From Neo-Assyrian winged lions of the 9th century BC to the stunning silver head of a 4th-century AD Sasanian king, this beautifully photographed book from the Metropolitan Museum of Art explores the art of Egypt and the Near East through close examinations of 118 outstanding pieces, illustrated with large color plates. -- Provided by publisher.

The Egyptian Museum collection in Berlin is one of the world's great collections of antiquities from Ancient Egypt. Among its many masterpieces is the famous bust of Queen Nefertiti, the internationally celebrated object star of the collection. The collection's origins were in the 1698 purchase of the antiquities assembled by Giovanni Pietro Bellori, and it was greatly augmented by expeditions in the 19th and early 20th centuries. During the Cold War the works were divided between East and West, but they have since been reunited on Berlin's Museum Island, and will now be at the heart of the rebuilt Neues Museum that opens in October 2009 for the first time since World War Two. Featuring beautiful all-new photography, an authoritative text and stunning new design, this book works equally well as a guide to a great museum collection or as an illustrated general introduction to the world of Ancient Egypt. AUTHOR: Professor Dietrich Wildung is a world expert on Ancient Egypt and Sudan. Until 2009 he was the Director of the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, Berlin. 150 colour illustrations

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The Egyptian Museum houses the world's greatest collection of Egyptian treasures and antiquities, tens of thousands of stunning and fascinating objects dating from the earliest Predynastic times right through to the Greek and Roman Periods. Visitors to this great storehouse may become easily overwhelmed by the vast number of objects on display. But here for the first time is the world's best-known Egyptologist's personal introduction to the unmissable highlights of the Museum--Zahi Hawass's own selection of his favorite 200 exhibits. For each piece, he gives some background to its discovery and significance, and describes what it means for him in terms of the art or the history of ancient Egypt, and why it strikes a personal chord. "Due to my love of the Egyptian Museum, I thought that it would be wonderful to write a guide to its treasures, and to talk about my favorite objects within."--Zahi Hawass