Grapevine

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This fragment shows a very successful integration of two carving techniques. The delicate outlines of the leaves and their veins are lightly incised into the surface, while the heavy, dense clusters of grapes are in deeply modeled sunk relief, evoking plump dark grapes against the shaded tracery of the vines. The block might belong to a scene highlighting daily life and nature, or, more likely, to a scene of the royal family under a vine-laden pavilion. A clue is preserved to the block's architectural position on the wall: the rough strip to the left was probably a highly raised and rounded astragal (border or transition element) protecting the corner of a small shrine.

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