Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Relief of a Sunshade Bearer
Middle Kingdom
Not on view
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.
This woman carries a long wood pole ending in a stylized lotus bud, from which hangs a piece of cloth with red-orange stripes. When stretched, the cloth would have served as a shade against the blazing Egyptian sun. Neferu’s tomb featured a large number of sunshade bearers. Though no surviving inscriptions explain their significance, they seem to have been connected to the rituals enacted for the goddess Hathor, a prominent element of the decorative program of Neferu’s tomb.
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