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Knife

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
Tools

Egyptian workers, including artisans, farmers, and fishermen, required a wide variety of specialized tools.


Woodworkers employed axes that had copper or bronze blades lashed to wooden handles with leather.

Carpenters produced smooth surfaces with copper chisels, often with serrated edges.

Tanners used broad, flat knives to cut strips of leather for sandals, harnesses, and whips, which they then pierced with metal awls.

Field hands cut grain with curved sickles fitted with small flint blades.

Fishermen relied on metal hooks with tiny barbs, much like their modern-day equivalents.

Officials used siphons to inspect the liquid contents of vessels without breaking through the protective mud seals.
MEDIUM Bronze alloy
  • Place Found: Egypt
  • DATES ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 18
    PERIOD New Kingdom
    DIMENSIONS 1 5/8 x 5/16 x 13 1/4 in. (4.1 x 0.8 x 33.7 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 05.329
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    PROVENANCE Archaeological provenance not yet documented; before 1905, acquired by an unidentified dealer; 1905, purchased in Egypt from an unidentified dealer by W. M. Flinders Petrie for the Brooklyn Museum.
    Provenance FAQ
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
    CAPTION Knife, ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E. Bronze alloy, 1 5/8 x 5/16 x 13 1/4 in. (4.1 x 0.8 x 33.7 cm) . Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 05.329. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.29.1557_05.329_erg456.jpg)
    IMAGE installation, CUR.29.1557_05.329_erg456.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2015
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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