Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Toilet Box
Not on view
An ornate panel on the dark brown wood-and-ivory container depicts two women standing in architectural niches, beneath which lie a pair of sphinxes or lions. The box was excavated from a grave in Karanog, a Nubian town with both elite and middle-class houses and a cemetery with graves that contained numerous goods. Though none of the women on this box have dark skin, their full noses and braided hair may encourage modern viewers to describe them as Black. Nonetheless, the use of this term unhelpfully conflates modern and ancient perceptions of skin color and race. From these representations alone, we cannot know the original intent of the Nubian artist.
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