Statue of two men and a boy that served as a domestic icon

Statue of two men and a boy that served as a domestic icon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

All of the individuals in this small group are males, represented according to the conventions of Amarna art. The intriguing group has been variously interpreted as a family comprising a grandfather, a father, and a son, or as one man at three different stages of life. The latter is most unlikely as the multiple representations of a single individual in one statue are not shown interacting as they do here. In fact careful examination of the faces and figures points to the statue's being a kind of domestic icon. The figure at left is a high-status individual and likely the oldest; he is probably a revered relative or the respected overlord of the man and boy who stand closely entwined with one another. The statuette would have received veneration in the household of its owner.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Statue of two men and a boy that served as a domestic iconStatue of two men and a boy that served as a domestic iconStatue of two men and a boy that served as a domestic iconStatue of two men and a boy that served as a domestic iconStatue of two men and a boy that served as a domestic icon

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.