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Egyptian Art 2700 BC-200 AD

For the Egyptians believed that the body must be preserved if the soul is to live on in the beyond. That is why they prevented the corpse from decaying by an elaborate method of embalming it, and binding it up with strips of cloth. It was for the mummy of the king that the pyramid had been piled up, and his body was laid right in the centre of the huge mountain of stone in a stone coffin. Everywhere round the burial chamber, spells and incantations were written to help him on his journey to the other world.

Still life: offerings for the deceased
Early Sixth Dynasty
Painted limestone
Height: 48 cm (18 7/8 in)
Width: 38.5 cm (15 1/8 in)
The Detroit Institute of Arts

Pair statue of Queen Ankh-nes-meryre II and her son Pepi II seated
Sixth Dynasty, reign of Pepi II
Egyptian alabaster
Height: 38.9 cm (15 1/4 in)
Width: 17.8 cm (7 in)
Depth: 25.2 cm (9 7/8 in)
Brooklyn Museum of Art

Atjema standing
Sixth Dynasty
Painted limestone
Height: 91 cm (35 7/8 in)
Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Headrest inscribed with the name of Pepi II
Sixth Dynasty, reign of Pepi II
Ivory
Height: 21.8 cm (8 5/8 in)
Width: 19.1 cm (7 1/2 in)
Depth: 7.8 cm (3 1/8 in)
Musee du Louvre, Paris

Pepi I kneeling
Sixth Dynasty, reign of Pepi I
Schist with inlaid eyes of alabaster and obsidian mounted in copper cells
Height: 15.2 cm (6 in)
Width: 4.6 cm (1 3/4 in)
Depth: 9 cm (3 1/2 in)
Brooklyn Museum of Art

Prince Tjau seated on the ground
Sixth Dynasty, reign of Merenre I or later
Graywacke
Height: 34.5 cm (13 5/8 in)
Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Amulet in the shape of an ibis
End of Old Kingdom
Gold
Height: 1.5 cm (5/8 in)
Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Berkeley

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