BAS-RELIEF

Bas-relief depicting the image of a queen in profile, carrying a lotus flower and wearing a headdress with the vulture goddess, Nekhbet, spreading her protective wings over her head.

The artistic creations of Ancient Egypt were profusely polychromatic and this piece retains some of its original color. The use of color corresponded to an established program, and was highly symbolic, with a palette based on six basic colors: red, green, blue, yellow, white and black. Red, the color of power, represented life and victory, anger and fire. Green symbolized new life, growth and fertility, while blue represented creation and rebirth, and yellow, the eternal, like the sun and gold, as well as being the color of Ra and all the pharaohs. White tones were linked to purity. They symbolized all things sacred and were generally employed in religious objects used by priests. Black was the color of death and symbolized the underworld and the night.