Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Bridal Chest
Not on view
After the fall of Meroë, the royal family shifted their cemeteries to the twin sites Ballana and Qustul. This wood chest, found at Qustul, has twenty-one inlaid ivory panels, incised and filled with red and green wax paste. The panels depict mythological motifs related to fertility and prosperity. The figures represent the Egyptian god Bes, elegant maenads, and satyrs killing mythological beasts. The wood and metal were likely local materials, and the ivory was procured from trade routes controlled by the Aksumites.
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