Statuette of a ram

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This small sculpture probably represents the sacred ram of Amun. It would have been part of the cult equipment of a temple for display or use in ritual. Small ritual statuary was frequently made of precious metals or bronze. Absence of an integral base, traces of undercutting very rare in stone, and formerly inlaid eyes suggest that this statuette was intentionally modeled after a metal prototype. Stylistic details, most obviously the slight curl at the tip of the ram's shaggy locks, bear witness to the artistic influence of the Achaemenid Persians who ruled Egypt from 525–404 B.C.

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