Lion-Shaped Furniture Leg

In both Egypt and Nubia the lion was associated with the sun god and symbolized royalty. Because the king was seen as a living embodiment of the sun, leonine images conveyed both connotations. The broad ruff with incised zigzag decoration is characteristic of representations of lions from the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, when Egypt was ruled by Nubian kings. A cartouche of the Kushite king Aspelta, a ruler who resided in the Nubian capital, Napata, appears on the front of the furniture leg.