Head of Amun with inlaid eyes

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Egyptian blue was a synthetic pigment used most frequently to add color to objects composed of other materials, or for small objects such as scarabs. It was occasionally also used for larger objects, such as this small sculpture representing Amun, of which only the head remains.　 The god Amun ("the hidden one") began to rise in importance early in the Middle Kingdom. He became more prominent over the course of the second millennium B.C., and beginning in the New Kingdom was seen as the king of the Egyptian pantheon. His cult continued to gain significance over the first millennium B.C. as well. Although his principal cult center was at Karnak in southern Egypt, he was worshipped at many sites throughout the Nile Valley.

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