Dancing Bes alongside seated group of musicians

Dancing Bes alongside seated group of musicians

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This elaborate terracotta depicts Bes dancing alongside a trio of musicians seated on a bench. The musicians include a syrinx (Pan-pipe) player, a double-flute player, and one playing a lyre with a plectrum. They wear long garments and shoulder-length curly hair over which they pull round caps with folded brims. The bench has elaborate carved armrests and a long footstool.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dancing Bes alongside seated group of musiciansDancing Bes alongside seated group of musiciansDancing Bes alongside seated group of musiciansDancing Bes alongside seated group of musiciansDancing Bes alongside seated group of musicians

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.