Ancient Nubia: Art of the 25th Dynasty

For more than 3,000 years, a series of kingdoms flourished along the Nile Valley south of ancient Egypt in the Nubian Desert of modern-day Sudan. 

Ancient Nubia: Art of the 25th Dynasty from the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will feature more than two hundred masterworks drawn from MFA Boston’s vast holdings, now the largest and most comprehensive collection of ancient Nubian art and material culture outside of Africa. 

Including skillfully crafted pottery, gold and silver amulets, jewelry, and funerary figurines, among other works, the exhibition will highlight the skill, artistry, and innovation of Nubian makers and reflect the wealth and power of their kings and queens, who once controlled one of the largest empires of the ancient world.​

The exhibition also will explore how historical narratives have evolved over time, now reflecting recent scholarship that has proved ancient Nubia’s position as an autonomous nation-state separate from ancient Egypt, with its own sophisticated systems of governance, trade, and commerce punctuated by innovations in art, architecture, and science.

Credit: Overview from museum website

Image: Winged Isis Pectoral, Nubian Artist, Sudan, 538–519 BCE, gold, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, 20.276. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.​