Skip Navigation

Woman Holding a Lily Scepter

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: 19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor
The shapely forms of this statuette are characteristic of the ideal feminine body type of the Ptolemaic Period. During Greek rule, full thighs, a fleshy stomach, and round breasts replaced the leaner model of feminine beauty from earlier pharaonic history. Since Egyptians rarely depicted women naked, this figure wears a tight-fitting dress, the outlines of which were visible on the now missing ankles.

It is difficult to identify the subject precisely without an inscription or the head, which was likely decorated with attributes identifying the figure. The lily-scepter, held by both goddesses and queens, adds to the statuette’s mystery.
MEDIUM Faience
  • Place Made: Egypt
  • DATES 305-30 B.C.
    PERIOD Ptolemaic Period
    DIMENSIONS 4 3/16 x 2 1/16 in. (10.6 x 5.2 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 64.198
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CAPTION Woman Holding a Lily Scepter, 305-30 B.C. Faience, 4 3/16 x 2 1/16 in. (10.6 x 5.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 64.198. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 64.198_threequarter_left_PS2.jpg)
    IMAGE threequarter, 64.198_threequarter_left_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2009
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.