Kneeling statue of Hatshepsut

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

At least eight, and perhaps as many as twelve small kneeling statues of Hatshepsut are thought to have been placed somewhere in the uppermost court of her temple at Deir el-Bahri. In these statues Hatshepsut is represented wearing the khat headcloth, and she offers a nemset vessel with a djed pillar superimposed on the front. It has been suggested that the combined use of the headdress, the vessel, and the djed pillar, which symbolizes endurance, is intended to evoke the setting up of a djed pillar at a king’s rejuvenation festival, or Heb Sed. It has also been suggested that Hatshepsut intended to celebrate a Heb Sed toward the end of her reign.

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