ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Relief of a Queen or Goddess

AAT Object Techniquereliefs (sculptures)

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodPtolemaic Period

Date305-30 BCE

MediumSandstone

Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. L. Franklyn Elliott

Dimensions9 1/2 x 16 x 2" (24.1 x 40.6 x 5.1 cm)

Object number2005.005.004

Label TextThis relief depicts a queen or goddess wearing a broad collar with one strap of her dress visible below the rows of beads. The echeloned curls of her tripartite wig are
surmounted by a vulture headdress, with the bird's head jutting forth from her brow. The vulture headdress became an attribute of royal women in the Old Kingdom, originally linking the queen with Nekhbet, the tutelary goddess of Upper Egypt, although it came to be associated with other goddesses. When worn by royal women, the headdress was likely intended to underscore the divinity of the queenship. Though princesses holding religious office and noblewomen were portrayed in the vulture cap during the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, its use was again limited to queens and goddesses in the Ptolemaic era. The lower edges of an additional crown, perhaps the Red Crown of Lower Egypt or the Double Crown, are visible atop the vulture headdress. Queen Arsinoe II (279-270 BC) was frequently depicted wearing a combination crown composed of a vulture headdress, Red Crown, ram and cow horns, and solar disk. Both queens and goddesses might appear in the Double Crown, signifying the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt. In this instance, the lack of context or inscription precludes a definitive identification of the woman as royal or divine.
Exhibition HistoryFrom Pharaohs to Emperors: New Egyptian and Classical Antiquities at Emory, Michael C. Carlos Museum, January 14 - April 2, 2006
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, 2006 - March 13, 2018
MCCM Permanent Collection Gallery, June 4, 2018 - Present
Published ReferencesSotheby's, New York, The Charles Pankow Collection of Egyptian Art (December 8, 2004), 89, lot 84.
MCCM Newsletter, March - May 2005.
MCCM Newsletter, December 2005 - February 2006.
Peter Lacovara and Jasper Gaunt, "From Pharaohs to Emperors: Egyptian, Near Eastern & Classical Antiquities at Emory," Minerva 17 (January/February 2006): 9-16.
Michael C. Carlos Museum: Highlights of the Collections (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2011), 28.

ProvenanceEx coll. Charles Pankow (1923-2004), San Francisco, California, acquired from Derby Anderson, San Francisco, California, 1984. Purchased by MCCM from Sotheby's New York, December 8, 2004, lot 84.

Status

On view

Collections