Box of Shepenupet
Unknown · Twenty-fifth Dynasty, c. 713-655 BC
A small flat case, fourteen centimetres high, made of bronze and ivory and decorated on both faces with inlaid precious metal. On the front, in silver, a Divine Adoratrice in a pleated sleeved dress, a tripartite wig and the vulture headdress with two tall plumes shakes a sistrum before the three gods of Thebes: Amun in his plumed crown holding his sceptre, the goddess Mut in the double crown, and falcon headed Khonsu with the moon disc on his head. On the back, in gold, a nefer sign for beauty is flanked by two wedjat eyes beneath a starry sky. Bands of hieroglyphs carry a hymn.
The priestess is Shepenupet, God's Wife of Amun during the Twenty fifth Dynasty, when kings from Kush in Sudan ruled Egypt in the late eighth and seventh centuries BC. These princesses governed Thebes for the distant pharaoh and were shown, as here, acting like kings before the gods. The precise purpose of the case is uncertain; it may have held a small sacred object. The Louvre bought it in eighteen ninety nine, and a study in twenty eighteen confirmed the ivory as elephant.
Did You Know? The scene of a priestess shaking a sistrum before Amun is inlaid in silver, while the other face is inlaid in gold, so the little case shows both metals side by side.
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