Lotus-Shaped Plaque

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ramesses IV initiated several building projects and sent large expeditions to mining regions and quarries early on in his reign. His plans and ambitions were cut short by his death in the sixth year of his reign, but he had been able to complete and decorate his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. He also began work on a gigantic processional temple in Thebes, in which a number of intact foundation deposits were found with literally hundreds of plaques and other objects, like this lotus or lily-shaped plaque.

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