Curator

  • Art Institute Chicago
  • Harvard art museum
  • My Exhibition
A work made of limestone.

Plaque Depicting a Queen or Goddess

Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BCE)

Egyptian

Egypt

A headdress in the form of a vulture crowns this female figure, indicating her status as a queen or goddess. Although of Greek descent, pharaohs and queens of this era used traditional Egyptian markers of royalty and divinity, including crowns, to represent themselves. Her beaded necklace is embellished with lotus blossoms and flowering papyrus umbels—plants indigenous to the Nile River valley—further indicating her close affinity with Egypt.

Limestone

Arts of Africa