Relief Fragments Depicting a Court Scene

Relief Fragments Depicting a Court Scene

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This block is an excerpt from a family scene, a genre that reinforced the notion of royal family as the blessed children of the Aten. The curved back of a cushioned seat stands in a pavilion. One of its supporting poles is decorated with plants and animals. Above the chair floats what is probably the streamer of a crown. The royal family gathered in pavilions such as this to pass the hot afternoon or to dine. Outside, a group of musicians enhance the atmosphere: the overlapping profiles of the legs of two women and the long vertical bar of what is probably an upright harp mark their presence.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Relief Fragments Depicting a Court SceneRelief Fragments Depicting a Court SceneRelief Fragments Depicting a Court SceneRelief Fragments Depicting a Court SceneRelief Fragments Depicting a Court Scene

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.