Funerary Figure of Akhenaten

Funerary Figure of Akhenaten

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

During the reign of Akhenaten, many funerary figures were made for the king in a variety of materials and styles. However, none of these seems to have been inscribed with chapter six of the Book of the Dead, the shabti spell that compelled the figure to perform work for its owner in the afterlife. This is the only complete funerary figure of Akhenaten that is known. In this example, the king wears royal beard and a head covering known as the khat with a cobra, the protector of the king, at the brow.

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.