Divine Egypt
Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 12, 2025 - January 19, 2026
Reviewed by Ed Voves
Original photography by Anne Lloyd and Ed Voves
Visitors to the web site of the Metropolitan Museum of Art are greeted with the welcoming statement, "The Met presents 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy."
That's no idle remark. The Met does indeed share great works of art from across the centuries and spanning the entire human habitat.
What is remarkable about this statement is that one of the star performers among the Met's nineteen curatorial departments presents works of art created in just one geographical location for a period of over 3000 years.
Where was this society of ancient over-achievers to be found? It was the extraordinary nation whose "lifeblood" was the Nile River. From the waters of the Nile arose the "black land." Carefully cultivated, this narrow ribbon of rich soil produced bountiful crops of wheat and barley, of temples and tombs.
This astonishing realm was, of course, Egypt.
Divine Egypt charts the entire course of ancient Egyptian history. This is a radical departure from earlier exhibitions focusing on a single era, like the Met's 2015 Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom (2010 -1630 B.C.). From the pre-dynastic period (beginning around 3,800 B.C.) to the occupation of Egypt by the Greeks under Alexander the Great three millennia later, Divine Egypt emphasizes the centrality of religion in the lives of generation after generation of people living along the banks of the Nile.
Divine Egypt at the Met is not a "once in a lifetime" exhibition but, rather, one for the ages.
Max Hollein, the President/CEO of The Met, Diana Craig Patch, head of the Met's Egyptian art department, and the entire Divine Egypt team have achieved a level of curatorial excellence where even the remark, "only the Met could have done this", is not praise enough.
From closer to home, comes one of the first highlights of Divine Egypt. This is the Triad Statue of Hathor, King Menhaure and a Personification of the Hare Nome. Excavated by the famous Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts Boston Expedition in 1908–9, this Old Kingdom sculpture never loses its power.
The extraordinary masterpieces displayed in Divine Egypt illustrate five key themes of the Egyptian attitude to daily living and eternal life.
This topical approach stresses insight into fundamental ideals and a sense of continuity rather than a conventional historical narrative. Let's take a look at these themes.
The first theme, "Expressing the Divine", focuses on two of Egypt's oldest gods: Horus and Hathor. The falcon-headed Horus can be traced back to pre-dynastic times. Hathor, a shape-shifting, nurturing deity is first documented in 2,600 B.C., during the Old Kingdom. This goddess was certainly a potent spiritual figure far earlier.
Hathor is recognizable by her distinctive head-ornament composed of cattle horns and a sun disk. This regalia evoked the very distant past of the Egyptians when many of them were nomads with herds of cattle which grazed on the "Green" Sahara. Then a shift in weather patterns, from 4900 to 4400 B.C., scorched this verdant area, evaporating its lakes and rivers and turning the grasslands into the world's most formidable desert. With Hathor as their guide, these first Egyptians found refuge in the valley of the Nile.
According to a later Egyptian writing, the fearsome-visaged Horus battled Seth, the god of the desert and lord of chaos, in a cosmic struggle to determine who would rule Egypt.
Horus emerged as victor in this mythological combat, earning a prominent place in both religious and political iconography. In Egypt, these were practically the same thing.
Where Hathor changed her appearance in often bewildering ways, Horus the Falcon retained his original identity, century after century. This can be studied by examining one of the oldest, if rather mundane, artifacts on view in Divine Egypt. This, in turn, may be contrasted with one of the most striking works of art in the entire exhibition.
If you carefully examine the pitted surface of the wine jar, you will see a carefully inscribed symbol of a falcon, standing on top of a serekh. Its design is similar to a serekh associated with the first pharaoh, Narmer, who unified Egypt's two major regions.
The wine jar comes from the area of Naqada. Located in the bend of the Nile in Upper (southern) Egypt, Naqada was one of the first major cities on the banks of the Nile. This was the region ruled by Narmer before he subdued the northern, delta area of Egypt, where the Nile flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
Since beer was the national drink of Egypt and wine was a rare, mostly imported, product, this raises a tantalizing speculation. Might this wine jar, marked with the Horus serekh, have been transported from the Mediterranean coast as a tribute gift for Narmer or another early Egyptian ruler of the unified kingdom?
We are never likely to answer this question for certain. But the representation of Horus on both of these remarkable works of art testifies to the astonishing longevity of Egyptian religious symbolism and the enduring faith experience which sustained it, century upon century.
In the third theme, the curators of Divine Egypt emphasize a truly distinctive attribute of Egyptian religion. There was not one creation myth to explain how world began. Instead, there were several origin stories. These complemented, rather than contradicted, each other.
Two of the "show-stopper" works of art help us grasp how the multiplicity of gods and goddesses, symbols and coded images worked to create an all-embracing Egyptian "world view." These are the Inner Coffin of Singer Nauny and the Coffin of Wedjarenes.
In the case of the Coffin of Wedjarenes, the really significant cosmological images are inside the coffin. Only Wedjarenes, the daughter of one of Egypt's priestly caste, can see them. And Wedjarenes will continue to see these for all time. Her body has been properly embalmed and treated with the all of the rituals and prayers which are due to individuals whose souls have been weighed on the ostrich feather of Maat and found worthy of eternal life.
Here we confront one of the central features of Egyptian art, especially the great treasures on view in museums around the world.
The great mass of Egypt's people seldom glimpsed these works of art; in many cases, even priests like Wedjarenes' father, never saw them at all.
The fifth theme is "Overcoming Death." The Egyptian quest for immortality hardly needs elaboration here. But two points raised in this final exhibit gallery do call for comment.
The main mythological drama surveyed here is the epic tale of the death and rebirth of Osiris, the valiant role of Isis in reviving Osiris, and the procreation of the savior child, Horus.
The second point is perhaps more significant. The Osiris-Isis-Horus myth was immensely appealing - and not just for Egyptians. It pointed the way to the mystery creeds of late-antiquity and the religious revolution of monotheism.
Over time, Egypt's many gods and goddesses began to merge into an awesome spiritual unity, a divine presence which was no longer to be confined in the darkened recesses of temple and tomb.
***
Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved.
Original photgraphy, copyright of Anne Lloyd and Ed Voves
Introductory image: Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) A Statue of Amun-Re Presenting and Protecting King Tutankhamun. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Tutankhamun (ca. 1336–1327 BCE) From Egypt, Thebes, Karnak. Diorite. Musée du Louvre, Paris, Départment des Antiquités Egyptiennes (E11609)
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Triad of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Glass, Gold, Lapis Lazuli: 9 × 6.6 cm (3 9/16 × 2 5/8 in.) Pedestal: 5 × 10.3 × 15.2 cm (1 15/16 in. × 4 1/16 in. × 6 in.) Musée du Louvre DE.075
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of the Divine Egypt Exhibition, showing, from left, Double statue of King Haremhab and Horus, ca. 1323–1295 B.C. and, on the right, Hathor seated between King Menkaure and a Personification of the Hare Nome, ,ca. 2490–2472 B.C. Full citations below.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Max Hollein, President/CEO of the Metropolitan Museum, examines a statue of Wepwawet and Isis/Hathor, 1279-1213 B.C.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Diana Craig Patch, head of the Department of Egyptian Art at The Met.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Water lily attachment, probably for a processional barque. Bronze, gold foil over gesso; white, dark blue, and light blue glass inlays over light and dark blue grounds: H. 13.5 × W. 15.8 × D. 9.2 cm (5 5/16 × 6 1/4 × 3 5/8 in) The Metropolitan Museum of Art #30.8.232a
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)Mirror with a papyrus-shaped handle displaying a Bat-like face. Silver disk with a wood (modern) handle sheathed in gold; the inlays are modern: H. 33.4 × W. 15.5 × D. 2 cm (13 1/8 × 6 1/8 × 13/16 in.) The Metropolitan Museum of Art. #26.8.98
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of the Divine Egypt Exhibition, showing a Monumental Scarab Stone, Diorite: 153 × 119 × 90 cm, 1600 kg (60 1/4 × 46 7/8 × 35 7/16 in., 3527.4 lb.) British Museum, # DE.097
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Hathor seated between King Menkaure and a Personification of the Hare Nome, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, reign of Menkaure (ca. 2490–2472 B.C.) Graywacke: Stone – Greywacke: 84.5 × 43.5 × 49 cm, 187.8 kg (33 1/4 × 17 1/8 × 19 5/16 in., 414 lb. Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts Expedition excavations, 1908–9 Museum of Fine Arts Boston. #09.200
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Hathor-Headed Pendent, Napatan era, 747-713 B.C. Gold and rock crystal: 5.3 x 3.3 cm. (2 1/16 x1 5/16 in.) Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Double statue of King Haremhab and Horus. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Haremhab (ca. 1323–1295 B.C.) Limestone: 53 × 73 × 77 cm, 942 kg (60 1/4 × 28 3/4 × 30 5/16 in., 2076.7 lb.) Pedestal: 40 × 87 × 91 cm (15 3/4 × 34 1/4 × 35 13/16 in.) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna #ÄS 8301
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Serekh of of King Raneb, Dynasty 2, ca. 2880 B.C. Granite: 100 x 42.5 x 27 cm. (39 3/8 x16 3/4 x10 5/8 inches) Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Wine Jar with an early Serekh, Predynastic Period, Naqada III–Early Dynastic Period, Dynasty 1 (ca. 3300–2960 B.C.). Pottery. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, #61.122
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Statue of Horus as a Falcon Protecting King Nectanebo II, 360 B.C. Stone - Metagraywacke:H. 72 × W. 20 × D. 46.5 cm, 55.3 kg (28 3/8 × 7 7/8 × 18 5/16 in., 122 lb.)
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Detail of Horus/Falcon motif on a Wine Jar with an early Serekh, ca. 3300–2960 B.C.) Citation above.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Divine Egypt showing an Obelisk from a cemetery for sacred mummified rams, Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 B.C.
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Relief of Maat, New Kingdom, Dynasty 19, reign of Seti I (ca. 1294–1279 B.C.). From Egypt, Thebes, Valley of the Kings, tomb of Seti I (KV 17) Limestone painted with pigments. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence (2469)
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Inner Coffin of the Singer of Amun and Royal Daughter Nauny, Third Intermediate period, ca. 1050. Coniferous wood, Sycomore wood, mud, glue, paste paint, varnish, linen: L. 193 × W. 61 × D. 65.1 cm, 76.2 kg (76 × 24 × 25 5/8 in., 168 lb.) The Metropolitan Museum of Art 30.3.24a, b
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Inner Coffin of Nauny (detail). See citation, above.
Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Interior of the Coffin of Wedjarenes, Saite period, 600-575 B.C. Wood (tamarisk and sycomore fig), paste, paint: Base (a): H. 190.1 × W. 58.8 × D. 21.7 cm (74 13/16 × 23 1/8 × 8 9/16 in.);Lid (b): H. 191.3 × W. 58.8 × D. 37 cm (75 5/16 × 23 1/8 × 14 9/16 in.) Metropolitan Museum of Art #O.C.22a, b
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) An installation in the Divine Egypt exhibition evoking Egyptian religious processions. Sacred images of gods like the golden Amun-Re were carried in a shrine on a barque, or boat.
Anne Lloyd, Photos (2025) Photo of details of statues of Osiris (664-332 B.C.) - Isis/Hathor (1779-1213 B.C.) - Horus the Child (332-30 B.C.). All three statues are from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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