At this wonderfully animated figure, we have a conversation between Philippe de Montebello, Director Emeritus of the Metropolitan Museum, and Dorothea Arnold, Head of the Egyptian Department. They remember when the statue first arrived at the Met.

PHILLIPE DE MONTEBELLO: What puzzled me at the time was your saying to me, that actually this piece, whose surface¬– the wonderful polish of the wood I so admired – was actually the underside, that it had originally covered with lead. Is that correct?

DOROTHEA ARNOLD: That is correct. And that’s of course what also preserved the woodwork in such a pristine condition. This is a piece from an Egyptian temple. And, this is a world of a lot of magical potency. So to increase that, they often sheathed pieces either in gold, silver, or in this case, lead, which had a special magical meaning.

PHILLIPE DE MONTEBELLO: The thinness of the cloth of the skirt as it stretches between the uplifted knee and the other – it’s just a wonderful rendering. And the hollow below the knee, the wonderful curvature of the leg, it’s magical.

DOROTHEA ARNOLD: Indeed, it’s like a dancer really….

PHILLIPE DE MONTEBELLO: … This is a reaction to something seen, surely.

DOROTHEA ARNOLD: I would say so too. And it does indeed speak to everybody. You don’t have to know very much about ancient Egypt I think.

PHILLIPE DE MONTEBELLO: Although, ironically, I wonder if our modern sensibility doesn’t prefer the piece in its current state, than had it been covered with lead.

DOROTHEA ARNOLD: I think yes there’s something about that, and in its life now in the museum this is the way it lives with us.

NARRATOR: The figure is actually doing a specific ritual dance, called “henu.” To hear about it, press PLAY.