Sun Disk from Decorative Panel
Carved around 1345 – 1347 BCE
Purchased from the Egypt Exploration Society in 1922
Accession # 7043-1
When it was whole, this fragment was part of a wall decoration made of different types of colored stone and other materials. Archaeologists uncovered it in the Meru-Aten, King Akhenaten’s solar temple.
This fragment was made of yellow quartzite, representing the warm yellow disk of the fully risen sun. Quartzite came in many colors from bright yellow to deep purple. Egyptians used it to represent the changing colors of the sun during its journey from rising to setting.
Here is a more complete fragment from the same carved wall decoration called a frieze.
Photograph: Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society, 1922.
