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Gallery Text

After the death of Alexander of Macedon, who conquered Egypt in 332 BCE, control of the country fell to one his generals, Ptolemy, who established the Ptolemaic dynasty. Alexandria, Egypt’s newly founded city, became an important intellectual center. Its arts followed Greek concepts, while architecture and sculpture elsewhere in the country largely adhered to established Egyptian norms. Accordingly, the visual representation of Egypt’s Macedonian rulers includes both Greek-style royal images and traditional images of the pharaoh. On this relief fragment from a temple, the deified Queen Arsinoë II (c. 316–270 BCE), sister and wife of King Ptolemy II (r. 283/282– 246 BCE), wears a vulture headdress and a headgear consisting of the red crown of Lower Egypt and divine attributes, such as ram and bovine horns and a sun disk. Conception and style of the relief are entirely Egyptian, but Arsinoë’s profile resembles that of her Greek portrait on coins.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1983.96
Title
Temple Relief of Queen Arsinoe II
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Relief of Queen Arsinoë II as Hathor
Classification
Architectural Elements
Work Type
architectural element
Date
after 270 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Africa, Egypt (Ancient)
Period
Ptolemaic period
Culture
Egyptian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/289668

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3740, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Egypt: Art for Eternity
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Limestone, with red ocher, charcoal black, and Egyptian blue on chalk
Technique
Carved
Dimensions
42.5 cm h x 57.7 cm w x 7.5 cm d (16 3/4 x 22 11/16 x 2 15/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: Daughter of Amun and Beloved of the gods; (At left) . . . mother of Apis

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Henri and Helene Kamer, (Gallerie Kamer, New York and Paris), 1967. Ex collection J. Roux, 1974. Robert J. Myers, New York, 1974. Ex collection James Alsdorf, Chicago, 1981. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Lindenbaum, New York, 1981; gift to the Fogg Art Museum, 1983.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel H. Lindenbaum
Accession Year
1983
Object Number
1983.96
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Recent Acquisitions 1967, Galerie Kamer, 1967, auct. cat. (New York City, NY), n/a
  • Ancient Art, Meyers/Adams Auction 8, auct. cat. (New York, NY, Oct-10-1974), 133
  • Reines Ptolemaiques et Traditions Egyptiennes by Jan Quaegebeur, Das ptolemaische Agypten (Mainz, 1978), 259, note 105
  • Robert Bianchi, Cleopatra's Egypt: Age of the Ptolemies: Age of the Ptolemies, exh. cat. (Brooklyn, NY, 1988), cat. 65, p.169
  • Michel Chauveau, La Gloire d'Alexandrie, exh. cat. (Paris, 1998), cat. 42, p.81
  • Stephan Wolohojian, ed., Harvard Art Museum/Handbook (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2008)
  • Jeffrey Spier, Timothy Potts, and Sara E. Cole, ed., Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World, exh. cat. (Los Angeles, 2018), pp. 173-174, no. 105

Exhibition History

  • Cleopatra's Egypt: Age of the Ptolemies, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, 10/07/1988 - 01/02/1989; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 02/15/1989 - 05/01/1989; Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, 06/08/1989 - 09/10/1989
  • La Gloire d'Alexandrie, Musée du Petit Palais, 05/06/1998 - 07/26/1998
  • Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/22/2007 - 01/20/2008
  • Landmarks of World Art and Architecture, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/04/2012 - 01/19/2013
  • 32Q: 3740 Egyptian, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 11/28/2017; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/29/2018 - 01/01/2050
  • Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 03/27/2018 - 09/09/2018

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu