The Head of a Cow Goddess

The Head of a Cow Goddess

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The head depicts a goddess with a cow’s face and this zoomorphism and the sun disk between her horns convey divinity. The subject matter and the animal’s benevolent expression, along with the skillfully carved dark stone, suggest the statue dates to the reign of Amenhotep III. Hathor, a powerful deity with wide ranging responsibilities among the gods, is the statue’s most likely subject and her affiliation with cows is an old one. However, Amenhotep III made statues honoring a number of lesser-known zoomorphic deities, so Mehet-weret, whose name means "Great Flood," could also be the subject. Unfortunately, the piece lacks an inscription and therefore a firm identity.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Head of a Cow GoddessThe Head of a Cow GoddessThe Head of a Cow GoddessThe Head of a Cow GoddessThe Head of a Cow Goddess

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.