Staff of Amenhotep

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sometime in the early joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, a twelve-year-old boy named Amenhotep was buried on the hillside below the tomb chapel of Hatshepsut's well-known official, Senenmut (36.3.252). Although still a child, Amenhotep was well provided for. On top of his wooden coffin lay a forked staff (shown here) and a necklace of lentoid faience beads (36.3.154). Beside the coffin were food offerings of bread and beer (36.3.161), and a variety of fruits including raisins, dates, dom palm nuts, sycamore figs, and a pomegranate. A beautiful stone shabti figure (see 19.3.206) had been laid next to the coffin. Its inscription identified it as a gift from Amenhotep's brother, Senu. This shabti is now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Inside Amenhotep's coffin were two bright blue faience armlets (36.3.155), sized for an adult rather than a child, and a pair of red leather sandals (36.3.159). On the mummy were pieces of jewelry, including a carnelian scarab (36.3.158) that had been tied to his left hand with a piece of linen cord.

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