Metropolitan Museum I

A view of the fluted columns of New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art as one ascends the great staircase leading to it. This photo was taken in June, 2006 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, often referred to simply as The Met, is one of the world's largest and most important art museums. It is located on the eastern edge of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, United States. It also maintains a building complex known as "The Cloisters" in Fort Tryon Park at the north end of Manhattan Island overlooking the Hudson River, which features medieval art. The Met's permanent collection contains more than two million works of art from around the world. The collection's holdings range from treasures of classical antiquity, like those represented in its Greek and Cypriot galleries, to paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, to an extensive collection of American art. The collection also contains extensive holdings of Egyptian, African, Asian, Oceanic, Middle Eastern, Byzantine and Islamic art. An encyclopedic collection of Musical Instruments from all over the world is also on view, as are a number of recreations of notable interiors, including one by famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The Department of Arms and Armor displays a collection of antique weapons and armor from around the world, primarily Europe, but also Japan, the United States, and the Middle East, with extensive holdings from other cultures and periods in the study collection. Text (after the first paragraph) from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art

2000 students packed the Museum at the spring 2007 party "College Students Take the Met: An Evening of Togas, Myths, and Muses." Text from: www.metmuseum.org/collegegroup/

2000 students packed the Museum at the spring 2007 party "College Students Take the Met: An Evening of Togas, Myths, and Muses." Text from: www.metmuseum.org/collegegroup/

This relief is not ancient, but was made to decorate the original Roman Court in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Modern works like this serve to remind one that architectural terracottas and marbles were painted in antiquity. For more information on the transformation of this gallery into a restaurant and back: www.metmuseum.org/works_of_Art/installation_gr.asp

This water spout is not ancient, but was made to decorate the original Roman Court in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Modern works like this serve to remind one that architectural terracottas and marbles were painted in antiquity. For more information on the transformation of this gallery into a restaurant and back: www.metmuseum.org/works_of_Art/installation_gr.asp

Carved ceremonial palette Period: Predynastic, Late Naqada III Date: ca. 3200–3100 B.C. Geography: Egypt Medium: Greywacke Dimensions: H: 9 cm (3 9/16 in); W: 5.5 cm (2 3/16 in.) Credit Line: Gift of Edward S. Harkness, 1928 Accession Number: 28.9.8 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/1000... The circular area in the center of this palette would normally be used to grind eye paint. In this votive piece the circle has been reinterpreted as the body of a snake. Above this age-old symbol of both chaos and the universe, the artist has represented an emblem of a pharaoh: a falcon resting on a piece of irrigated land on which plants grow. It has been suggested that a pharaoh named "Falcon" is depicted here. The image is flanked by wild dogs similar to those on the palette on the right. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Fragment of a ceremonial palette illustrating a man and a type of staff Period: Predynastic, Late Naqada III Date: ca. 3200–3100 B.C. Geography: Egypt Medium: Greywacke Dimensions: H: 5.2 cm (2 1/16 in.); w: 4.7 cm (1 7/8 in.) Credit Line: Anonymous Gift, 1933 Accession Number: 33.159 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/1000...

Figurine of a Seated Woman Period: Late Naqada II–possibly early Naqada III Date: ca. 3450–3200 B.C. Geography: Egypt Medium: Pottery (Nile clay) Dimensions: H. 11.5 x W. 6.4 x D. 9.1 cm (4 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 3 9/16 in.) Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1907 Accession Number: 07.228.53 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/1000... The pose of this seated woman suggests that she originated in the region between Naqada and Hierakonpolis. Her facial details argue for a date in the late Predynastic Period. Text from the Metropolitan Museum label.

Wall Decoration from the Funerary Apartments of King Djoser Dynasty 3, reign of Djoser (ca. 2630-2611 BC) Blue-green faience; ledges are modern plaster restoration Accession # 48.160.1 Tiles mounted between sculpted limestone ledges decorated the walls of the galleries underneath Djoser's Step Pyramid and underneath a building in his complex called the Southern Tomb. The decoration was meant to imitate the reed matting that covered the walls of his palace. Djoser's Step Pyramid and the surrounding mostly solid dummy structures are the earliest preserved stone buildings in Egypt. They represent an attempt to create an eternal royal residence of durable materials for the afterlife. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Wall Decoration from the Funerary Apartments of King Djoser Dynasty 3, reign of Djoser (ca. 2630-2611 BC) Blue-green faience; ledges are modern plaster restoration Accession # 48.160.1 Tiles mounted between sculpted limestone ledges decorated the walls of the galleries underneath Djoser's Step Pyramid and underneath a building in his complex called the Southern Tomb. The decoration was meant to imitate the reed matting that covered the walls of his palace. Djoser's Step Pyramid and the surrounding mostly solid dummy structures are the earliest preserved stone buildings in Egypt. They represent an attempt to create an eternal royal residence of durable materials for the afterlife. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Wall Decoration from the Funerary Apartments of King Djoser Dynasty 3, reign of Djoser (ca. 2630-2611 BC) Blue-green faience; ledges are modern plaster restoration Accession # 48.160.1 Tiles mounted between sculpted limestone ledges decorated the walls of the galleries underneath Djoser's Step Pyramid and underneath a building in his complex called the Southern Tomb. The decoration was meant to imitate the reed matting that covered the walls of his palace. Djoser's Step Pyramid and the surrounding mostly solid dummy structures are the earliest preserved stone buildings in Egypt. They represent an attempt to create an eternal royal residence of durable materials for the afterlife. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Quadruple Offering Vase First Intermediate Period- early Middle Kingdom (2100- 1950 BC) Marl clay from Upper Egypt Accession # 90.6.4 Many offerings in ancient Egypt were repeated four times and thus directed to the four corners of the universe. Here, the potter incorporated that idea into a multiple miniature of a water jar. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

King Sahure and a nome god, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5, reign of Sahure, ca. 2458–2446 B.C. Egyptian Gneiss; H. 25 1/4 in. (64 cm), W. 18 1/8 in. (46 cm), D. 16 3/8 in. (41.5 cm) Rogers Fund, 1918 (18.2.4) This is the only preserved three-dimensional representation that has been identified as Sahure, the second ruler of Dynasty 5. Seated on a throne, the king is accompanied by a smaller male figure personifying the local god of the Coptite nome, the fifth nome (province) of Upper Egypt. This deity offers the king an ankh (hieroglyph meaning "life") with his left hand. The nome standard, with its double-falcon emblem, is carved above the god's head. Sahure wears the nemes headcloth and straight false beard of a living pharaoh. The flaring hood of the uraeus, the cobra goddess who protected Egyptian kings, is visible on his brow. The nome god wears the archaic wig and curling beard of a deity. The statue may have been intended to decorate the king's pyramid complex at Abusir, about fifteen miles south of Giza. At the end of the previous dynasty, multiple statues of this type were placed in the temple of Menkaure (Mycerinus) to symbolize the gathering of nome gods from Upper and Lower Egypt around the king. However, since no other statues of this type are preserved from Sahure's reign, it is possible that this statue was a royal dedication in one of the temples in Coptos (modern Qift). Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/oking/ho_18.2.4.htm

King Sahure and a nome god, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5, reign of Sahure, ca. 2458–2446 B.C. Egyptian Gneiss; H. 25 1/4 in. (64 cm), W. 18 1/8 in. (46 cm), D. 16 3/8 in. (41.5 cm) Rogers Fund, 1918 (18.2.4) This is the only preserved three-dimensional representation that has been identified as Sahure, the second ruler of Dynasty 5. Seated on a throne, the king is accompanied by a smaller male figure personifying the local god of the Coptite nome, the fifth nome (province) of Upper Egypt. This deity offers the king an ankh (hieroglyph meaning "life") with his left hand. The nome standard, with its double-falcon emblem, is carved above the god's head. Sahure wears the nemes headcloth and straight false beard of a living pharaoh. The flaring hood of the uraeus, the cobra goddess who protected Egyptian kings, is visible on his brow. The nome god wears the archaic wig and curling beard of a deity. The statue may have been intended to decorate the king's pyramid complex at Abusir, about fifteen miles south of Giza. At the end of the previous dynasty, multiple statues of this type were placed in the temple of Menkaure (Mycerinus) to symbolize the gathering of nome gods from Upper and Lower Egypt around the king. However, since no other statues of this type are preserved from Sahure's reign, it is possible that this statue was a royal dedication in one of the temples in Coptos (modern Qift). Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/oking/ho_18.2.4.htm

King Sahure and a nome god, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5, reign of Sahure, ca. 2458–2446 B.C. Egyptian Gneiss; H. 25 1/4 in. (64 cm), W. 18 1/8 in. (46 cm), D. 16 3/8 in. (41.5 cm) Rogers Fund, 1918 (18.2.4) This is the only preserved three-dimensional representation that has been identified as Sahure, the second ruler of Dynasty 5. Seated on a throne, the king is accompanied by a smaller male figure personifying the local god of the Coptite nome, the fifth nome (province) of Upper Egypt. This deity offers the king an ankh (hieroglyph meaning "life") with his left hand. The nome standard, with its double-falcon emblem, is carved above the god's head. Sahure wears the nemes headcloth and straight false beard of a living pharaoh. The flaring hood of the uraeus, the cobra goddess who protected Egyptian kings, is visible on his brow. The nome god wears the archaic wig and curling beard of a deity. The statue may have been intended to decorate the king's pyramid complex at Abusir, about fifteen miles south of Giza. At the end of the previous dynasty, multiple statues of this type were placed in the temple of Menkaure (Mycerinus) to symbolize the gathering of nome gods from Upper and Lower Egypt around the king. However, since no other statues of this type are preserved from Sahure's reign, it is possible that this statue was a royal dedication in one of the temples in Coptos (modern Qift). Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/oking/ho_18.2.4.htm

The Overseer of the Granary, Kaiemsenuwy Dynasty 6, ca. 2345-2181 BC From Saqqara, SAE Excavation Painted wood Accession # 26.9.2 This statue is one of three found in the tomb of Kaiemsenuwy at Saqqara. The tomb was near the pyramid of King Teti, the ruler Kaiemsenuwy served, and a chapel wall from it is here to the right. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

The Overseer of the Granary, Kaiemsenuwy Dynasty 6, ca. 2345-2181 BC From Saqqara, SAE Excavation Painted wood Accession # 26.9.2 This statue is one of three found in the tomb of Kaiemsenuwy at Saqqara. The tomb was near the pyramid of King Teti, the ruler Kaiemsenuwy served, and a chapel wall from it is here to the right. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.