Dagger handle (with 22.3.75b)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Inscribed for Hatshepsut's father, Thutmose I, these two wooden grips were fixed to either side of the handle of a dagger. The end of each grip is decorated with a falcon, its wings bent to fit the curve of the pommel, and shen hieroglyphs, signifying eternity. Since the falcon represents Horus, a god personified by the king on earth, he may be seen as holding eternity and perhaps also extending it to the king named below.

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