Stamp Seal in the Shape of a Boy

Stamp Seal in the Shape of a Boy

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This small, fine statuette of a boy is actually a stamp seal. The underside of its base is incised with the name and titles of the owner, Mentuhotep, enclosed by a border of linked S-scrolls. Nudity and a shaved head with a lock of hair were used to designate children; the gesture of the hand to the mouth may be a request for feeding. Such imagery carried connotations of vitality and the promise of future life.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Stamp Seal in the Shape of a BoyStamp Seal in the Shape of a BoyStamp Seal in the Shape of a BoyStamp Seal in the Shape of a BoyStamp Seal in the Shape of a Boy

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.