to date in Egypt.”
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty, Reign of Tutankhamun (1327-1318 BC)
Size: Height: 192 cm, Length: 98 cm, Width: 53.3 cm
Place of discovery: Valley of the Kings – Thebes
Material: Wood painted with black resin and gilded, bronze
This is one of the two life-size guardian statues placed on either side of the door that gave access to the burial chamber. Originally the statues were wrapped in sheets of linen. This statue wears a wig called khat, has a gilded bronze cobra uraeus on the forehead, and clasp a stick in its left hand and a mace in the right hand. The black color assimilates the king to the god Osiris whose face often is black.
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty, Reign of Tutankhamun (1327-1318 BC)
Size: Height: 198 cm, Lenght: 153 cm, Width: 122 cm
Place of discovery: Valley of the Kings – Thebes
Material: Wood lined with stucco and gilded, glass paste
This shrine was found in the so-called Treasure Room, with an alabaster container inside within which there were four canopic vases with four miniature sarcophagi for the internal organs of the king. The shrine, placed on a sled, is surrounded by two friezes of cobras with the solar disk. On every side of the shrine, there is a goddess with open arms to protect the canonic vases: Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selket
Dynasty: 21th Dynasty, Reign of Psusennes I (1047-996 BC)
Size: Height: 48 cm, Width: 38 cm
Place of discovery: Tanis – Nile Delta
Material: Gold, lapis lazuli, glass paste
This gold funerary mask, found by the French archeologist Pierre Montet in 1940, is one of the masterpieces of the Egyptian Museum and the most beautiful artefacts coming from the excavations at Tanis (now Tell San el-Hagar). The king is portrayed with the nemes-headdress with a uraeus (the holy cobra protector of royalty) and idealized features and usekh necklace.
This golden mask is the most famous of all the artefacts of ancient Egypt, a true icon of the pharaonic civilization. It will be the last artefact to be transported to the new museum. The king is portrayed with the nemes, white and blue stripped line headdress: a uraeus (holy cobra) and a vulture adorn his forehead and a false beard made from gold and glass paste. The king’s eyes are reproduced with quartz and obsidian. On his back, magical inscriptions are engraved taken from Chapter 151b of the Book of the Dead.
