Screenshot 2025 09 28 at 4.07.02 pm

Egypt

By Pszkodon
  • Badarian Culture, Egypt Female Figurine, c. 5000 BCE, hippo ivory, 14 x 3.8 x 2.2 cm, British Museum, England
    5000 BCE

    Badarian Culture, Egypt Female Figurine, c. 5000 BCE, hippo ivory, 14 x 3.8 x 2.2 cm, British Museum, England

    This figurine is made of hippopotamus tusk, a very reputable material. The eyes, nose, and head are not proportionate. The feminine characteristics might have been representative of fertility, a deity, or a concept attached to the afterlife, since it was found in a grave.
    Pre-Dynastic Egypt, Egypt Female Figurine, c. 5000 BCE, British Museum, England, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA59648
  • Period: 5000 BCE to 3000 BCE

    Pre-Dynastic Period

    The Pre-Dynastic Period saw the rise of several powerful towns. The craft of sculpture was popular, with large-scale figures carved in stone. The period precluded the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt. Death was an extremely popular subject in art in this time.
  • Pre-Dynastic Period, Female Figurine, c. 3500-3400 BCE, painted terracotta, 29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm, Brooklyn Museum, New York
    3500 BCE

    Pre-Dynastic Period, Female Figurine, c. 3500-3400 BCE, painted terracotta, 29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm, Brooklyn Museum, New York

    This statue was excavated from a tomb in southern Egypt and is believed to represent divinity or a woman performing a ritual. Her arms are raised above her head in a way that mimics bull horns, iconography that was very important in Ancient Egypt. The bird-like head is thought to be a nose that would allow a spirit inhabiting the sculpture to breathe.
    Pre-Dynastic Egypt, Female Figure, c. 3500-3400 BCE, Brooklyn Museum, https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/4225
  • Period: 2649 BCE to 2130 BCE

    Old Kingdom