Ankh, djed, was on neb basket

Ankh, djed, was on neb basket

Ankh, djed, was on neb basket. Dimensions: L. 3 × W. 2.4 × D. 0.5 cm (1 3/16 × 15/16 × 3/16 in.). Date: 664-30 B.C.. The ankh (life), djed (stability), and was (dominion) symbols depicted here on the sign for a heb bowl constitute a powerful combination of wishes that was offered by the king to a god or a god to a king before the first millennium. Large complex inscribed examples of overlaid ankh, djed, and was elements from the time of the 25th and early 26th dynasty indicate the symbol is being associated with the Egyptian New Year, and one bears the name off Mentuemhat, the greatest official in the land. Combinations like this example are uninscribed, but some are elaborately carved faience and this one, though quite simple, was covered in gold. The date of these is uncertain, but they may belong to a continued life of the symbol as a New Year's offering perhaps presented to a god in a temple. The festival association is strengthened by the fact that the bowl beneath the tall signs is not the standard nb basket but the heb bowl which is the sign for festival.

Faience, gilding

Late Period-Ptolemaic Period

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Album / Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Model: No - Property: No
Rights questions?

3915 x 3915 px | 43.9 MB

33.1 x 33.1 cm | 13.1 x 13.1 in (300 dpi)