Column Capital

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This capital and its companion piece (11.154.5) are carved with a stylized palmette pattern, with the plants arranged in two tiers of different sizes. The palmette pattern—once brightly painted—covers the unstructured bell-shaped core like a dense net. This surface treatment is a typical stylistic feature of the architecture of the period. Both this capital and its companion probably came from the temple of Harendotes—the name of the god Horus in his role as avenger of his father, Osiris, who was slain by Seth. The temple, which was built under the emporers Claudius and Nero, was located west of the great Isis temple on the Island of Philae. The building stood on a platform with a central staircase leading to the front. The facade was similar to that of the Museum's Temple of Dendur (68.154); the Harendotes temple, however, had four front columns. In late antiquity, the building was razed to its foundation platform and elements were incorporated into Byzantine churches.

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