Ancient Egyptian Art

Our collection of ancient Egyptian art , one of the largest and finest in the United States, is renowned throughout the world. Egypt is the oldest continuously documented civilization on the African continent, and our collection, begun in 1902, tells the story of its art from its earliest known origins until the Roman period. The ancient Egyptians were an Indigenous African people whose cultural and artistic origins in the Nile Valley can be traced back over 8,000 years. Joined over five millennia by other Africans from Nubia and Libya, as well as West Asians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, their distinctly multicultural society produced an astonishing array of objects and structures. Our Egyptian galleries contain more than 1,200 objects that include sculpture, reliefs, paintings, pottery, and papyri. On view are such treasures as a gilded wooden statuette of Amunhotep III, an exquisite chlorite head of a Middle Kingdom princess, a statue of queen Ankhnes-meryre holding her son Pepy II, and a terra-cotta statuette of a woman created over 5,000 years ago. Dedicated spaces highlight Tutankhamun’s youth and the city of Amarna, as well as pottery and figurines from ancient Egypt and Nubia . Also included is a newly refreshed funerary gallery that explores rituals and objects related to Egyptian afterlife beliefs. On view are the elaborately decorated coffin and mummy board of Pasebakhaienipet, mayor of Thebes; wall reliefs from the tomb of the vizier Nespeqashuty; several mummified individuals and animals; and a nearly 25-foot-long Book of the Dead scroll. On January 30, 2026, one of the world’s only complete and gilded Books of the Dead joins this space—on public display for the first time.