Detail of the Pair Statue of Nebsen & Nebet-ta in the Brooklyn Museum, January 2010

Pair Statue of Nebsen and Nebet-ta

Nebsen, the scribe of the royal treasury, and his wife, the songstress of Isis, Nebet-ta, wear the elaborate wigs fashionable in the later Eighteenth Dynasty. Their jewelry, painted yellow to imitate gold, was varnished to make it shine; the varnish has darkened with time. The inscription tells us that the statue was made for the couple's tomb by their son, Weserhat. In fulfilling this filial duty after their deaths, he had them depicted in the fashion of his day, rather than that current under Thutmose III, when they actually lived.

Medium: Limestone, painted

Possible Place Collected: Dahamsha, Egypt

Dates: ca. 1400-1352 B.C.E.

Dynasty: XVIII Dynasty

Period: New Kingdom

Dimensions: 15 3/4 x 8 9/16 x 9 1/4 in. (40 x 21.8 x 23.5 cm)

Collections: Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Museum Location: This item is on view in Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity, Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor

Accession Number: 40.523

Credit Line: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Text from: www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/3454/Pair_S...