Monkey playing the lyre and carrying a dish on its head

Monkey playing the lyre and carrying a dish on its head

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Monkeys performing human activities are a frequent theme. This particular example where the monkey-musician bears a dish on its head is unusual. The dish is slightly spouted, suggesting it was meant for contents that could be poured.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Monkey playing the lyre and carrying a dish on its headMonkey playing the lyre and carrying a dish on its headMonkey playing the lyre and carrying a dish on its headMonkey playing the lyre and carrying a dish on its headMonkey playing the lyre and carrying a dish on its head

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.