Tag: brooklyn museum

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Egyptian Artifacts

Statue of a Man Named Ahmose

This is gray schist statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ is of a man ๐“Šƒ๐“€€๐“ค named Ahmose ๐“‡น๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด (but his nickname was Ruru). Schist is a metamorphic rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™, which means it formed under extreme heat and pressure. Schist is formed due to a process called regional metamorphism, which is a fancy way to say mountain building over big areas! Most of NYC is actually built on schist – it is an extremely strong and dense rock, hence why it can support NYCโ€™s tremendous skyscrapers!

Even though this statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ is dated to the 18th Dynasty, it was definitely influenced by Middle Kingdom style art. The wig and the cloak that Ahmose ๐“‡น๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด is depicted as wearing was a popular style during the Middle Kingdom. However, the facial structure of the statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ is very much a New Kingdom style.

Ahmose ๐“‡น๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด served as a high ranking government official ๐“‹ด๐“‚‹๐“€€(probably some type of priest ๐“Šน๐“›) during the reign of Hatshepsut ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Žน๐“๐“„‚๐“๐“€ผ๐“ช, however her cartouches do not appear anywhere on the statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ. Her cartouches were erased and you can now see the cartouche of Thutmosis III ๐“‡ณ๐“ ๐“†ฃ on the front inscription. This happened to a lot of objects bearing Hatshepsutโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Žน๐“๐“„‚๐“๐“€ผ๐“ช name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–, especially during the reign of Thutmosis III ๐“‡ณ๐“ ๐“†ฃ.

The name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– Ahmose ๐“‡น๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด was an extremely popular name during the 18th Dynasty. Ahmose ๐“‡น๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด means โ€œthe moon is born.โ€

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Egyptian Artifacts

Wood Embellishments

These three ๐“ผ pieces in the Brooklyn Museum are embellishments made of wood ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ that were meant to attach to furniture. They are from the 18th Dynasty and these pieces look so good after so long because Egyptโ€™s ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– environment is ideal for preserving wood ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ because itโ€™s so dry. There isnโ€™t the risk of mold (in most places) so the wood ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ can be preserved decently well.

The Djed Pillar ๐“Šฝ (both ends) is associated with Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ and his regenerative powers. The Djed Pillar ๐“Šฝ is thought to represent Osirisโ€™ ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ spine, hence why it was used to represent the word โ€œstabilityโ€ in hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช. It was usually used in a funerary context, and Djed pillar ๐“Šฝ amulets ๐“Š๐“Šช๐“…†๐“ฆ were placed on mummies ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ๐“ช to help enhance powers of regeneration. It is one of the most easily recognized symbols in Egyptian art. Itโ€™s use can be traced back to the Old Kingdom.

The tyet knot ๐“Žฌ (the middle), also known as the Isis knot ๐“Žฌ, was considered a very strong symbol of protection and came to be associated with Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ. The Egyptians believed that knots ๐“Žฌ were able to bind and then release magic. The Isis Knots ๐“Žฌ were also mostly used in a funerary context, as amulets ๐“Š๐“Šช๐“…†๐“ฆ placed on mummies ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ๐“ช, so it is very interesting to see both symbols made of wood ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ and used for furniture!

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Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

Limestone Reliefs of Thutmosis III

Here is a very nice raised relief in limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ which depicts pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป Thutmosis III ๐“…๐“„ ๐“‹ด wearing the blue crown ๐“†ฃ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™๐“‹™ (left). He can be identified based off of the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช of his name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– that appear to his right.

Limestone relief of Thutmosis III in the Brooklyn Museum

Here are the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช broken down:

๐“‡ณ๐“ ๐“†ฃ – Menkheperra (Thutmosis IIIโ€™s throne name)
๐“Šน๐“„ค – The Great God
๐“ŽŸ๐“‡ฟ๐“‡ฟ – Lord of the Two Lands

Also on the right is the remnant of another person – most likely the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป Hatshepsut ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Žน๐“๐“„‚๐“๐“€ผ๐“ช (a portion of a shoulder and a crown are seen, so the presence of the crown allows us to infer that it is in fact another royal figure).

What is super interesting about this piece is that the images ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ฆ of the pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ that are carved are not the actual pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ themselves, but statues ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ๐“ช of them! This relief is depicting a religious precession that took place at Hatshepsutโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Žน๐“๐“„‚๐“๐“€ผ๐“ช mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri ๐“‚ฆ๐“‚‹๐“‚ฆ๐“ฅ๐“‰. This piece was excavated from the temple and is dated to c. 1478-1458 B.C.E.

Here is another example of a limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ relief of Thutmosis III ๐“…๐“„ ๐“‹ด wearing the blue crown ๐“†ฃ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™๐“‹™. Menkheperra ๐“‡ณ๐“ ๐“†ฃ (Thutmosis IIIโ€™s throne name) is above his head ๐“ถ๐“บ on the relief so we know that it is him! This one is in the Vatican Museum!

Limestone relief of Thutmosis III in the Vatican Museum

While many know that the Ankh ๐“‹น is the symbol that corresponds with the word โ€œLife,โ€ the Ankh ๐“‹น had other symbolic meanings as well – one of which is shown on this relief fragment!

The Ankh ๐“‹น can also symbolize the purifying ๐“‹ด๐“ƒ‚๐“ˆ— power of water ๐“ˆ—. In many temples ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰๐“ฆ in Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–, a pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป (like Thutmosis III ๐“…๐“„ ๐“‹ด here) is flanked by two ๐“ป gods ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน. One of the gods ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน who did was was usually Thoth ๐“…๐“๐“ญ๐“€ญ, but it is impossible to tell which god ๐“Šน is performing the action in this relief. The gods ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน would pour a stream of Ankhs ๐“‹น๐“‹น๐“‹น over his head ๐“ถ๐“บ to cleanse ๐“‹ด๐“ƒ‚๐“ˆ— and purify ๐“‹ด๐“ƒ‚๐“ˆ— him (Fun Fact: cleanse and purify can be the same word in hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช but there are other variations of each word too).

Totally unrelated thought but I have always loved the word for water (๐“ˆ—) because it is the โ€œnโ€ symbol! Since my name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– is Nicole and my name would start with ๐“ˆ– in hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช, as a kid ๐“๐“‡Œ๐“€• I would refer to ๐“ˆ– and ๐“ˆ— as โ€œmy symbolโ€ ๐Ÿ˜‚.

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Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

Limestone Parapet from Amarna

Here is a limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ fragment of a parapet (c. 1352-1336 B.C.E., New Kingdom Amarna Period) that depicts the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– and Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ. A parapet is a low wall, and it may have been part of a temple ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰ at one point.

In the image ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“, Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ is offering cartouches to the Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ. These cartouches do not belong to Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ–, but to the Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ itself which is different because cartouches were usually for pharaohs. Also strange is that other gods ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน are mentioned in the Atenโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ cartouches, even while the Egyptian religion was banned. These might be early cartouches, before a complete ban took effect. There is also a lot of debate because does this mean that Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– was the Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ on Earth ๐“‡พ๐“‡พ, or were they two ๐“ป separate beings?

Front side of the limestone parapet from Amarna

Here is a closer look at the cartouches:

(๐“ˆŒ๐“ˆŒ๐“…Š๐“‹น๐“Ž›๐“‚๐“ฎ๐“›๐“๐“ˆŒ) – โ€œ “The living Re-Horakhty, Rejoicing in the horizon”

(๐“๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–๐“†‘๐“๐“†„๐“…ฑ๐“‡ณ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ฎ๐“๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ) – โ€œIn his name as Shu, who is in the Aten”

Also in the image๐“๐“…ฑ๐“, Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ is extending light rays to Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– and Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ. The light rays are represented by lines, with hands ๐“‚ง๐“๐“ฆ on the end that are holding Ankhs ๐“‹น๐“‹น๐“‹น.

Obverse side of the limestone parapet from Amarna

This is the obverse side of the limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ fragment of a parapet (c. 1352-1336 B.C.E., New Kingdom Amarna Period) that depicts the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– (left) and Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ (right).

The piece is in such poor condition because after the death ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ of Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ–, his city was abandoned and fell to disarray. This makes the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช difficult to translate but I will try! Also, many of the buildings were destroyed by Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ and the materials were then used to build ๐“๐“‚ค๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“€ง one of his temples ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰๐“ฆ.

Letโ€™s read some hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช! This is the third column from the left:

(๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ–) – cartouche of Akhenaten
๐“™๐“‰ป – โ€œTrue of Voiceโ€ or โ€œJustifiedโ€
๐“Šข๐“‚๐“‡ณ๐“ค – Lifetime
๐“†‘ – โ€œheโ€ or โ€œhisโ€

โ€œAkhenaten, true of voice, in his lifetimeโ€ฆโ€

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Egyptian Artifacts

Frog Figures

These frog ๐“ˆŽ๐“‚‹๐“‚‹๐“† figures are dated to the 1st and 2nd Dynasties, which is grouped as part of the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3000-2675 B.C.E.) so these are quite old! This is about the time that Egyptologists think that writing ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ was first developed in Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–! However, this form of writing ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ consisted of very rudimentary symbols and donโ€™t really represent Middle Egyptian or hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช, which is the form of the language that persisted throughout Egyptian history (and the one that I know).

Frogs ๐“ˆŽ๐“‚‹๐“‚‹๐“†๐“ฆ were not really written about at all during these predynastic times, and these statues ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ๐“ช predate a lot of religious writing ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ and iconography so all Egyptologists can do is make educated guesses on their significance!

So what inferences can we make about these cute frog ๐“ˆŽ๐“‚‹๐“‚‹๐“† figures? Scientifically speaking, frogs ๐“ˆŽ๐“‚‹๐“‚‹๐“†๐“ฆ would appear after the flooding of the Nile River ๐“‡‹๐“๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ—๐“ˆ˜๐“ˆ‡๐“บ, so they were associated with the life ๐“‹น/the regenerative qualities of water ๐“ˆ—. Not only is water ๐“ˆ— necessary for humans, but also for irrigating land for agriculture.

The frog ๐“ˆŽ๐“‚‹๐“‚‹๐“† is also associated with the goddess ๐“Šน๐“ Heqet ๐“Ž›๐“ˆŽ๐“๐“† who is represented as a woman with a frog ๐“ˆŽ๐“‚‹๐“‚‹๐“† head. Also, the frog determinative ๐“† appears in her name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– so she was clearly associated with frogs ๐“ˆŽ๐“‚‹๐“‚‹๐“†๐“ฆ. Heqet ๐“Ž›๐“ˆŽ๐“๐“† was the goddess ๐“Šน๐“ of birth and rebirth. She also protected ๐“…“๐“‚๐“Žก๐“€œ women ๐“Šƒ๐“๐“‚‘๐“๐“๐“ช during the childbirth process so it is possible these statues ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ๐“ช could be symbols of protection ๐“…“๐“‚๐“Žก๐“€œ for childbirth.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Ancient Fish Dish

Today Iโ€™m going to talk about fish ๐“‚‹๐“…“๐“†Ÿ because fish ๐“‚‹๐“…“๐“†Ÿ were an incredibly important part of life ๐“‹น๐“ค along the Nile River ๐“‡‹๐“๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ—๐“ˆ˜๐“ˆ‡๐“บ! Also, I love fish ๐“‚‹๐“…“๐“†Ÿ and watching fish ๐“‚‹๐“…“๐“†Ÿ swim ๐“ˆ–๐“ŽŸ๐“ƒ€๐“ˆ— is something I find so relaxing!

So why fish ๐“‚‹๐“…“๐“†Ÿ on New Yearโ€™s Eve?! In ancient Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–, fish ๐“‚‹๐“…“๐“†Ÿ were seen as a symbol of rebirth and regeneration! Since the ancient Egyptian religion was primarily based on these ideas, symbols that represented them were considered important and very powerful in Egyptian culture.

One of the most common fish ๐“‚‹๐“…“๐“†Ÿ you would find in the Nile River ๐“‡‹๐“๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ—๐“ˆ˜๐“ˆ‡๐“บ was tilapia ๐“‡‹๐“†›๐“ˆ–๐“๐“†Ÿ, which is the type of fish ๐“‚‹๐“…“๐“†Ÿ that this Fish Dish (18th Dynasty c. 1479-1400 B.C.E.) depicts. Nile tilapia ๐“‡‹๐“†›๐“ˆ–๐“๐“†Ÿ are easily identified by their very long dorsal fin! The tilapia even has its own hieroglyphic symbol – โ€œ๐“†›,โ€ and it definitely looks like the dish in the picture ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“!

The first Fish Dishes have been dated to the pre-dynastic period, and they are one of the types of every day objects that have persisted throughout the Egyptian civilization. It always amazes me how such ideas and objects were able to persist for thousands of years!

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Egyptian Artifacts

Nefertiti and the Princess

This is a sunken relief of Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ and one of her daughters ๐“…ญ๐“๐“ฆ. A hand ๐“‚๐“ค holding an ankh ๐“‹น can be seen being extended to Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ and the princess, which is a very common representation of the sole sun ๐“‡ณ๐“ค god ๐“Šน, Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ.

The relief is carved in limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ and some of the paint can still be seen on the relief! One of the things that is unique about the art from the period of Akhenatenโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– rule (referred to by Egyptologists as the Amarna Period) is that a lot of the art depicts the life ๐“‹น๐“ˆ–๐“ of the royal family ๐“…•๐“‰”๐“…ฑ๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ฆ as a unit. Before this time period, royal families ๐“‚ง๐“ˆ–๐“Œ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“€€๐“ธ๐“ธ๐“ธ were not really depicted together at all – usually it was just the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป in art and the monuments.

Due to the fact that Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– and Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ were seen as a ruling unit, Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ was seen as being just as responsible for the shift in the Egyptian religion as Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– was. Much of the art from this period has sustained heavy damage, because it was purposefully hacked away at and destroyed, or used in other building projects – almost like an ancient Egyptian recycling program!

While Nefertitiโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ face ๐“ถ๐“ค is totally destroyed, the princessโ€™ face ๐“ถ๐“ค is not. This is illustrative of the violence shown towards images ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ฆ of Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ after her death ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ due to her part in the changing religion. The princessโ€™ face ๐“ถ๐“ค was not touched, probably because she wasnโ€™t seen as responsible. The hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช have also been totally destroyed, but ironically the word โ€œAten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณโ€ is the one word that can still be seen! The word for Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ was most likely part of the princessโ€™ name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–.

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Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

Sandstone Relief of the God’s Wife of Amun Making an Offering to Amun-Ra

This sandstone ๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“‚ง๐“๐“Œ—๐“ˆ™ relief is dated to the Third Intermediate Period (Dynasty 25, c. 710-670 B.C.E.) and is most likely from Karnak. It depicts the Godโ€™s Wife of Amun, named Amunirdis I, making an offering ๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช๐“๐“”๐“ฆ of Maat ๐“™๐“Œด๐“‚ฃ๐“๐“ฆ to Amun-Ra ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“บ. Standing behind Amun-Ra ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“บ is the god ๐“Šน Khonsu ๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡“๐“…ฑ๐“€ฏ (god of the moon ๐“‡‹๐“‚๐“Ž›๐“‡น) who is the son ๐“…ญ of Amun-Ra ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“บ and the goddess ๐“Šน๐“ Mut ๐“๐“„ฟ๐“€ญ.

In the Third Intermediate Period, the โ€œGodโ€™s Wife of Amunโ€ was a very powerful position to be in – at some points, they even had as much power as the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป! The women who had this title were either the wife ๐“‡“๐“๐“๐“ˆž, mother ๐“…๐“๐“, or daughter ๐“…ญ๐“ of the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป and would be in charge of performing necessary rituals at festivals and religious ceremonies.

Letโ€™s read some hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช!

๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“บ – Amun-Ra
๐“‡“๐“๐“ˆ– – King of the
๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน – Gods

๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“บ๐“‡“๐“๐“ˆ–๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน – โ€œAmun-Ra, King of the Gods.โ€

Hereโ€™s the inscription directly next to Amun-Ra:

๐“‰ผ๐“Šน – Great God
๐“ŽŸ – Lord
๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ – Sky

๐“‰ผ๐“Šน๐“ŽŸ๐“Šช๐“๐“‡ฏ – โ€œGreat God, Lord of the Sky.โ€

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Egyptian Artifacts

Sandstone Head of an 18th Dynasty Pharaoh

This is the sandstone ๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“‚ง๐“๐“Œ—๐“ˆ™ head ๐“ถ๐“ค of an 18th Dynasty (c. 1539-1493 B.C.E.) pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป, but it is not known which pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป the statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ is supposed to be depicting! The pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป is wearing the White Crown ๐“„ค๐“‹‘ of Upper Egypt ๐“‡“ and the uraeus ๐“‡‹๐“‚๐“‚‹๐“๐“†— has been broken off of the front of the crown ๐“„ค๐“‹‘.

It is thought that the statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ is from one of the earlier 18th Dynasty pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ for a couple of reasons. The statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ very much mimics Middle Kingdom styles by having the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป slightly smiling and also having the other facial features simplified (ears are not three dimensional, eyes ๐“น๐“ฆ are large). It is thought that the statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ is either of Ahmose ๐“‡บ๐“„Ÿ or Amenhotep I ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Šต๐“๐“Šช because they were pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ who tended to imitate Middle Kingdom styles.

Categories
Egyptian Artifacts

Wooden Ushabti of Rameses II

This is a Wooden ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ Ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ of Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– (New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, c. 1292-1190 B.C.E.).

Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– was arguably one of Egyptโ€™s ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– greatest builders, and his face/cartouche can be found pretty much everywhere you look in a museum (this is why his cartouches are good to learn – you will see them a lot).

Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ was plundered in the 20th Dynasty, and only three ๐“ผ of his wooden ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ figures remain! In 1049 B.C.E., the High Priest of Amun ordered Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– mummy ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ be moved from his original tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ and to the Royal Cache, a place where many royal ๐“‹พ mummies ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ๐“ช were re-buried in order to protect the mummies ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ๐“ช from tomb robbers.

While the provenance of this ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ is unknown, it is assumed that it was originally from Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– original tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ (KV 7).

The text ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ on the ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ is a version of the โ€œShabti Spellโ€ from Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead. This spell gives the ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ the power to complete tasks (farming, manual labor, etc) for the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ in the Field of Reeds ๐“‡๐“๐“ˆ…๐“‡‹๐“„ฟ๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“†ฐ๐“Š–.