Statuette of a Mother and Son
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This object is not part of The Met collection. It was in the Museum for a special exhibition and has been returned to the lender.
This statuette depicts an adult woman and a boy, certainly to be understood as a mother and her son. The child’s nudity, distinctive hairstyle, and finger-to-mouth gesture are all common motifs denoting youth in ancient Egyptian art. In the late Middle Kingdom, many ordinary people commissioned simple statuettes of themselves and placed them inside their mortuary chapels. This particular work was recovered from a tomb of an anonymous woman, probably the mother represented here.
This statuette depicts an adult woman and a boy, certainly to be understood as a mother and her son. The child’s nudity, distinctive hairstyle, and finger-to-mouth gesture are all common motifs denoting youth in ancient Egyptian art. In the late Middle Kingdom, many ordinary people commissioned simple statuettes of themselves and placed them inside their mortuary chapels. This particular work was recovered from a tomb of an anonymous woman, probably the mother represented here.
Artwork Details
- Title: Statuette of a Mother and Son
- Period: Middle Kingdom
- Dynasty: Late Dynasty 13
- Date: ca. 1700-1640 B.C.
- Geography: From Egypt, Haraga, Tomb 162
- Medium: Diorite
- Dimensions: H. 12.1 cm (4 3/4 in.); W. 9.2 cm (3 5/8 in.)
- Credit Line: The Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (E.3.1914)
- Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art