Fragment of a sculptured statue base depicting an Asiatic prisoner

Fragment of a sculptured statue base depicting an Asiatic prisoner

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ancient Egyptian artists expressed the might of the pharaoh through a variety of images. One of these is the image of the pharaoh standing or enthroned above the bodies of foreigner captives. This fragment of a statue base shows the head and shoulder of a Syrian who is characterized by long strands of hair confined by a headband, a beard and mustache, and a fringed mantle embroidered with rosettes. The complete figure lay flat on his belly, his back pressed down by the reed mat on which the king stood. It is likely that captives from four different ethnic groups adorned each of the four corners of the statue base. The Syrian was at the rear corner. The adjacent blank face of the stone continued upward, forming an upright slab (or back pillar) behind the figure of the king.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fragment of a sculptured statue base depicting an Asiatic prisonerFragment of a sculptured statue base depicting an Asiatic prisonerFragment of a sculptured statue base depicting an Asiatic prisonerFragment of a sculptured statue base depicting an Asiatic prisonerFragment of a sculptured statue base depicting an Asiatic prisoner

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.