Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Model of a Cow Giving Birth
Middle Kingdom
Not on view
This object is not part of The Met collection. It was in the Museum for a special exhibition and has been returned to the lender.
Animal husbandry, a valuable source of food, was a popular subject for scenes decorating the tombs of officials. However, considering the prevalence of birth and rebirth imagery in Egyptian funerary art, it is perhaps surprising that only four Middle Kingdom tombs preserve images of cows giving birth. Three-dimensional representations, like this model, are equally rare. Here, a man stands in front of the cow while a second herdsman catches the calf emerging from its mother.
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