Head of a Female Figure from the Tomb of Khety

Head of a Female Figure from the Tomb of Khety

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Herbert E. Winlock, the Museum's field director at Thebes, identified this head as an image of the treasurer Khety in whose tomb it was found. Comparisons to complete figures with similar close-fitting, short hair determined, however, that this head belonged to a female figure. The woman was most probably nude, and the absence of a wig and garment made her a representative of femininity in general. Her presence among Khety's burial equipment provided him not with a concubine (another out-dated interpretation), but with the means to be reborn after death. The figure's head is a masterpiece of wood carving. Rounded cheeks, "love rings" on the neck, a dimpled chin, a smiling mouth, and the minutely modeled tiny curls of her hair combine to form an image of irresistible charm. The eyes must have been inlaid, and the eyebrows are still filled with dark paste; there are remains of black paint on the hair.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Head of a Female Figure from the Tomb of KhetyHead of a Female Figure from the Tomb of KhetyHead of a Female Figure from the Tomb of KhetyHead of a Female Figure from the Tomb of KhetyHead of a Female Figure from the Tomb of Khety

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.