Dragging a Statue of Thutmose I

Dragging a Statue of Thutmose I

Norman de Garis Davies

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Thutmose I is represented here as a statue, as indicated by the men pulling him on a sledge. His black skin was initially understood to represent the ebony wood from which the statue was possibly made, but it most likely relates to the king’s deified state. Cults were established to worship kings during their reign. The cult of Thutmose I persisted for centuries after his death, a rare phenomenon, and this statue of the king is at the center of a scene depicting offerings and rites honoring him. Royal figures are sometimes depicted with a dark complexion, as the color black represents rebirth and regeneration–like the black soil of the Nile Valley.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dragging a Statue of Thutmose IDragging a Statue of Thutmose IDragging a Statue of Thutmose IDragging a Statue of Thutmose IDragging a Statue of Thutmose I

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.