Cippus (magical stela)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This small stela is representative of the genre of Egyptian art known as the cippus (plural, cippi) or magical stela. An image of the infant Horus on the front beneath a Bes-image is shown subduing dangerous animals. The Metternich Stela (acc. 50.85) is the largest and most elaborate example of the genre. Texts on such stelae often include a reference to transforming water poured over the stela into a curative libation.

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