Relief Displaying the King Suckled by the Hathor-Cow

Description Pharaohs from Nubia ruled Egypt during the 25th dynasty (747–656 BCE), but this image predates that period by hundreds of years. Instead of race, the black color of the king’s skin may indicate that he is deceased. In Egyptian royal art, black or green flesh is associated with Osiris, the god of the underworld, but also with fertility and rebirth. The Egyptians called the lands around the Nile, with very dark, rich soil fertilized by annual floods, the “Black Land” (Kemet) in contrast to the “Red Land” (Deshret) of the deserts.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
12/31/1969	Examination	examined for condition
2/12/1964	Examination	examined for exhibition
7/07/1967	Treatment	loss compensation
7/05/1979	Treatment	cleaned; other
8/06/1998	Examination	survey
3/16/2000	Treatment	cleaned; re-housed

Exhibitions

• Egypt’s Mysterious Book of the Faiyum. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2013-2014.

Provenance R. Haas, Paris, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Joseph Brummer, New York and Paris, 1922, by purchase [inv. no. N574]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1922, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1922