Reliefs

Cast of Battle Relief of Sethy 1 at Karnak

Egyptian

20th century

Plaster cast

L.5.52.58

More about this relief may be found here: https://www.memphis.edu/hypostyle/tour_hall/seti_scenes.php

Cast of Punt Reliefs, Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahri

Egyptian

20th century

Plaster cast

L.5.52.48

This cast of a relief shows the return of Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s fleet from the land of Punt (probably somewhere on the east coast of Africa). In the two lower bands, ships return from the expedition; in the top band, workers unload exotic goods such as myrrh trees and a baboon. The original relief in the funerary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri was carved in raised relief and then painted.

Hatshepsut was one of the few women to rule Egypt and the first female ruler to take the title “pharaoh.” She ruled at the height of Egyptian power in the New Kingdom and undertook many building projects. Despite the popularity and success of her reign, about twenty years after her death, her heir, Thutmose III, sought to destroy all traces of her rule; the reasons for this remain unclear.

Tomb Relief

Egyptian

2475-2195 BC

Limestone, pigments

55.6.2

The large figure is a nobleman who gives orders to three servants carrying papyrus scrolls while a fourth servant removes a necklace of gold beads from a box. (The scene follows the conventions of Egyptian art in which the most important figures, whether gods or humans, are depicted as larger than less important ones, such as servants.) This relief is probably from the tomb of a man named Methethy in the cemetery at Saqqara.

The stone was carved in raised relief, a technique in which the sculptor carves away the background from the figures so that the figures project. Raised relief was most commonly used inside buildings; like most Egyptian sculpture, raised reliefs were brightly painted.

Two Royal Attendants

1365-1345 B.C.

Egyptian

Limestone, pigment modern?

61.5