SAPFM Museum Furniture Collection

Chair or Bed Leg with the God Bes

Chair or Bed Leg with the God Bes, 1540–1296 BCE, tamarisk
Date
1540–1296 BCE
Medium
tamarisk
Dimensions
Overall: 44.7 x 5.9 cm (17 5/8 x 2 5/16 in.)
Form
Chair
Origin
Egypt
Culture
Egypt, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession
1982.42
Credit line
Guerdon S. Holden Memorial Fund
The genial god Bes appears here in the form of a furniture leg. With hands on his pot belly and wearing a short kilt with a long apron, he stands bowlegged on a truncated cone base. He has long, upward sweeping, diagonal eyebrows, large eyes, full cheeks, and rounded ears, and he wears a full beard and mustache. His body is soft and unmuscular. As a household god, Bes figured prominently as a decorative motif both in royal and private dwellings.
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