Censer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Cast in the shape of an arm with a falcon-headed terminal, this ritual object takes the form of the hieroglyph for "present, give," Incense would have been placed on an outstretched hand, now missing, at the end of the shaft, and offered to a deity. The small figure of a king in the blue crown kneels beside the cartouche-shaped pellet cup on the top of the shaft. This emphasizes the connection of the censer with the king, who was regarded as the primary officiant before the gods.

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