Plaque of the Nile God Hapy

An image of the Nile flood god Hapy with an offering table supporting two water jars and two lotus plants. Hapy wears a crown of papyrus buds and blossoms, a broad collar of beads, a divine beard, armlets and a narrow girdle with pleated linen in front. Above the offering table is an inscription in hieroglyphs. At each end three holes are pierced, one of which still holds a round button ended pin. The bottom of the crown is now broken away from the head. This plaque originally functioned with others as a decorative element that may have covered a door or wooden shrine. In 1901 Albert Danios Pasha uncovered a hoard of bronze objects including a large number of rectangular plaques with open-work representations of the Nile god Hapy carrying offerings. Forty-two were given to the Egyptian Museum, Cairo (accession number 3517) and others were sold.