Carved Plaque from a Bracelet

Carved Plaque from a Bracelet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Openwork representation of a female sphinx whose human hands present a cartouche with the prenomen of Amenhotep III Neb-Maat-Re. This sphinx is often identified as Queen Tiye whose name is indeed in some cases written beside a sphinx image. It is, however, also possible that the creature on this bracelet plaque represents a mythic being of a more general nature. Wings, headdress and jewelry point to close connections with foreign lands (Nubia, Asia, Shasu Bedouins), and the presentation of the king's name was a ritual that another, closely connected bracelet plaque (26.7.1340) shows in connection with the king's jubilee (Heb Sed).

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.