Exhibition: Gifts for the Gods (metalwork)

New York Times (Karen Rosenberg)

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In ancient Egypt, stone sculpture was the stuff of intimidation: regal, public, unyielding. A stone statue could be smashed, but it could never be reincarnated. Metal, though, is malleable, unstable. A metal statue could be melted down and re-formed as a weapon or a pair of earrings; it could slowly change color over the years.

Organized by Marsha Hill, the Met’s curator of Egyptian art, “Gifts for the Gods: Images From Egyptian Temples” brings small metal statuary out of the shadow cast by more familiar and monumental works in stone. It includes loans from the Louvre, the British Museum and the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Most of the works date from the Third Intermediate Period (1070-664 B.C.), when the kingdom was fragmented politically but the temples flourished.

All are unique objects; unlike the Greeks, Egyptians used a direct lost-wax casting process that destroyed the mold during production. Intimately scaled, expressive and heavily ornamented, these statues are likely to change your perspective on Egyptian art even with mummies and the Temple of Dendur only a few steps away.

See the above page for the full story and two excellent photographs.