Handle Depicting a Lion Subduing a Nubian

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The image of a lion, which symbolizes the pharaoh, subjugating a Nubian, one of the traditional enemies of Egypt, is frequent in early Ramesside art, especially during the reign of Ramesses II. The usual rendition shows a bound Nubian kneeling before a lion that holds the back of the man's head in its jaws. Undoubtedly this protome shows the pose in an abbreviated form. Two fly whisks with gilded lion heads were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, and this protome may also have decorated a royal fly whisk or whip handle. The lion's hollow neck has two small holes allowing the piece to be doweled in place. The piece has been dated to the reign of Ramesses II because there is no indication of lachrimal, or tear, lines beneath the lion's eyes, a common feature of late Dynasty 18 representations of felines that is often lacking in early Ramesside examples (see 35.1.23).

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