Bust of King Amenemhat III

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Close stylistic parallels to this bust were found at Karnak. Following the lead of these comparative pieces, one can reconstruct the complete work: the king would have been shown with his arms stretched forward and his hands flat on the starched front of his ceremonial kilt. The traditional gesture of prayer was directed in this case to the god Amun, lord of the Karnak temple. It is instructive to compare the warm and assured style of this Karnak image of Amenemhat III with the much harsher features of the sphinx of Senwosret III (from the same site) farther on the right. Egyptian art changed considerably in the course of a single generation.

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