The incised decoration on the front shows Kemeni presenting ointment to Amenemhat IV, whose headdress is adorned with two feathers, possibly indicating that he was deified after death. The inlaid inscription around the top of the lid contains the names of the king, the titles of Kemeni, and a prayer to the god Sobek.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Cosmetic Box of the Royal Butler Kemeni
Period:Middle Kingdom
Dynasty:Dynasty 12
Reign:possibly slightly after the death of of Amenemhat IV
Medium:Cedar, with ebony and ivory veneer and silver mounts
Dimensions:L. 28.5 cm (11 1/4 in.); W. 17.7 cm (6 15/16 in.); H. 20.3 cm (8 in.)
Credit Line:Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926
Object Number:26.7.1438
Excavated by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, 1910; acquired by Lord Carnarvon in the division of finds. Carnarvon Collection purchased by the Museum from Lady Carnarvon, 1926.
Carnarvon, 5th Earl of and Howard Carter 1912. Five Years' Explorations at Thebes: a record of work done 1907–1911. London: Oxford University Press, pp. 6, 54–56, pls. XLVIII–XLIX.
Newberry, Percy E. and H. R. Hall 1922. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Ancient Egyptian Art. London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, p. 58 no. 13 pl. 54.
Lythgoe, Albert M. 1927. "The Carnarvon Egyptian Collection." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 22, no. 2 (February), p. 32 (photo).
Winlock, Herbert E. 1935. Private Life of the Ancient Egyptians. New York, fig. 16.
Scott, Nora E. 1944. Home Life of the Ancient Egyptians: A Picture Book. New York: Plantin Press, fig. 13.
Steindorff, Georg 1945. Egypt. New York: J. J. Augustin, p. 81.
Hayes, William C. 1953. Scepter of Egypt I: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge, Mass.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 245–46, fig. 157.
Porter, Bertha and Rosalind L.B. Moss 1964. Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings: The Theban Necropolis. Royal Tombs and Smaller Cemeteries, vol. I part 2a. Oxford, 619.
Scott, Nora E. 1965. "Our Egyptian Furniture." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, new ser., vol. 24, no. 4 (December), pp. 141, 147, fig. 47.
Baker, Hollis S. 1966. Furniture in the Ancient World: Origins and Evolution, 3100-475 B.C.. New York: Macmillan Co., pp. 143, 147, Fig. 219, 227.
Scott, Nora E. 1973. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, new ser., vol. 31, no. 3 (Spring), New York, pp. 156–57, fig. 31.
Fischer, Henry G. 1974. "The Mark of a Second Hand on Ancient Egyptian Antiquities." In Metropolitan Museum Journal, 9, p. 34, n. 117.
Fischer, Henry G. 1976. "Archaeological Aspects of Epigraphy and Palaeography." In Ancient Egyptian Epigraphy and Paleography. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 40–41, fig. 4(3a).
Metropolitan Museum of Art 1977. Ancient Egypt in the Metropolitan Museum Journal, 1–11. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 142.
Roehrig, Catharine H. 2015. "Box with Vessels and Mirror." In Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, edited by Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 141–42, no. 75B.
Grajetzki, Wolfram 2015. "The Pharaoh's Subjects: Court and Provinces." In Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, edited by Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 121.
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The Met's collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 26,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from the Paleolithic to the Roman period.