<em>Nursing Woman</em>, ca. 1938–after 1630 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 4 1/2 × 2 1/2 × 3 3/8 in. (11.4 × 6.4 × 8.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 51.224. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 51.224_front_PS22.jpg)

Nursing Woman, ca. 1938–after 1630 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 4 1/2 × 2 1/2 × 3 3/8 in. (11.4 × 6.4 × 8.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 51.224. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 51.224_front_PS22.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

What's this?

This is a "Statuette of Nursing Woman." Unfortunately we don't know much about this figure as the inscription on it has worn away. Scenes of nursing appear throughout Egyptian art and are usually in reference to Isis and Horus. There's another example nearby of the Pharaoh Pepy II being nursed (although as a grown man).

What materials and tools were made for this art piece?

This sculpture is made of limestone which would have been carved with chisels and polished using sand as an abrasive.

This figurine also would have been painted in ancient times.

Thanks

What are the locations and other notes written underneath the title? Is that when and where it was made? What does Middle Kingdom mean?

Great question! "Middle Kingdom" is a time period in ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptian history is broken down into the Old Kingdom (when they built the famous pyramids at Giza), the Middle Kingdom (there was a lot of artistic innovation during this time), and the New Kingdom (when they build a lot of temples and kings like Ramses the Great lived.)

There were also what is called "Intermediate Periods" in between.

The year that the Nursing Woman was made was about 1938 BCE

If I had to say where this sculpture was from what would it be?

What does Dynasty 12 meant? What does "Provenance not known" mean? What does Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund mean?

Provenance references location, but "Provenance not known" means that we aren't sure where in Egypt this figurine comes from. So if you had to say where this piece was from, it would just be Egypt.

Dynasty 12 is a time period within the Middle Kingdom. A dynasty refers to a group of kings or rulers that reign one right after the other and are usually related.

And the Charles Edwin Wilbur Fund is the source of funding that we used to acquire this object. Charles Edwin Wilbour was a collector of ancient Egyptian art and an early friend of the museum.

Ok, thanks!

Nursing Woman

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

The pose of the nursing woman—a standard one in Egyptian art—was also the hieroglyph meaning “nurse.” Because its subjects are not identified, this little figure probably did not represent real individuals but rather served as a votive gift requesting a goddess’s protection.

MEDIUM Limestone, pigment

Place Made: Egypt

DATES ca. 1938–after 1630 B.C.E.

DYNASTY Dynasty 12 to Dynasty 13

PERIOD Middle Kingdom

DIMENSIONS 4 1/2 × 2 1/2 × 3 3/8 in. (11.4 × 6.4 × 8.6 cm) mount: 4 3/4 × 2 3/4 × 3 1/2 in. (12.1 × 7 × 8.9 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 51.224

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Limestone statuette of seated woman nursing male child. Woman seated on uninscribed rectangular base, her left leg raised, foot on ground, the right leg on ground behind left leg. Dress ending at knee with fringed seam at rear. Heavy wig with rear, central division and two lappets on front. Illegible inscription incised on head of child. Condition: Front and back of base chipped. Surface worn. Left foot of woman missing. Some traces of red paint on bodies.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Nursing Woman, ca. 1938–after 1630 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 4 1/2 × 2 1/2 × 3 3/8 in. (11.4 × 6.4 × 8.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 51.224. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 51.224_front_PS22.jpg)

IMAGE front, 51.224_front_PS22.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2024

"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.

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

What's this?

What materials and tools were made for this art piece?

This sculpture is made of limestone which would have been carved with chisels and polished using sand as an abrasive.

This figurine also would have been painted in ancient times.

Thanks

What are the locations and other notes written underneath the title? Is that when and where it was made? What does Middle Kingdom mean?

There were also what is called "Intermediate Periods" in between.

The year that the Nursing Woman was made was about 1938 BCE

If I had to say where this sculpture was from what would it be?

What does Dynasty 12 meant? What does "Provenance not known" mean? What does Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund mean?

Provenance references location, but "Provenance not known" means that we aren't sure where in Egypt this figurine comes from. So if you had to say where this piece was from, it would just be Egypt.

Dynasty 12 is a time period within the Middle Kingdom. A dynasty refers to a group of kings or rulers that reign one right after the other and are usually related.

And the Charles Edwin Wilbur Fund is the source of funding that we used to acquire this object. Charles Edwin Wilbour was a collector of ancient Egyptian art and an early friend of the museum.

Ok, thanks!

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Nursing Woman

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

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Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

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