Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Metal Crown
Not on view
Nubian kings and queens maintained close connections with their Christian counterparts in Aksum and Byzantium but still held on to indigenous symbols in their royal attire. These crowns are broad circles of beaten silver, richly encrusted with various gems and adorned with royal and divine insignia, including representations of Horus and Isis. Some have human figures with an Atef headdress, one of the traditional symbols of authority in the Nile valley. The crowns were found on or near the heads of skeletons in burials at the royal cemetery of Qustul. The burials included jewelry, crowns, and wood-and-ivory boxes with Hellenistic motifs.