Inlays from a Bed
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.
These inlays are from the decayed footboard of a bed found at Kerma, the capital of a Nubian kingdom. The standing hippopotamus-like figure holding a knife is an Egyptian goddess of childbirth who, in this context, protected the vulnerable sleeper or dead. Ibex and hyena were not among the Egyptian repertoire of birth-related protective fauna, but they represent a distinctive Kerma imagery of power, rooted partly in the experience of animal life in ancient Sudan.
These inlays are from the decayed footboard of a bed found at Kerma, the capital of a Nubian kingdom. The standing hippopotamus-like figure holding a knife is an Egyptian goddess of childbirth who, in this context, protected the vulnerable sleeper or dead. Ibex and hyena were not among the Egyptian repertoire of birth-related protective fauna, but they represent a distinctive Kerma imagery of power, rooted partly in the experience of animal life in ancient Sudan.
Artwork Details
- Title: Inlays from a Bed
- Period: Classic Kerma
- Date: ca. 1700-1550 B.C.
- Geography: From Sudan, Upper Nubia, Kerma
- Medium: Hippopotamus ivory
- Credit Line: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
- Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art