Cleveland Museum of Art

Chair or Bed Leg with the God Bes

Date

1540–1296 BCE

Medium

tamarisk

Culture

Egypt, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18

Department

Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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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