Egyptian Uraeus Cobra Relief – hand-carved marble

A rearing cobra with spread hood rises from its own coils on this hand-carved relief in white marble. The hood is cut with a fine lattice of scales and a ladder of bands down the throat, and a row of small drilled dots runs along the neck. The long tail curls over the rim of a shallow, half-round basket and drops past it towards the lower edge. An antique finish gives the stone a warm, sandy tone, so the low relief shifts with every change in the light. The model is a small limestone relief plaque in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 07.228.14), made in Egypt between about 400 and 30 BC, in the Late and Ptolemaic Periods. The cobra on a basket is the sign of Wadjet, protective goddess of Lower Egypt and one of the “Two Ladies” in the pharaoh’s names. As the uraeus, she reared from the royal brow. Egyptologists call plaques of this kind sculptor’s models or votives. They look like studies, yet were finished objects in their own right, probably given as offerings during the great temple building of those centuries. At 28 cm, this relief is a little over twice the size of the 12.5 cm original. A hole drilled into the back lets it hang flat against the wall. It suits a study among books, the wall beside a doorway, or a group of framed works on paper, where light falling from the side brings out the relief. The relief is part of the Museum Grand Tour, KUZCO Art Maison’s collaboration with the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden. Original: c. 400–30 BC. Remade: 2026. Half of the purchase price goes to the museum for restoration, acquisitions and research. This is not an antique, but a new, hand-carved piece after a museum model.