Falcon statue serving as a sarcophagus for a sacred animal

Falcon statue serving as a sarcophagus for a sacred animal

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This bronze falcon is hollow. X-rays have revealed animal bones on the interior, presumably those of a falcon, and an opening beneath the tail through which the animal body had been inserted. The opening is closed with a close-fitting bronze plate.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Falcon statue serving as a sarcophagus for a sacred animalFalcon statue serving as a sarcophagus for a sacred animalFalcon statue serving as a sarcophagus for a sacred animalFalcon statue serving as a sarcophagus for a sacred animalFalcon statue serving as a sarcophagus for a sacred animal

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.