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A carved wooden boat model on a rectangular off-white base with a tied up sail manned by sailors with brown skin and white trousers holding oars and ropes.
Unknown Maker, Egyptian, Model of a Funerary Boat, First Intermediate Period--Early Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 11. Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Ancient Egyptian Galleries

A carved wooden boat model on a rectangular off-white base with a tied up sail manned by sailors with brown skin and white trousers holding oars and ropes.
Unknown Maker, Egyptian, Model of a Funerary Boat, First Intermediate Period--Early Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 11. Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

AncientEgypt 1 (RA 605); AncientEgypt 2 (RA 608), Ancient Art

Introduction

Ancient Egyptian culture, which developed along the Nile River in northeast Africa more than 5,000 years ago, left us some of the most recognizable works of art from antiquity. These two galleries contain works of art once made for Egyptian royalty and the upper and middle classes.

While the objects reflect the Egyptian aesthetic for crisp line and geometric simplicity, they were not created as “art” in the modern sense. There was no word for art in the ancient Egyptian language. Instead, these objects served functional or ritual purposes in everyday life, temple worship, or funerary practices. The ancient Egyptians believed that a statue could house the spirit of the deceased, a figure of a servant could perform physical labor for the deceased in the afterlife, and painted images of food and drink could provide nourishment for eternity.

Gina Borromeo

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Articles

When Then Is Now / Martin Boyce's Connections to the RISD Museum Collection

An exploration of the intriguing relationships between works in Martin Boyce's mid-career survey exhibition at the RISD Museum and objects by Alexander Calder, Charles and Ray Eames, and Dan Flavin in the museum's collection.

Serpentipity: Ancient Egyptian Funeral Planning Today

How do you lay an Egyptian mummy to rest in a museum? Our curator considered a number of factors in orienting Nesmin, RISD's Egyptian mummy, in his new case in the freshly renovated gallery, but found a strange coincidence in her final decision.

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