Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art


    • Djed pillar, Late Period (ca. 688–332 b.c.)
    Egyptian
    Faience

    Gift of Lucy W. Drexel, 1889 (89.2.539)

    This emblem of Osiris, god of the underworld, was a potent symbol of regeneration and therefore made to accompany the mummy on its journey. What the form represents is unknown: a leafless tree or a pole with notches or attachments. Eventually it came to represent the backbone of Osiris and in the New Kingdom decorated the bases of coffins.

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  • Djed pillar, Late Period (ca. 688–332 b.c.)
    Egyptian
    Faience

    Gift of Lucy W. Drexel, 1889 (89.2.539)