Unfinished Statuette

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The shrouded form, curved beard, and lack of crossed arms indicate that this elegant drawing depicts a funerary deity such as Osiris or Khentiamentiu. The artist intended to create a statuette of one of these deities, but after a draftsman prepared a typical outline drawing, the sculptor only started to chisel away the stone before stopping the project. The object was abandoned in debris in front of the tomb of the official Meketre.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art