Apis figure inscribed for Padishernefer son of Khonsuirdis

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The worship of the Apis bull is attested as early as Dynasty I. A single living representative was stabled near the Ptah temple in Memphis. The bull selected for this important role had certain colorful markings, such as a white triangle on the forehead, and black patches resembling winged birds or scarabs on the body. The bull is often shown, as here, wearing a large sun disc, a banded collar, and a decorated rectangular cloth on its back. Similar markings are easily visible on Apis acc. no. 17.190.62. An inscription on the base provides the name of the donor and his parents. The Apis bull participated in ceremonies of fertility and regeneration. When it died, it was embalmed and buried with all honors; at that time, a new bull bearing the requisite markings was selected. Beginning with the reign of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 B.C.) in Dynasty 18, the place of Apis burials gradually became a huge and growing underground system of chambers called the Serapeum in the Memphite necropolis, Saqqara. The bull was so revered that even the mothers of Apis bulls had their own cult and burial place.

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