Egypt

More on the lintel from the Temple of Mut, Karnak

http://www.nysun.com/article/48246

"The museum's ongoing expedition to the Temple Precinct of the Goddess Mut at South Karnak discovered a painted and gilded lintel that had originally topped the doorway of a religious structure. 'Some of the significance of the lintel is the quality of its carving and its gilding,' the director of the museum's excavation of the site, archaeologist Richard Fazzini, said in a press release. 'A small number of ancient Egyptian reliefs were gilded, but that adornment has seldom survived. Equally important is the unusual nature of its iconography, which has its origins in the early first millennium B.C. but which is here dated to the Ptolemaic Period or early Roman Period (late fourth to late first century B.C.) by the inscriptions.' . . . . It was moved to the Luxor Museum of Ancient Egyptian Art, where it will be displayed."

http://tinyurl.com/352vfg (dsc.discovery.com)

"The child gods of ancient Egypt are depicted in a surprisingly real-world way on a stunningly well-preserved, gilded beam recently found at the Temple Precinct of the Goddess Mut in South Karnak, Egypt. The structure once crowned the doorway of a birthing house inside the temple more than 2,000 years ago. Rituals associated with royal childbirths — perhaps even including 'honeymoon nights' — likely took place there. The beam is significant because of 'the quality of its carving and its gilding,' said Brooklyn Museum archaeologist Richard Fazzini, who is leading the excavation, in a press release."

This piece is accompanied by a photograph of the lintel.

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/assets/photos/30/6/30_06egyptianlintel_z.jpg

This links to the best photograph that I have seen to date, clearly showing both gilding and colour.

There's a lovely aerial shot of the Temple of Mut at the following page:
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/features/mut/

- Amara West - Reconstructed Doorway With Hieroglyph-inscribed Lintel
British Museum (Neal Spencer) With photos. Five weeks ago, Mary Shepperson revealed the remains of a stone doorway, tumbled into room two of house E13.6. Over the last few days we have reconstructed the gateway in the courtyard of our house – albeit...

- Ancient Road Uncovered In Luxor
drhawass.com Press Release, with photos Mr. Farouk Hosny, Minister of Culture, announces that the expedition of the Supreme Council of Antiquities at the Avenue of the Sphinxes found today twelve new sphinx statues from the reign of Nectanebo I (380-362...

- Magazine: Archaeological Diggings April/may 2007
http://www.freewebs.com/diggingsmag/currentissue.htm"The April/May 2007 issue takes a closer look at the sphinx and its history. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York gives us a look at the photography of Harry Burton. This collection of photographs...

- Dig Diary: Excavations At The Temple Precinct Of The Goddess Mut
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/features/2005/mut/ "Since 1976, the Brooklyn Museum has been carrying out archaeological work at the Temple Precinct of the Goddess Mut . . . at South Karnak . . . . The Museum’s team, which has shared the site with an...

- Divine Felines: Cats Of Ancient Egypt
This is an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum on the reverence the ancient Egyptian felt for cats and the goddess' they represent. The Egyptians have probably left the broadest material associated with the cat from coffins and mummies to temple figures...

Egypt