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Desert Scene with Antelope

New Kingdom, Amarna Period
ca. 1353–1336 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 121
The antelopes are shown in their desert habitat. The two animals whose heads are preserved are feeding on a plant with spiky leaves. The animals are eating quite calmly, so it is unlikely that they are part of a hunting scene. The three antelopes in the upper group seem to be rearing up on their hind legs, perhaps to grab at leaves high on a tree; the front hooves of two of them are visible in the upper right.

Presumably the antelopes were part of a scene depicting sunrise. Two representations in the royal tomb at Amarna show wild animals stirring and gamboling under the rising sun outside the temple where the king and his family are performing the morning ritual. A similar image from a temple of this period has been found at Thebes. The size of the animals on this relief suggests that the scene would have been monumental in scale and prominent in the structure that it decorated.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Desert Scene with Antelope
  • Period: New Kingdom, Amarna Period
  • Dynasty: Dynasty 18
  • Reign: reign of Akhenaten
  • Date: ca. 1353–1336 B.C.
  • Geography: From Egypt; Probably from Middle Egypt, Hermopolis (Ashmunein; Khemenu); Probably originally from Amarna (Akhetaten)
  • Medium: Limestone, paint
  • Dimensions: H. 22.9 cm (9 in); w. 52.1 cm (20 1/2 in)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Norbert Schimmel, 1985
  • Object Number: 1985.328.21
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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