Reconstruction of a Cavetto Cornice

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is a reconstruction of a small section of cavetto cornice, an architectural feature usually found above temple doors and around the upper edges of shrines. A large section of the original cornice was found lying on the floor in storage rooms at the southwest corner of the Temple of Amun at the site of Malqata during the Museum's excavations in 1917. The original was made of faience tiles and gilded plaster attached to wood that was badly decayed and could not be preserved. In this small reconstruction, the ancient faience tiles have been set into modern plaster that is painted to imitate the gold leaf used on the original. For other examples of tile decoration found at Malqata, see a reconstructed panel of geometric patterns, and a cartouche enclosing the throne name of Amenhotep III, Nebmaatre, who built the temple as part of a festival city that was used to celebrate his three rejuvination festivals.

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