Lion-headed goddess suckling the king

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This complex open-work pendant depicts a lion-headed goddess suckling a small standing figure. The goddess wears a tripartite wig topped by a double crown and a long, tight dress. A lion ruff frames her face. She sits on an elaborate throne, which features a winged cobra with a sun disk on its side. While protectively extending her proper left arm around a small figure standing in front of her, her proper right hand reaches to her breast to suckle this person. From larger depictions we know that this is the king.

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