Carpenter's Adze from a Foundation Deposit for Hatshepsut's Temple

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The handle of this adze is inscribed "The Good God, Maatkare, beloved of Amun, foremost of Djeser-Djeseru." Maatkare was the throne name of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut, and Djeser-Djeseru (Holy of Holies) was the name of her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. The adze was uncovered in one of the temple's foundation deposits by the Museum's Egyptian Expedition. Although the adze is full-size and appears to be functional, the blade is too thin to be used for cutting and, like most of the tools discovered in foundation deposits, this is a model. A replica of one of Hatshepsut's foundation deposits, 25.3.39, may be seen in gallery 115 and other objects from her deposits are on view in gallery 116 (see 22.3.241, 22.3.245, 25.3.40, 25.3.46a, b, 27.3.198). These are typical of the contents in foundation deposits from the time of Hatshepsut and her nephew, Thutmose III.

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