Ax

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The blade of this battle ax is among the earliest examples of its kind. It was found in the coffin of “the overseer Khay,” presumably a military official. The handle was made from a branch or tree trunk chosen for its curvature. The flared end is a separate piece of wood, mounted with its grain direction perpendicular to that of the shaft. This method of construction would have preserved precious raw materials and cut down on labor. It is unclear how the two surviving pieces were originally joined and whether the modern, intermediate element was added to replace a component that did not survive or to compensate for disproportionate shrinkage of the wood shaft and terminal during burial. The leather lashing attaching the blade to the handle had disintegrated and was restored based on other, better preserved examples.

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