Detail of a Statuette of Kary Carrying a Standard of Horus in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2026

Title: Statuette of Kary carrying a standard of Horus

Period: New Kingdom, Ramesside Period

Dynasty: Dynasty 19

Reign: reign of Ramesses II

Date: ca. 1304–1237 BCE

Geography: From Egypt; Probably from Upper Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-Medina

Medium: Wood

Dimensions: H. 49.5 × W. 13.5 × D. 28.8 cm (19 1/2 × 5 5/16 × 11 5/16 in.)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1965

Object Number: 65.114

Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

The "great craftsman in the place-of-truth" Kary was one of the artists who decorated the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Here, he carries a standard crowned with the head of a falcon, presumably an image of “Horus, son of Isis . . . Lord of the desert,” who is addressed on the staff. In an inscription on the base, Kary wishes for “a good life combined with health, gladness, and rejoicing every day, my two eyes seeing, my two ears hearing, my mouth filled with truth.”

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/545870