Photo for Today - Walters Museum

Copyright Rick Menges, with my thanks

The Walters Art Museum

(Top) Sculptor's Model: Queen with Vulture Headdress
Artist: Anonymous (Egyptian)
Date (Period): ca. 145-51 BC (Greco-Roman)
Medium: limestone
Measurements: 6 5/16 x 5 7/8 x 9/16 in. (16 x 15 x 1.5 cm)
Item Description:
A queen wears the vulture headdress topped with seven protective uraeus serpents (side A). Head of a man (god?) with a curled wig (side B).

(Bottom) Sculptor's Model of a Vulture Hieroglyph
Artist: Anonymous (Egyptian)
Date (Period): ca. 300-160 BC (Greco-Roman)
Medium: limestone
Measurements: 5 1/2 x 6 5/16 x 7/8 in. (14 x 16 x 2.3 cm);
framed: 7 7/8 x 9 7/16 x 3 1/8 in. (20 x 24 x 8 cm)
Item Description:
Sculptor's models were used in the workshops of craftsmen for training and demonstration purposes. This two-dimensional model, executed in raised relief, displays a vulture. The image represents the hieroglyphic script sign "aleph" (which does not exist in the English alphabet), and was a model for large-scale temple inscriptions.