Menat of Taharqo: the King Being Nursed by the Lion-Headed Goddess Bastet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This menat, or necklace counterpose, is decorated with a relief scene showing King Taharqo as a child nursed by a the goddess Bastet, implying his divine status. The delicate faience material indicates the menat was not meant for use as part of a menat necklace shaken in temple ceremonies, but rather might have been a temple donation or possibly intended for the pharaoh's burial.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art