Headrest


Accession Number
AB80
Current Location
House of Life (first floor), Woodwork case
Object Type
Furniture, Headrest
Period
New Kingdom
Dynasty
Eighteenth Dynasty
Material
Wood
Provenance
Egypt, Abydos
Measurements
Height: 180mm
Number of Elements
3 elements of 1 object
Divine Name
Bes

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Description

A wooden headrest in three parts, probably from Abydos. There are faint traces of decoration visible on the spine, which is perhaps a depiction of Bes. Margaret Murray dated it to the Eighteenth Dynasty. The object was gifted to the University of Wales, Aberystwyth by John Bancroft Willans, a subscriber of the Egypt Exploration Fund/Society, who received the object in 1903. It was subsequently gifted to the Egypt Centre in 1997.

Bibliography

Hellinckx, Bart R. 2001. The symbolic assimilation of head and sun as expressed by headrests. Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 29, 61–95.

Last modified: 17 Feb 2021
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