This fragile diadem of looped wire was found on the head of Lady Senebtisi’s mummy. Diadems are a well-known jewelry type, especially among elite members of society, although this style has no known parallel. The unusual pendant decoration for her forehead may have represented two aroused cobras facing away from the center. If this is the intended design, which is known from other jewelry, it is depicted here quite schematically.
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Title:Diadem of Senebtisi
Period:Middle Kingdom
Dynasty:late Dynasty 12–early Dynasty 13
Date:ca. 1859–1770 B.C.
Geography:From Egypt, Memphite Region, Lisht North, Tomb of Senwosret (758), Pit 763, burial of Senebtisi, MMA excavations, 1906–07
Medium:Gold
Dimensions:H. 3.4 cm (1 5/16 in.); Circ. 56.5 cm (22 1/4 in.)
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1907
Object Number:07.227.6
Excavated by the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Acquired by the Museum in the division of finds.
Lythgoe, Albert M. 1907. "The Egyptian Expedition III." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 2, no. 10 (October), p. 167, fig. 6; p. 168.
Mace, Arthur C. and Herbert E. Winlock 1916. The Tomb of Senebtisi at Lisht, Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition, 1. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 18, 56-60, fig. 28, pl. 14b, 15a-c, 21, 28d, f.
Winlock, Herbert E. 1935. Private Life of the Ancient Egyptians. New York, fig. 8.
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. 230–31, fig. 146.
Aldred, Cyril 1971. Jewels of the Pharaohs: Egyptian Jewelry of the Dynastic Period. London: Thames and Hudson Inc., pp. 22–23, pl. 6; pp. 176–77.
Andrews, Carol 1991. Ancient Egyptian Jewelry. New York: H.N. Abrams, p. 97, fig. 75.
Patch, Diana Craig 2015. "Diadem and Rosettes of Senebtisi." 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. 242–43, no. 179A.
Quirke, Stephen 2015. "Understanding Death: A Journey between Worlds." 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. 221.
Arnold, Dieter and Adela Oppenheim 2015. "Excavations by The Metropolitan Museum of Art at Middle Kingdom Sites." 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. 312.
2023. Ancient Egyptian gold: Archaeology and science in jewellry (3500-1000 BC). Cambridge UK, pp. 84, 85, 94, 248.
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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.
