North Africa & Nile Valley · Egypt · Sudan

Egyptian / Kushite

The Nile Valley's visual legacy — pharaonic and Kushite iconography, reinterpreted by contemporary artists.

Family by Sandro Perovic
On the cover: Family · Sandro Perovic
Works
3
Artists
2
Shop this heritageCultural Passport
Homeland
The Nile Valley, Egypt and Sudan
Era
From about 3000 BCE
Key sites
Thebes, Napata, Meroë
Known for
Relief carving, royal regalia, sacred animal forms

The tradition

About Egyptian / Kushite

Along the Nile, ancient Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush built two linked artistic traditions over three thousand years.

Kush, centred in today's Sudan at Kerma, Napata and Meroë, ruled Egypt as its 25th Dynasty in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE.

Sudan's pyramids outnumber Egypt's. The works here are inspired by both traditions: royal families, deities and sacred animals, reinterpreted by contemporary artists.

Visual language

Motifs to look for

Symbols and forms that recur across this tradition, and that artists here draw on.

  1. Nemes and uraeus

    The striped royal headcloth and the rearing cobra of kingship.

  2. Ankh

    The hieroglyph for life, held by gods and rulers.

  3. Sacred animals

    Gods shown as cat, baboon, falcon or lioness.

  4. Maat

    Truth and balance, weighed against the heart at judgement.

  5. Double uraeus

    Two cobras, worn by Kushite kings who ruled Egypt and Kush.

  6. Gold and lapis

    The materials of royal and sacred objects.

Look closer

The tradition in the work

What to look for, in each work's Cultural Passport.

Family

Sandro Perovic

  • Nemes headdress and plaited beardthe regalia of an Egyptian king
  • Cobra diademthe uraeus, sign of royal protection
  • Touching handsintimacy borrowed from Amarna-period family scenes

Mafdet-Bastet

Sandro Perovic

  • Bleeding heart on a trayMafdet's judgement of wrongdoers
  • SistrumBastet's sacred rattle, music and household joy
  • Joined handsfierce protector and gentle guardian as companions

Babi

Joshua Omoijiade

  • The baboon faceBabi, bull of the baboons
  • The skull held closethe souls in his keeping
  • Level eyesthe weighing of the heart against Maat

The collection

The works

Shop all 3 works
Painting of a figure with a mandrill's face and a flaring white mane, one hand on its chest, cradling a human skull against its body, in deep red and brown on a dark ground.
STU. 20/20

Curator's Note

The last of Joshua Omoijiade's horseman collection, “the bringers of death in a world of my fashioning”. Babi holds a skull close, one hand…

Inspired by Ancient Egypt

Babi

Yr. 2021

Joshua OmoijiadeJoshua O.

From$55· Studio Edition· Stu. Ed.

Illustration of two cat-headed Egyptian goddesses in white gowns holding hands: a cheetah-headed figure raising a tray with a bleeding heart, and a grey cat-headed figure holding a gold sistrum.
STU. 20/20

Curator's Note

Two feline goddesses walk hand in hand: Mafdet, cheetah-headed, holding up a bleeding heart, and Bastet, grey and cat-headed, raising her s…

Inspired by Ancient Egypt

Mafdet-Bastet

Sandro PerovicSandro P.

From$55· Studio Edition· Stu. Ed.

Illustration of an ancient Egyptian royal family: a pharaoh in a red-and-cream striped headdress, a queen holding a baby, and five children in white linen and gold, before a pink wall of trees.
STU. 20/20

Curator's Note

Egyptian art usually kept its kings remote. Sandro Perovic gives his pharaoh a family and lets them touch. A hand rests on a shoulder, a ba…

Inspired by Ancient Egypt

Family

Sandro PerovicSandro P.

From$55· Studio Edition· Stu. Ed.

See all 3 works

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Named creators

The artists

All artists
Artwork by Joshua OmoijiadeEdo / Benin
Joshua Omoijiade

Joshua Omoijiade

Nigeria · 3 works

Joshua Omoijiade, who works as Josheromon, is a Nigerian painter, concept artist, writer and architect whose work spans nearly two decade...

View Artist
Artwork by Sandro PerovicUndeclared

Sandro Perovic

Zagreb, Croatia · 2 works

Sandro Perovic is a Croatian illustrator based in Zagreb whose work is inspired by ancient Egypt. He draws its gods and rulers with an il...

View Artist

Questions

Good to know

What was the Kingdom of Kush?

Kush was a Nile Valley kingdom in today's Sudan, lasting from about 2500 BCE to 350 CE. Its kings ruled Egypt as the 25th Dynasty.

What does 'inspired by' mean here?

These works reinterpret Nile Valley imagery rather than claim descent from it. Each Cultural Passport states the artist's relationship to the tradition.

Who are Bastet, Mafdet and Babi?

Bastet, a cat goddess, protected the home, and Mafdet punished wrongdoers. Babi, a baboon deity, was linked to the judgement of the dead.

Cultural Passport

Every work comes with its story, documented.

The tradition, the artist and the story behind the work, on a digital Passport you can print and frame beside it.

How it works

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