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Chair or Bed Leg with the God Bes
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineChair or Bed Leg with the God Bes, 1540–1296 BCE. Egypt, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18. Tamarisk; overall: 44.7 x 5.9 cm (17 5/8 x 2 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Guerdon S. Holden Memorial Fund, 1982.42
