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Cosmetic dish in the shape of a dog, Bone

Cosmetic dish in the shape of a dog

Period:
New Kingdom
Dynasty:
Dynasty 18
Date:
ca. 1550–1295 B.C.
Geography:
From Egypt
Medium:
Bone
Dimensions:
L. 9.7 cm (3 13/16 in.); W. 2.7 cm (1 1/16 in.); H. 0.9 cm (3/8 in.) Th. at head 0.6 cm (1/4 in.)
Credit Line:
Gift of Helen Miller Gould, 1910
Accession Number:
10.130.2520
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 117
This spoon, intended for use as a cosmetic holder, is also a very skilled representation of a dog at rest. The artist, working with a very thin piece of bone, has managed to create the illusion of a sculpture in the round. The spoon side clearly represents the dog's left side, while the back of the spoon is the animal's right side. Another cosmetic spoon in the collection (44.4.55) represents a mouse in a similar fashion.
Formerly in the collection of the Reverend Chauncey Murch (died 1907). Collected between 1883 and 1906 while Murch was a missionary in Egypt. Collection purchased by the Museum from the Murch family with funds provided by Helen Miller Gould, 1910.

Hayes, William C. 1959. Scepter of Egypt II: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Hyksos Period and the New Kingdom (1675-1080 B.C.). Cambridge, Mass.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 191, fig. 106.

Arnold, Dorothea 1995. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, new ser., vol. 52, no. 4 (Spring), New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 57, no. 76.

Timelines
Egypt, 2000-1000 B.C.

The Scepter of Egypt: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, The Hyksos Period and the New Kingdom (1675–1080 B.C.)
Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh
"An Egyptian Bestiary": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 52, no. 4 (Spring, 1995)

Egyptian Art (27,193)
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