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Cup of Nesikhonsu

Third Intermediate Period
ca. 1000–797 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 130
This cup made of blue faience belonged to Nesikhonsu, the wife of the High Priest of Amun Pinedjem II. A hieroglyphic inscription names Nesikhonsu and gives her the title "Osiris, Great Leader of the First Music Troupe of Amun" – a group of female musicians serving Amun-Re in his Karnak temple. It was one of 70 ritual cups that were used for libation rituals during Nesikhonsu’s funeral and buried within her tomb afterwards.

Nesikhonsu was buried in Theban Tomb no. 320 (TT 320) in Deir el-Bahari, otherwise known as the "Royal Cache." This mass burial also contained the bodies and funerary equipment of several family members, as well as more than fifty royal mummies from the New Kingdom, who had been re-buried following several tomb robberies in the Valley of Kings during the 21st Dynasty.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cup of Nesikhonsu
  • Period: Third Intermediate Period
  • Dynasty: Dynasty 21
  • Reign: pontificate of Pinedjem II
  • Date: ca. 1000–797 BCE
  • Geography: From Egypt; Probably from Upper Egypt, Thebes, Valleys south of Deir el-Bahri, Valley of the Cachette, First Royal Cache (TT 320), Burial of Nesikhonsu, Egyptian Antiquities Service/Maspero excavations, 1881
  • Medium: Faience
  • Dimensions: H. 6.4 × Diam. of rim 7 cm (2 1/2 × 2 3/4 in.); Diam. of base: 5 cm (1 15/16 in.)
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Nanette B. Kelekian, 2020
  • Object Number: 2021.41.118
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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