Fragmentary Head of a King

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

For many years the fragments of this face were dispersed in various collections, but in 1993 it became possible to reunite the pieces through an exchange with the Petrie Museum, London (the cheek, 1993.27a, b), and a long-term loan from the Musée du Louvre, Paris (the eye, L.1993.21a, b). Part of a red jasper thumb in the collection (26.7.1398b) probably belonged to the same statue. The original statue was probably what we call a "composite statue" in which the face and other areas of exposed flesh (the hands and feet) were carved from jasper and rest of the statue was carved from Egyptian alabaster, limestone, or wood. Although such statues most frequently come from the the reign of Akhenaten in the Amarna period (ca. 1353-1336 B.C.), this work has been dated to the reign of Akhenaten's grandfather, Thutmose IV, on stylistic grounds.

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