Head possibly from a figure of Amun-Min

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although tiny, this intriguing head comes from a high-status composite sculpture most likely of the god Amun-Min. The eyes would have been inlaid with a different material (now missing), and the cap crown has a notch in the back to hold an addition, perhaps the tall feathers worn by Amun and gods syncretized with him (see 07.228.179). The pursed lips suggest a date in the Late Period, although a later date is also possible. Amun, king of the Egyptian pantheon from the New Kingdom on, was joined with a number of other deities. One of these was Min, originally from the northern Upper Egyptian site of Akhmim. As Amun-Min, this syncretized deity is usually shown with an erect penis, evoking his role as a self-generated fertility god.

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