Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art: Princess Sobeknakht Suckling a Prince

• Download
• Add to set
• Favorite
• Posse icon
• Share
• Print

Princess Sobeknakht Suckling a Prince

Beginning in the Middle Kingdom, craftsmen demonstrated great skill in designing and manufacturing metal statuary. This copper statuette, representing a woman suckling a male child, is considered among the finest of these sculptures. The inscription on the base identifies the subject as the "hereditary noblewoman" Sobeknakht; her fillet and uraeus-cobra show that she is a princess. The figure may have been commissioned to celebrate the birth of a prince, to signal a reigning king's devotion to his mother, or to reflect Sobeknakht's wish for divine help in conceiving a child who would become Egypt's king.

• Medium: Copper alloy
• Place Made: Egypt
• Dates: ca. 1700-after 1630 B.C.E.
• Dynasty: XIII Dynasty
• Period: Middle Kingdom-Second Intermediate Period
• Dimensions: 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm) Base: 3/16 x 2 3/4 x 3 3/16 in. (0.5 x 7 x 8.1 cm) Conservation Report: 4 x 2 3/4 x 3 1/4 in. (10.2 x 7 x 8.3 cm)
• Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art
• Museum Location: This item is on view in Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity, Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor
• Accession Number: 43.137
• Credit Line: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
• Image: Overall, 43.137_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Princess Sobeknakht Suckling a Prince, ca. 1700-after 1630 B.C.E. Copper alloy, 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm) Base: 3/16 x 2 3/4 x 3 3/16 in. (0.5 x 7 x 8.1 cm) Conservation Report: 4 x 2 3/4 x 3 1/4 in. (10.2 x 7 x 8.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 43.137 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 43.137_SL1.jpg)