Relief plaque depicting a royal figure

Relief plaque depicting a royal figure

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Small Late Period and Ptolemaic reliefs or sculptures that depict a subject in a partial or unfinished way but are themselves complete objects constitute a special class of objects. These objects, sometimes called "sculptor's models/votives" by Egyptologists, were the material of a donation practice, perhaps connected with these centuries' prolific temple building. Unfortunately, there is little to illuminate us about the mechanics of such a donation practice. This example depicts a royal head.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Relief plaque depicting a royal figureRelief plaque depicting a royal figureRelief plaque depicting a royal figureRelief plaque depicting a royal figureRelief plaque depicting a royal figure

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.